4 the love of wood: LEARNING ABOUT MILK PAINT

A lot more people have heard about Milk Paint in the last little while thanks in a large part to the internet and many DIY bloggers but Milk Paint has been around for thousands of years.

Originally milk paint was made of milk, lime and earth

pigments. Simple and easy for most households to create and

use. Over time the recipe has been improved upon using

enhanced pigments and bonding agents but it is still used

because it is simple, effective, and biodegradable. I personally

do not use it often. It comes in a powdered form and you

must mix it yourself. I don't enjoy the really earthy smell and

you must use up what you mix in a short amount of time. It

does however offer a different look to painted furniture. It

works well when applied to raw wood surfaces, and reacts in

an unpredictable manor when applied to older finishes. It can

crackle or flake off, and in my experience (which is limited to

a handful of pieces) can continue to flake well after the paint is dry.

I used a little Sea Green Milk Paint as a base to achieve a

great aged effect on this country cabinet I built. Below you

can see the Sea Green is the darker flecks showing through

the warn areas.

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NOTE:

This is a project done many years ago and before ASCP.

#1 Primed the cabinet in white

#2 Sprayed the Sea Green Milk paint

#3 Sprayed a turquoise tinted primer

The cabinet was waxed with a mix of walnut stain mixed with
natural Minwax. You could achieve the same look with dark
wax I just didn't have any at the time.

All the distressing I did was done with sand paper between

each coat of paint. Doing it between each layer adds a great

deal of depth to the finish but is extra work.