Practically off the grid!

I am in the process of completing a few renovations in my home and given the need to paint a new wall I have built I thought it would be a good opportunity to experiment with making my own paint.  I have experimented with alis finish coats in the past but have been curious for some time about the quality of home made milk paints. 

Milk paints use curds mixed with a base solution such as borax or lime for a binder and then pigments and thickeners can be added to achieve the color and texture desired.   They dry to a flat finish and resist dusting well and apparently can be wiped clean but I’ll have to report more on the durability of the paint another time as I am just getting started now.

Materials and equipment needed:

vinegar

skim milk

pigments

blender

oven

strainer or cheesecloth

measuring cups

Here is the procedure I have been using to make the paint:

1.  Make your own quark or curds.  This is done by adding 2 cups of vinegar to 1 gallon of skim milk.  Then let the mixture sit over night in a warm place.  I have been heating up my oven slightly and letting the mix sit in there.  I have read a variety of advice about the ideal temperature.  Something between 115F and 150F seems to work fine for me. 

vinegar and skim milk

milk curdling in oven

2.  Strain the curds using a strainer or cheesecloth.

preparation for straining

separated curds

3.  Using a double boiler add 3 tablespoons of borax to 1/2 cup of water.  Stir until the borax is dissolved.

4.  Combine 2 cups of curds with borax solution in a blender and mix until smooth and gooey.  I have found I need to add a bit of water at this stage occasionally.  It depends how dry the curds are.

5.  Add pigment.  Conduct a bunch of smaller scale experiments before you start making large batches.  For my living room walls I have been using 1 cup of titanium oxide and 4 tablespoons of ilmenite.  This produces a dark granite color.  You may wonder what the point is of adding white pigment to a paint you want to be dark.  It seems like the white gives the paint an opaque base to build upon.  In experiments I did without white pigment, the paint was more transparent and didn’t cover the wall as well as a result.    Continue to mix the paint with the blender.  I don’t know yet if it is possible to mix the paint too much but if you don’t mix it enough you will find some streaks of undissolved pigment.  Some recipes you find may suggest that you slake you pigment first overnight but the blending method seems to work fine for me using dry pigment.  I do add some extra water as needed to obtain the desired consistency.

borax and pigments

 I have been able to find natural mineral pigments at a local clay supply store. In the photo above are titanium oxide (white), yellow ochre, iron oxide (red), chrome oxide (green) and ilmenite (blue-grey).  You can mix the pigments to get other colors but they do mix a little unpredictably so lots of experimentation will be necessary if you want to figure out your own colors.  I was able to match my couch color though with pretty minimal trial and error.  I ended up adding a pinch of green to yellow ochre to produce that top creamy yellow color in the photo. 

some of my test colors

mixing paint in blender

6.  Apply the paint with a brush or roller.   You’ll notice as in the photo below that the color lightens and darkens as it dries so do make sure to match colors to dried test samples.  

start of first coat

7.  Clean up with water.

That’s all there is to it.  The paint has been nice to work with so far.  It has a consistency surprisingly similar to store bought paint.  It has been fun to make every time because I am always impressed that it is just milk borax and pigment.  I’m now almost finished the second coat of my living room and the paint is still adhering well.  I am looking forward to figuring out different color mixes for my other rooms.  If you give this a try or have some previous experience with making your own paint I’d love to hear about it.