Milk Paint Powder – better than chalk paint?
The more I get to use Milk Paint Powder, the more impressed I am about how versatile a paint medium it is.
Take Chalk paint as an example – yes, you can paint just about anything with it. But, and this is important, it is still a thin sheet of paint stuck to a surface. But Milk Paint Powder, when mixed with water, is absorbed by a porous surface and the reaction between the casein in the milk powder and the calcium carbonate forms a natural resin which cures iron hard and which is colour fast for many many years. The finish is also really old fashioned. It has that traditional chalky look.
But Milk Paint doesn’t really bond to non-porous surfaces. So, mix the milk paint powder with bonding liquid instead of water. And you get a paint that will stick to previously painted surfaces.
Then you have the best of both worlds – the chalky traditional finish for non –painted surfaces and the same for painted ones. All in powder form.
Try mixing a little of one colour of milk paint powder with another colour to make your own custom colours. If you’re living in South Africa then buy online from milkpaintpowder.com. There are about 30 colours to choose from. If you’re living in USA then check out The Real Milk Paint Company
And you don’t have to worry about your paint going off and having to throw away that expensive bottle of chalk paint a year after opening. Try at least 10 years for milk paint powder!
One other “benefit” to conclude with is that it’s really therapeutic to slow down and mix your own paint the traditional way and then applying it to that piece of furniture you bought at the hospice shop. Pretend you’re a travelling painter in the year 1800 and something. Going from village to village with your bags of coloured powders. Since milk was always available it was just a matter of curdling the milk and straining it, and then mixing in a coloured powder and painting the town red or blue or green!