Milk Paint

I just found an article about making your own Milk Paint, which sounds interesting and I have an old bench I thought I would try and paint with milk paint, as it is non toxic and enviormentally safe. The primary ingredient in milk paint is casein, otherwise known as milk curd. Here is the recipe:

Milk Paint
Mix about 450g (about 1lb.) of skimmed milk with about 50g of hydrated lime (garden additive variety). Slowly add about 300g of "whiting" or calcium carbonate. Powdered chalk will do. It won't mix very easily so constant stirring is required. This will give you a basic white paint. If you want to tint it, exchange some of the chalk with earth pigment colourants. The pigments used to colour cement for patio stones and driveway pavers are compatible with the lime, as are the powdered chalkline colours. You'll have to experiment with the pigments to obtain the colour you desire and adjust the level of powders to obtian the proper consistency. If it's too thin, the materials will separate upon application. Be aware that milk paint colours lighten dramatically as they dry. Applied by bristle or foam brush directly on well sanded bare wood, milk paint adhers well & becomes virtually impervious to most solvents including paint stripper. In fact if you have ever stripped an old piece of furniture of it's many coats of paint & discovered to your chagrin that the last colour wouldn't budge, it was proberbly milk paint. Have fun!

(Sorry about the ingredients being in grams - but is a Canadian article & I cannot now remember what the conversion is - I only remember about 450g is about 1 lb.)