Playing with Miss Mustard Seed

 

 Since Nancy and I started this venture, we have been trying all different kinds of paint, stains, waxes and faux finishes. Some work, some don't. Finally we narrowed down our favorites. It's been on Facebook and on our emails but if you didn't see it, we are now a distributor for "Miss Mustard Seed" Milk Paint.

If you've never heard of  it before, Milk paint is an Eco-friendly, natural paint that has been around for thousands of years and has been used in America for years on furniture, walls & barns.  Milk paint comes in a powdered form and needs to be mixed with water to create the paint.  It has great adhesion with the bonding agent added directly to the first coat of paint.  Without the bonding agent, milk paint naturally self-distresses, creating the sought after "chippy" look.

The hutch above has been painted with 'Tricycle". A rich red color reminiscent of the little trikes of our childhood. I added the bonding agent to the paint mixture so it would not chip and flake. FYI the hutch was my Mothers from the early 1950's. Since the varnish was really worn in some spots, the paint took on an antiqued look. It really is pretty close up.

 I was really surprised at how far the paint goes. It's very thin - almost watery. I didn't think it would have as nice a coverage as it did. The fact that you can get a transparent look, washed look, chippy look or opaque finish is amazing. One bag of paint, a little water (bonding agent if you're not into chips) and your ready to go. Little or no prep work is needed. I didn't do anything to the Red hutch - just started painting. 

The table below arrived at the shop in need of a little TLC. Nan and I had a hard time deciding between the 12 beautiful colors Miss Mustard Seed comes in. We finally decided to do the legs in Linen and the top in Kitchen Scale. Nancy put 3 coats on the legs, we didn't want the wood to show through. Bonding Agent was added because we want to distress it ourselves, same for the Kitchen Scale. I love the look of as I call it, the farmhouse look. But there are times that I want a more controlled distressing. The top has only one coat on so far, this color is going to be very pleasing

This is the chair I decided to do "without" bonding agent. I wanted to see exactly what it would do. I applied two thin coats of Mustard Seed Yellow. The first coat did nothing, I was a little disappointed, I guess I expected it to happen right away. I applied the second coat and went to help a few customers, When I got back to it, after about 20 minutes or so...it had chipped and flaked. It does it where it wants to. You have no control over it. I loved the way it looked.

I call it the Farmhouse look because the few times I was at a farm, the chairs looked like this.

Well, I hope that gives you a bit of basic information on Milk Paint. I am having alot of fun playing with it. Anxious to try all the colors.

We are planning on having our first actual workshop the first week of December. I thought it was close to the Holiday but the response has been....have the workshop!!! More info will be posted shortly. We will have a Thursday evening 6:00 - 8:00 - with a small project  provided or a Saturday 10 - 4 workshop with lunch included... you bring a small project like end table, coffee table or chair. Right now we are working it all out. I think it will be fun - I'm very excited about the paint and know you'll love it.

 If you want a quick, informal demo, stop in anytime and I'll be glad to give you the basic once over.

Patti