Antique Milk Paint Finish

These two shots show where we are headed.  I know, another story about antiquing milk paint.  Yawn, but I'll show you how I do mine and read if you want, you may pick up a couple things. 

First thing you want to do is dye or stain the whole chair.  I used an oil base stain, which honestly I wouldn't recommend because it can cause adhesion problems.  In this case it really didn't matter because I'm gonna antique it anyway, but if you were going for a better, more refined finish, it may cause problems, so better avoided.  Just pick a brown of some sort; all you're doing here is putting some color so when you rub thru, it's not a stark white.

 Then put on a base color,  Bayberry Green in this case from the Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co.  For this application, the Old Fashioned works better as you can rub it to different sheens and completely off if you want.  Again, this coat doesn't have to be perfect,  it's a base color.  I should say here that in areas where there is  a lot of wear ( the seat for example, and the legs) put down some wax over the stain.  This will prevent the paint from sticking, so the wood will show after the chair is rubbed down.  Another thing is to brush on some liquid hide glue onto the wear areas.  Allow it to dry...when you paint over it the paint will crackle.  Be careful not to over brush the top coat, or the effect will be ruined.  I've never really had great luck with this effect but I recently discovered a better way.  Lay the paint on pretty thick and while it is still wet, hit it with a heat gun.  The paint will crackle right up.  I find it better because it's more realistic because the cracks are smaller and it is much more predictable. 

 In the above shot, you can see where I put the wax.  After the first coat has dried, rub down with a grey scuff pad.  Where the wax allows the paint to show thru, re-apply slightly larger so you can see the wood and the underneath paint.  I would recommend using Butchers wax in stead of a paraffin block.  The paraffin, because it is like a candle, can be moved around when rubbed and thus may end up in place you don't want.

 At this point the chair will look pretty bad but press on.  Then I put on a topcoat of Mustard.  To be honest, I wasn't really happy with the resulting color but more on that later. 

Here you can see the crackling so far.You can see the green peeking thru, and the crackling from the hide glue and heat gun.  Another thing I try to do is when I mix the paint, for antique effect anyway, is to use it right off.  Normally for a black on red refined finish, I mix it and let it sit, then strain it to get a really smooth paint.  But for older looking chairs and furniture, use it right off.  You also get more variety in the color.  My next post will go into more detail about that, but suffice it say, use the paint thick and quick.

 By not allowing the paint to sit, the clumps of paint are spread out by the brush, which allows the difference colors to come out rather than one boring monotone.

Now we get out the blowtorch!  Using great caution, I mix up some weak shellac, about a 4lb cut, and systematically paint on the shellac and light it on fire.  Do small areas at a time, like one leg, light, one stretcher, light, etc.  Caution!  The flame is not visible, so make sure it's out before moving onto the next area.  Go slow and light it when it is still wet. and do it outside and keep a fire extinguisher handy.  I keep a garden how handy too.  Again, the flame is barely visible, so BE CAREFUL!  What this does is oxidize the paint, giving it a crackled look.

 Above you see the results.  It does darken the paint, as well as giving it a tactile roughness that mimics old paint.  Next step mix up some dark wax, roofing cement, and a little dryer lint, about ten parts wax to 2 parts cement and shred up a little lint.  This mixture is is then rubbed on with a grey scotch brite and after it dries a little, rub it off with a cloth.  Try to remove as much as you can from the seat and areas that get contacted thru normal wear and tear, and leave the mixture in the nooks and crannies.  This does a really good job of mimicking years of dirt and grime, plus it hangs in the cracks of the milk paint, making them more visible. 

That about does it.  Like I said, the color isn't really what I wanted.  The Mustard didn't really cover the green like I'd wanted, they sort of blended together.  Plus, I went a little overboard with the antiquing.  The old adage is the less is more, and I think that's right.  I just wanted a chair that wasn't black on red, and showed some antiquing.  This just turned a little more then I wanted.  But the techniques are the same, just less so.