Explore color, pattern, and texture using milk paint, a durable natural finish with a long history. Students will make their own sample tiles of stock colors and custom mixes to use for future reference. We will explore various ways to apply the paint and seal it. This is a great class for DIYers, anyone interested in learning more about natural home finishes, and woodcarvers or furniture makers interested in adding color to their handmade items. While several brands of milk paint are available on the market, this class will use the brand Old Fashioned Milk Paint. We will cover basic techniques for mixing, applying, and finishing milk paint to achieve a desired look and feel, as well as color theory for layering milk paint pigments to create unique color combinations. Students will leave with a set of sample tiles useful for reference on future projects. Students ages 12+ may register for this course independently.

Required Tools

• If students have any chip carving knives, wood gouges, or ways to add relief texture to a board, they should bring those tools.

  Optional Tools

• A notebook to record your own milk paint recipes
• Pen or pencil
• A project you might like to paint
• An apron or clothes that could get paint on them
• A mask if you are sensitive to wood finishes

This course will be part of Wood Week. Plan to arrive a day early for the Carvers Conference on Friday, March 6, which features demonstrations, speakers and community gatherings all day, offered as a benefit to students enrolled in Wood Week coursework.