in a past issue of country side a subscriber told of a recipe for white-wash that contained lime plaster skim milk and a few other things . I have searched my past issues in vain, have a coral to paint,and am runing out of weather. Can you help find the recipe please ?

-- wm.ziegler (bziegler@stellarnet.com), October 09, 2000

Answers

There is a wonderful website called www.kramers.org that gives traditional recipes for making whitewash, shellacs, varnishes, stains, milk paint, glues, metal polishes, etc. Some of the recipes call for unusual ingredients, but at the beginning of the site there is a conversion table for the modern ingredients. There are several whitewash recipes to choose from. Hope this helps.

-- Anne Tower (bbill@wtvl.net), October 09, 2000.

The articles you are looking for are in issue 7/93 page 10 and issue 5/99 page 26.

-- Betsy (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), October 10, 2000.

There was a thread here not long ago on homemade paints.

If it has milk in it, it's milk paint, not whitewash. It may seem like it's close to the same, but they behave differently. Milkpaint is more durable.

The basic recipe for whitewash is one part salt, three parts slaked lime mixed together dry and then add enough water to make a thin-ish paint. It's best if it sets overnight before you use it.

-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), October 10, 2000.

I just whitewashed our small barn-here is te recipe I used with good success.

Add 10 lbs of lime ( I used Snowflake lime foundin our local hardware) to two gallons of water, stirr well and let stand for at least a couple of hours. It is hard to stir-wear gloves-it can burn. (I used a 5 gal bucket)

in another bucket dissolve 3 lbs regular table salt in 1 gal warm water.

fer letting the lime/water solution set, mix the salt water into it, and again stir well.

We got out walls damp first(concrete block construction) and then painted the mixture on the walls with a new cheapo broom-it goes on more transparent-but dries white. We have been very pleased with the results-did it over a month ago and it still looks new.

This was not a difficult job, I had the help of my 8 yr old son, and we got the job done in just a short time. We cleaned the barn out well beforehand, and the longest period of time was waiting for the lime to set. I had read that it is best to let it sit overnight, and I will try that next time we do it-I had to gt this done in a hurry becaue we were due for a few days rain, and it had to be done that day.

Hope that helps, Sarah

-- Sarah (heartsong85@juno.com), October 10, 2000.