Mary Ostler

I decided to give my dust filled lungs a bit of a vacation day, so I
chose to play with milk paint instead. I have been playing a little bit
for the last week or so, but today was what I consider day one of
the experiment.

I managed to finally find Hydrate Lime yesterday. I had borrowed a bit of lawn lime
from someone, but it was not a good substitue. There was to many additional additives
in the mix, to really know what was going on. I had tried some turmeric with this lawn lime,
and managed to get a very bright yellow, but it was more a stain than paint. Would not want
to use it for real do to all the chemicals used in it.

gathered equipment

I bought some dry curd from the grocery store. I know I can make my own
curd with milk, vinegar, and time, but decided that I can always play with
that another time.

Lime paste mixed with dry cheese curds

There was such a small amount of water in the lime paste I didn’t
think it would break down the full two cups of curd, but almost right away
the lime started to break it down. In two hours time, the curd was all but
completely dissolved. The paint was thick, and quite white.

turmeric samples 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 tsp.

Just random amounts of Turmeric

Turmeric mixed with milk paint

The turmeric has small darker particles in it. I am not sure if this is normal,
or if its an impurity in the spice. I may try to sift it at work to see if its possible
to remove the particles. I personally like the darker dots. It reminds me of
Persimmons (my favorite fruit)

Color swatches of turmeric, plus a red sawdust alcohol, and no dye

The red sawdust was soaked in Isopropanol, and didn’t seem to affect
the paint when I added 25 drops. I was worried that alcohol and milk causes
curdling, then I remembered that the lime breaks down curd. I did end up
adding alot more of the dye later on, and massive curdling did take place.
There must be a critical point were the lime can no longer dissolve curd into
casein. Hard to tell from the picture, but the paint turned a dark pinky hue.