As far as the first poster goes, it takes two coats, usually, for a solid cover, if the paint is mixed up properly (to a creamy consistency, like that of a conventional paint). The first coat may look crummy/uneven, but it is just a primer coat. The second coat is a covering coat and should look consistent when done. We’ve had painters tell us that our reds are the best covering reds they’ve ever painted with… (I guess that reds are notoriously poor as far as covering goes?)

And yes, he is right that the name milk paint reminds him of casein paint, because it is! All milk paints are casein paints, but not all casein paints are milk paint. Milk paint is historically a mixture of casein and crushed limestone, which acts as a solvent for the casein. There are other casein paints out there that actually use some nasty stuff, like formaldehye, as the solvent.
The other ingredients in milk paint are earth pigments, like iron oxides, raw umber and so forth, and some clay to give it body. It was a typical homemade paint made on the spot. We developed the paint in powder form so as to not have to add perservatives to the mixture. So it is siimply mixed with water on the spot- which also, by the way, means that milk paint has about the smallest carbon footprint of any paint on the planet. We are not shipping water- just a few pounds of powder to a gallon rather than 10 or 11 lbs. with conventional paint. And it’s 100% biodegradable.
And talk about tough- milk paint hardens as it cures, just like concrete. It’s very difficult to remove as time goes on, but you can paint anything over it down the road.

The calcimine paint he mentions is a whole other story, not the same at all. It was not meant to be a permanent paint and does not contain the binders that milk paint does. I t is a real pain to remove and paint over. I found a great article on it a few years back that I always send to people when they ask me about calcimine paint-
http://www.plasterlord.com/notebook/fcalcimine.htm

And, as far as the comments go about mixing colors- if you want to be able to duplicate a color you just have to measure and keep a record of your ratios. It’s really simple.
You can experiment using very small amounts of the paint powders- teaspoons, tablespoons, even fractions of teaspoons. Mix the powders in a dixie cup, add a little water and mix, then paint on a piece of scrap wood or even cardboard, recording the ratios of color you used. It will look darker when wet. But if you experiment this way you’ll be able to duplicate a color you like in a larger amount, or duplicate it at another time. People do that all the time….
We have a couple of sources available for small sample sizes if anyone wants to start out that way-
http://www.milkpaint.com/purchase_sample.html (as the smallest size we sell makes one pint).

That’s about all I can think of right now. Thanks again for your commentary- we are so glad that you are enjoying using our paint!!
Anne

Overall, sounds like an awesome product that I’m curious to try out. Thanks for the consumer report!

even with years of experience, it was always a trememdous challenge remotely matching colors using do it yourself pigments. most painters wouldn’t go near pigments and instead simply told the client to pay more and wait an extra day of drying time.

i’m glad some folks either serendipitously stumbled upon colors they enjoy(pigment is at least fun, if totally unpredictable)…or if they are so committed to the *idea* of home tinting that they happily accept the results during their DIY projects. but color mixing and paint mixing turns out to be way more complicated than most of us (or at least I) would have guessed. turns out that those name brand color chips and formulae exist for a reason.

am curious about whey based paint including its cost and hiding. how many coats needed for color changes? any stain hiding?

the name, milk paint, reminds me of artists’ casein paint, which is mostly for translucent washes and effects and would give results difficult to sell to most homeowners seeking opacity, uniform finish and high hiding. artists’ casein paint has not been popular for decades, but conceivably they’ve marketed the same or similar stuff to the chemically sensitive. casein was also used for glues.

Do manufacturers mention painting over the stuff with other paints, say, years later? I ask because I know calsimine whitewash has been painted over on many thousands of NYC ceilings and now house painters must spend weeks painfully scraping the stuff down to bare plaster by hand while breathing toxic dust.