Mixing Casein Primer

How fun is it to make your paint? FUN. Especially when using leftovers would otherwise spoil. We typically paint our interior finish lime plaster in 3 coats: casein primer, homemade casein-lime paint, and Grainy lime paint. I buy the primer and the Grainy paint  from Tockay, and we make the middle coat out of leftover primer and bagged hydrated lime leftover from plastering. Casein is a milk protein and spoils readily, but adding hydrated lime powder makes a paint that lasts for weeks. We add 1.25 cups of hydrated lime for every cup of primer, let it stand overnight, mix it up again and brush it on. It is THICK, needs stirring constantly, and doesn’t roll well. Once dry, we top coat with Tockay’s Grainny Lime Paint. It covers more evenly, is more wipe-resistant, and has a beautiful gritty texture reminiscent of limewash on barn foundations. The homemade paint makes good $ sense to build up the base, especially when you have leftover primer. We’ve had good luck using this paint on interior pine siding, and drywall painted white and primed with casein primer. Thank you Chris Magwood for coming over and showing me how to make this paint when I was renovating my house in 2018 and for posting Endeavours recipe.

Homemade Lime Paint

• 1.25 cups of casein primer (recipe to make on the bag)
• 1 cup of hydrated lime (we typically use Bondcrete made by Graymont)

Mix with an immersion blender (Straworks bought one to spare my kitchens). Let stand overnight.
Brush on thick and evenly

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  Casein Primer - it's thin

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  Tockays Grainy Lime Paint

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  Painting with Homemade Paint

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  Painting with Homemade Paint

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  Painting with Homemade Paint

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  Painting with Homemade Paint

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  Painting with Homemade Paint

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  Painting with Homemade Paint

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  Finished Wall