Do I need to use bonding agent with my milk paint?

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DO I NEED TO USE BONDING AGENT WITH MY MILK PAINT? THIS IS A QUESTION SO MANY PEOPLE ASK. THERE ARE SEVERAL FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN MAKING THIS DECISION. TODAY I AM GOING TO HELP YOU LEARN HOW TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION FOR YOURSELF.

MILK PAINT IS BY FAR ONE OF MY FAVORITE TYPES OF PAINT TO USE.

Although I love it, I will admit that milk paint can be a little tricky at times. It kind of has a mind of its own and sometimes as a painter you have to be able to let it do its thing.

With that being said there are times that you want more control over how your milk paint project is going to turn out. That is where the question about mixing bonding agent with your paint comes in.

GETTING A CHIPPY LOOK WITH MILK PAINT.

One of the things I love about milk paint is that you can get a truly authentic chippy paint look like old, antique painted furniture . Not your typical “distressed” look where you have to sand paint off. With milk paint the paint will just chip off by itself they way old paint chips off of furniture over time

Milk paint itself is a very old type of paint that was used on a lot of the chippy antique furniture pieces that we find today.

See what I mean? This chair was painted without bonding agent by Silk and Sage Design Studio

 

ADDING BONDING AGENT TO MILK PAINT

So the problem that people sometimes have with using milk is that they want to paint a piece and not have any chipping. This is where bonding agent comes in to play. By adding bonding agent to your milk paint you create a paint that does not naturally chip the way milk paint typically does over certain finishes.

MILK PAINT WITH BONDING AGENT

Here is an example of a milk painted piece using bonding agent. See no chipping. This stool was painted by Dandelion Wood.

LETS COMPARE  SOME TABLES PAINTED WITH MISS MUSTARD SEED’S MILK PAINT WITH BONDING AGENT AND WITHOUT.

The table above was painted without bonding agent and has some awesome chippy areas, as opposed to the table below that had bonding agent added to the paint for a beautiful non chippy look. This Farmhouse Table was painted with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in the color Farmhouse White and the top was stained with Curio.

 

USING MILK PAINT ON DIFFERENT SURFACES.

Milk paint can be painted on a lot of different types of surfaces: raw wood, wood with a finish on it, metal and more. Knowing what surface you are painting and what look you are wanting are the things you need to consider to determine if bonding agent is needed.

The “basic rules” are that if you are painting something that is not wood, like metal or glass, you are going to need to use bonding agent with your milk paint.

If you are painting raw, unfinished wood you would not need to use bonding agent.

It gets a little tricker when you are painting a wood piece that has a previous finish on it. There are several things to take into consideration in this case to determine if bonding agent is needed to accomplish your goal for the piece you are painting.

I go into more detail in my video looking at a few previously “finished” wood pieces to determine if bonding agent would be needed on them. But remember your desired finished look plays a big part in that decision.

WATCH MY VIDEO FOR MORE TIPS ON DETERMINING IF YOU NEED BONDING AGENT OR NOT.

I created a video showing you several different surfaces to paint and talking through the decision making process of using bonding agent or not. I feel like sometimes seeing something like this is the quickest, easiest way to figure it out.

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