OUR PLAIN VIEW HERITAGE FARM ARCHIVES PRESENT:
"The Power of Milk Paint" From a Newspaper Clipping
As a youngster, Ivan Yoder, Mohnton, Pennsylvania, painted chicken houses and barns using milk paint. On painting day his dad brought a creamery can of skim milk home in his Model T.
For red paint, he advises George Goeller, Bayside, New York, to mix equal amounts of red iron oxide powder and lime powder to milk until it reaches desired consistency.
in 1936, Ivan purchased the old homestead and tore down the chicken house but left the barn standing. To this day the barn is stillb right and has never been repainted. The paint coated the surfaces, never fading or running.
Jean Yarbrough, Albuquerque, New Mexico, uses a similar mixture.
In a bucket, add enough milk from a 1/2 gallon jug to 6 ounces of hydrated lime to make a thick cream. Stir in 4 ounces of linseed oil a little at a time, then add remainder of milk. Sprinkle commercial whiting over top and let it sink in, then stir thoroughly. If color is desired, stir in powdered pigment.
The Romanian churches that are hundreds of years old have paintings on the exterior walls that have been exposed to severe winter weather, ice and snow for all that time and yet the paintings have remained bright and unfading. No one knows the secret of the paint to this day. Billy Graham was taken on his evangelistic crusade in Romania some years go to these churches to see the marvels for himself--paint that never fades! But perhaps here is the vital ingredient that has been forgotten in Romania--cow's milk! Isn't it time to go back to these old recipes? We might have paint that won't fade and will last hundreds of years, just as the paint lasted in Pennsylvania wherever Ivan Yoder painted, and also over in Romania on the walls of its ancient churches.--Ed.
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