it's only natural
January 8, 2023 12:40 PM Subscribe
How do the food products in natural paint not attract animals/mold, or start to smell? (...or do they?)
I was looking at a book about natural paints that were indicated for indoor use. They were very simple formulations that included food materials like flour, beer, and the milk byproduct quark (!). Most of them didn't appear to have any sort of preservative component. One recipe for a glaze was literally just lager beer mixed with pigment. What prevents these paints from attracting insects or mice like if I just left a spill of those ingredients out on my kitchen counter? What prevents something like milk from starting to smell on your wall? I realize this question isn't necessarily limited to unusual 'alternative' DIY paints like in that book; I also don't understand how the linseed oil in oil paints and the egg in tempera don't cause the same issue.
I was looking at a book about natural paints that were indicated for indoor use. They were very simple formulations that included food materials like flour, beer, and the milk byproduct quark (!). Most of them didn't appear to have any sort of preservative component. One recipe for a glaze was literally just lager beer mixed with pigment. What prevents these paints from attracting insects or mice like if I just left a spill of those ingredients out on my kitchen counter? What prevents something like milk from starting to smell on your wall? I realize this question isn't necessarily limited to unusual 'alternative' DIY paints like in that book; I also don't understand how the linseed oil in oil paints and the egg in tempera don't cause the same issue.
I've made my own milk paint and used animal protein glue (basically same as jello or gummy bears). I would say that primarily, the finished product being indoors means it's always kept dry. Most bugs need some kind of dampness for things to be chewable. Linseed oil polymerizes, which I would guess makes it too tough to eat.
posted by brachiopod at 1:49 PM on January 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by brachiopod at 1:49 PM on January 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
I have worked with home made egg tempera, and casein paint, and paper glue/paste made from flour. i was taught to add a drop of clove oil to the egg tempera and also flour paste. I still own some of the art work and all of it is in very good shape (some of it older than 40 years).
The book the Materials of the Artist, by Max Doerner, originally published in 1920s and reissued many times (in German: Material und seine Verwendung, latest Version 2011), is a great resource for the practicalities of painting.
It describes the chemical processes.
Also, sometimes i worked as an assisstant with someone who restored furniture (painted folk art, usually casein paint on soft wood, between 150 and 250 years old). The biggest issues were wood worms. The old casein paint sometimes was badly damaged due to drying out wood eaten by insects which resulted in flaking paint. But if the furniture had been kept indoors often the paint was in perfect condition ecxept for wear and tear of usage on doors, and wood worm.
From experience, and also from reading about those techniques, one important factor is proper drying of paint and keeping it dry.
Flour based recipes for glueing and painting are more vulnerable but i have seen/handled items that survived well, If kept from insects and damp.
(casein was also used as an early sort of plastic. Take a thin slice of hard cheese and let it dry eg on a radiator, it becomes hard and brittle before it puts in mold.)
posted by 15L06 at 2:55 PM on January 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
The book the Materials of the Artist, by Max Doerner, originally published in 1920s and reissued many times (in German: Material und seine Verwendung, latest Version 2011), is a great resource for the practicalities of painting.
It describes the chemical processes.
Also, sometimes i worked as an assisstant with someone who restored furniture (painted folk art, usually casein paint on soft wood, between 150 and 250 years old). The biggest issues were wood worms. The old casein paint sometimes was badly damaged due to drying out wood eaten by insects which resulted in flaking paint. But if the furniture had been kept indoors often the paint was in perfect condition ecxept for wear and tear of usage on doors, and wood worm.
From experience, and also from reading about those techniques, one important factor is proper drying of paint and keeping it dry.
Flour based recipes for glueing and painting are more vulnerable but i have seen/handled items that survived well, If kept from insects and damp.
(casein was also used as an early sort of plastic. Take a thin slice of hard cheese and let it dry eg on a radiator, it becomes hard and brittle before it puts in mold.)
posted by 15L06 at 2:55 PM on January 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oh, they get eaten! Paper in books gets eaten by grubs, wool shirts get eaten by moths, and food based art materials get eaten by everything. I had a box of natural materials art that was devoured by mice.
posted by Dynex at 3:25 PM on January 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Dynex at 3:25 PM on January 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Tripitaka Koreana is 81,000+ ancient woodblocks in excellent condition. The link explains what they did and do to keep them that way.
posted by aniola at 4:30 PM on January 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by aniola at 4:30 PM on January 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
oh it can get bad - I made milk paint from a recipe meant for much much drier conditions and my wall in the tropics began to look, smell and feel like a nightmare within a few days from the bacteria and bugs.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:57 PM on January 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:57 PM on January 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
When I was in art school 50 years ago, I painted my walls with latex paint and the roaches ate the paint as long as it was moist. They also ate the watercolor paint off my paintings. When squished, you could tell which painting they ate it from by the color that oozed out.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:16 PM on January 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:16 PM on January 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
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The edibility problem of these recipes was also the historical appeal of lime wash (which has no edible ingredients and binds to rough surfaces far better), especially where pests were a problem.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 1:13 PM on January 8, 2023 [4 favorites]