How To Make Silhouettes With MilkPaint™
Hello MMS Milk Paint friends, it's Kelly from The Tattered Pew, and I am thrilled to be back and sharing another project with you all today. Today I am excited to show you how to make silhouettes with MilkPaint™.
Love Is In The Air
As you know it's February and love is in the air! I wanted to do something for myself, you know, a bit of self love? And one thing I adore is capturing pictures of my daughters. I love to display pictures of my family around our home and I am always looking for fun and creative ways to do so. Recently I have been drawn to the classic beauty and simplicity of silhouettes and wanted some for our home.
So I figured why not paint them myself with my favorite MMS MilkPaint™? This was such a simple DIY and for me, using Miss Mustard Seed's® MilkPaint™ in the color Typewriter, was the best part! Not only was it the perfect dark color but it was so much fun to work with.
Supplies Needed To Make Silhouettes
Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links. Should you choose to purchase any of these supplies using the links below, I will earn a small commission for teaching you this craft and demonstrating how to use these products.
● Frames (similar to mine linked)
● MMS Milk Paint in Typewriter
● Pencil
● Printer
● Profile pictures of your subjects
How To Make Silhouettes With Milk Paint: The Steps
First, take profile pictures of the people you plan to have in your silhouettes. I used my phone to take pictures of my two girls. Don't worry about the quality because these pictures will just be used as your outline. But do make sure the size you print out will fit in your frame.
2. Next, print and cut out your profile photo following the silhouette.
3. Then, place your cut out photo onto a piece of white cardstock paper and trace it with a pencil. Use tape to help secure your stencil so it doesn't move around. Once it is traced, you can get your paint ready and mixed. (see directions below)
TIP: My older daughter has a really long ponytail which was very hard to capture when traced and painted. I would suggest that when you photograph girls that they either have their hair down or in a bun to make things easier!
5. Finally, I used my very small paintbrush to outline and define the silhouette with the MMS paint directly over the pencil to cover any marks. Gradually I filled it in by painting the inside of the silhouette. With milk paint, nice long smooth strokes help keep the subject smoother. I ended up doing 2-3 coats in some of the areas that were lighter than other areas. I loved the time-worn, almost chalkboard look it had when the paint dried!
How To Mix Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint
For this project, I mixed up Miss Mustard Seed's® Typewriter, which is a nice soft black color with a vintage time-worn vibe.
Perfect for silhouettes!
I used equal parts water to equal parts milk paint while slowly adding more water to get the paint to where I wanted it.
For two 5 x 7 silhouettes, I used 1 tsp of Typewriter and 3 tsp of water to get the consistency I wanted. I stirred/whisked it quickly and let it sit before using it. I had more than enough!
Framing The DIY Silhouettes
Once your silhouettes have dried, you can cut your cardstock to the size of your frame and frame your beautiful new art.
I had originally been on the hunt at thrift stores for some old circular frames but was unable to find any. So instead, I used two 5 x 7 frames that I found at HomeGoods for $5.99 each.
How To Make Silhouettes With Milk Paint
Oh goodness, do I love how these turned out! Such a simple project yet full of so much love. Are they perfect? No, but I’m proud of them! I had fun taking the frames around our home and displaying them in different spots like our mantel, kitchen, office, and side tables.
Overall this is a great beginner's project that took me less than 30 minutes to complete. Hopefully, I have encouraged you on how easy and fun it is to make silhouettes using milk paint! I am keeping these for myself, but I also think they would make great gifts for grandparents or loved ones. The perfect keepsake!