Raw wood and MMS Milk Paint go together like peanut butter and jelly. They’re simply meant to be! Because raw wood is porous, it easily absorbs our paint products and creates a finish that looks like it was there for hundreds of years.

If you haven’t used our products before, raw wood projects are a fantastic way to dip your toe into the world of Milk Paint! Our founder, Marian Parsons (aka Miss Mustard Seed), gave this sweet vintage wooden dough bowl a MMS Milk Paint facelift using Artissimo and Hemp Oil.

Let’s dive into the steps on how she did it!

Step 1 - Mixing Milk Paint for the Dough Bowl

Marian was given this vintage dough bowl a few years ago. She had a vision to paint the base in blue and make it look antiqued to perfection.

To get started, she whipped up a batch of our dreamy midnight blue, Artissimo.

If you’re new to MMS Milk Paint, you can take a pit stop here and watch our tutorial on mixing. If you can mix a protein shake, you can mix Milk Paint!

You can even mix your Milk Paint a little on the thin side when working with raw wood. Since it’s so absorbent, your paint doesn’t have to be super thick. For a smaller project, like a dough bowl, 2 tablespoons of mixed Milk Paint would be plenty!

Once your MMS Milk Paint is mixed, give it about 10 minutes or so to rest. This gives the powder a chance to dissolve in the water, and helps the pigments come together for a consistent finish.

Step 2 - Milk Painting the Dough Bowl

When it’s time to paint, you can also use any brush you have on hand - natural or synthetic. Our Milk Paint doesn’t leave any brush strokes, making it a very forgiving product for first-timers and pro’s alike!

Using a dark color, like Artissimo, is a great way to get amazing coverage. After a few brush strokes, your project will be looking dark and dreamy!

Marian only needed 1 coat of Artissimo to get the coverage she was looking for on her dough bowl!

See those little lumps dotted across the surface? Those will sand smooth once the Milk Paint has dried. When you’re painting raw wood, Milk Paint doesn’t take very long to dry! A piece like Marian’s dough bowl would dry in about an hour, if not faster.

Step 3 - Distressing the Dough Bowl

To get a super smooth feel on your MMS Milk Paint projects, we recommend doing a fine sanding with 400, 320 or 220 grit sandpaper. You can also use a sanding sponge or a sanding pad if you wish. Using these super fine grits will gently knock down any lumps or clumps that did not dissolve in your mix.

If you’re a lover of texture, grit and layers of paint, don’t smooth sand! Leave all of that gritty goodness right where it is. This is a great way to enhance the primitive nature of antiques!

If you’d like to add age and character, bump down to a more aggressive grit like 150, 120 or 100 to remove paint from the surface. This is called “distressing”.

Marian sanded her dough bowl down to show the original texture, cuts and character. As a lover of antiques, she embraces the natural patina and charm of her finds!

Step 3 - Sealing the Dough Bowl

Once her dough bowl was dusted off, Marian sealed it using our Hemp Seed Oil Wood Finish.

Our Hemp Oil is a fantastic choice for dark colors like Artissimo, Typewriter and Curio.

To apply it, Marian simply squirted some onto a microfiber cloth and rubbed it in. (If you have a larger project, we recommend pouring Hemp Oil into a separate container, and using a brush or lint-free cloth to apply it.)

She oiled both the outside and inside, bringing out the natural beauty of her vintage dough bowl.

After applying Hemp Oil, and allowing it to soak in for a bit, you can rub away any excess oil that’s left on the surface with a clean lint-free cloth. This will help your project from feeling sticky as it dries.

Hemp Oil will vary in the time it takes to dry to the touch. It really depends on how dry your piece is and the temperature and humidity in your neck of the woods. Some projects can be dry to the touch almost right away! Others may take about a week to settle down. It really depends, as every surface is different.

Hemp Oil takes 20-30 days to completely cure, which is different than drying. We explain the difference between dry and cure time in this blog post.

An Authentically Aged Finish

Marian’s vintage wooden dough bowl went from dry to dramatic using a bit of Artissimo MMS Milk Paint and some Hemp Seed Oil Wood Finish.

This combination of MMS Milk Paint products gave her dough bowl an authentically aged finish that fits right in with her characteristic blue and white decor scheme!

If you’d like to see more of Marian’s MMS Milk Paint makeovers, you should check out her lineup of projects here!

Are you inspired to use MMS Milk Paint on some raw wood pieces at home?

You can find all of the products you’ll need in our online shop.

For best pricing, find a local or online MMSMP retailer using our locator map!