Do you really need yet another homemade paint recipe for kids in your life…the answer is yes! I wasn’t sold on chalk paint at first, drawing with chalk is already a favorite, what could painting with it add? I decided to try it out anyway and can tell you I’m absolutely thrilled with this new art material! Here’s why you should add chalk paint to your repertoire:
- It is much thicker and more vibrant than drawing with chalk.
- It can be painted on any surface you typically draw on with chalk.
- It wipes/washes clean easily, just like chalk.
- It’s easy make it yourself quickly, especially if you have chalk powder on hand.
There are a number of recipes for sidewalk chalk paint online, typically they use a cornstarch and food coloring mixture OR require you to grate/smash pieces of chalk to make chalk powder. Both of these methods work. The cornstarch recipe, though, is goopy and needs to be continually mixed to keep the cornstarch and water from separating. And grating pieces of chalk is just not something I have time for….so when I was at the hardware store and saw chalk powder for construction chalk lines I knew I had hit pay dirt for an easy chalk paint recipe.
You can pick up a plastic bottle of chalk powder at the hardware store or Amazon for a couple dollars; I bought Irwin Powder Chalk for $2.50 a bottle. The only limitation is the color selection, our local store carried only blue, fluorescent orange, white, and terra cotta red. In construction the colors are used for different applications and degrees of permanence. Online I saw you can also pick up white, black, yellow, and green. I haven’t tried purchasing white and tinting it but who knows, maybe that will work too…..
Hardware Store Chalk Paint
Note: this tutorial is for art paint, not furniture chalk paint.
Materials:
- Chalk Powder
- Water
Instructions:
- Step One Pour some chalk powder into a jar.
- Step Two Add water to the jar; I used a 3:1 ratio of chalk to water.
- Step Three Put a lid on the jar and shake it around until mixed or stir the chalk and water together until the chalk is fully dissolved. Add more water if necessary to make the consistency you want.
You’re done! Told you it was easy….now go outside and paint! My daughter started painting the tiles on our back patio and then quickly moved to her hands and feet…looks like I need to investigate homemade face paint a little more…anyhoo I could see chalk paint being used for sidewalk art or hopscotch or writing big messages on the ground….
We also tried it out on our chalkboard wall inside the house. Yes, I held my breath a little on that one since we were inside and the temptation to splatter chalk paint is high…. Luckily all went well.
This is one instance where you don’t need to be alarmed at seeing paint all over your floor, when you are done, the chalk paint wipes clean with a damp cloth.
Enjoy!
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My name is Ana Luisa Dziengel, architect, award winning furniture designer, and creatively inspired mom. My husband and I live with our three little ones, ages 4 and 6 and an infant in the sunny San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. This is a chronicle of projects and ideas for imaginative families like us!
