Milk Painting a Vintage Rocking Horse

Layering Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint to Update a Vintage Rocking Horse — Giddy Up!

2/6/2015

I got this little guy awhile ago.
I'd always planned to keep him in this original state,
but he took a pretty bad tumble in the studio...
and cracked his head straight off!

When I fixed him up, I made
an impromptu design decision to give him
a makeover and move him into my home.

milk-painting-vintage-antique-rocking-horse

My vintage rocking horse getting a makeover

Let me start at the beginning.
I've always admired
Miss Mustard Seed's iconic chippy rocking horse
in the colour Grain Sack.
A beauty, right?

Miss Mustard Seed's chippy rocking horse in Milk Paint

Getting that last coat of paint on — a custom red made with Curio and Tricycle

The second layer of Milk Paint goes on over the Hemp Oil

The base layer for some serious paint layering and a Hemp Oil resist

Once dried, I hit random spots
with Hemp Oil to create a resist
for the next layer of paint...
which happened to be MMSMP in Kitchen Scale.

My horse wanted to take his own path.
Giddy up.

Taking inspiration from
my dining room chairs I started the makeover
with Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in Typewriter.
He was pretty thirsty so I didn't bother to
add Bonding Agent.
Also, knowing I wanted layers, I didn't want to have to sand much.

Remember if you want Milk Paint to grab hold
of a surface, add Bonding Agent.
If you're hoping for a chippy finish—leave it out.

I used my favourite brush in the world
for this job, the Small Paint Brush (only $12 online),
it got into the many nooks and crannies and did
its job perfectly distributing the MMS Milk Paint.

The black was heavy for Mr. Horse,
but it worked as a foundation for a few fun layers.
I kept the coat light so the pattern and old chipping paint
had a chance to peek through.

Get this transformation going with Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Typewriter

Because I liked the previous version so much,
I had a few moments of doubt.
But a few loyal cheerleaders assured me
I was on the right path, so I persevered.
I'm beyond happy that I did.

I applied a quick coat of Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Wax
but instead of buffing with a cloth
I used 220-grit sandpaper to buff it in, then polished with a rag.
The result is dreamy!!!
A rough surface became soft and smooth to the touch and
oh my goodness...
the layers became more pronounced and
melded together better than I'd imagined.

You know those projects that you know you will love when finished
but then you are surprised in the end how much?
Well, this is my lucky horse for sure!

The final step,
(which really should've happened before the waxing, but I got ahead of myself),
was using Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Typewriter
to wash that grey right out of horsey's tail.

It was one of those weird painting moments....
lifting his tail and poking the brush around.
I'm not sure who was more embarrassed.

I was really happy with this result
and would happily have kept My Little Pony with these
two layers of colour, but he wanted to keep running.
So we did!

Another random application of Hemp Oil
as a resist and the next and last coat
of Milk Paint was made from leftovers of a custom mix
I'd used to restyle a laminate file cabinet (click to see blog post)
A rich, deep red mixed from Tricycle and Curio.
Click here to see all the Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint colours.

Sprucing up the polyester rope tail — and look at those layers!

Just look at this beauty.
I cannot wait to move him into my house.
And that chippy finish, you simply cannot get
that authentic of a finish with any other paint...
I love Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint!

Here he is moved in to his new stable.
This lighting in my house is the worst so the photo is dark but you get the picture!
xx

It's all here...for the love...
Sada