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Repairing Sharpie on milk paint

Steven Forrest

Steven Forrest

Joined
Dec 23, 2014
Messages
230
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418
Location
Sebastopol, California
A bowl I made with a green milk paint exterior recently got a single mark with a black Sharpie pen. Any suggestions for how best to erase the mark without messing up the milk paint? Or painting over the mark and effectively blending the new and old painted surfaces?
 
Alcohol will remove sharpie on smooth non porous surfaces, but I think you may have problems over milk paint.

I would take a scrap of wood the same as the bowl, sand it, paint it with milk paint and then use a sharpie on it. You can try alcohol, but my guess is it will really mess up the paint. Use that scrap to test if you can just paint over the sharpie and have it blend in, or if painting the whole bowl is needed for a uniform finish. Lots of fiddling around, but better on a test piece than experimenting on the bowl.
 
Had the milk paint been sealed with some type of overcoat (oil finish, wax, etc)? Or is it still a raw milk paint surface? Depending on how many coats of milk paint are already on the piece, you may have trouble blending a patch, particularly if overcoated (milk paint might not adhere). If you are using true milk paint, it may well require several coats to hide the sharpie mark. A single coat of milk paint is not opaque. Probably best to sand back and redo the whole thing.

One other point comes to mind -- is it actually *true* milk paint? Mixed from powder and water, with casein or milk derivatives as ingredients? Or is it something like General Finishes' "Milk Paint" which is actually NOT milk paint at all. The ingredients listed on the can are essentially acrylic resin -- no hint of casein or any milk derivatives listed among components. It is an acrylic paint, not milk paint.
 
Water can dilute Sharpie some. Unless you get 100% of it off, it may bleed through your next paint coat.

You could shellac seal the entire thing then apply milk paint again. Nobody would ever know...
 
Steve,
If you painted it with a standard color, I would just mix up a small bit of milk paint and then paint over the spot.. If you mixed colors to end up with your color.....you will never match it.
Problem if you put an oil finish on the bowl as I do not think the new milk paint will like that.

What about sanding with some 400 grit and see how much of it comes off?
Just thinking her.
Let us know the results please.
 
My 2 cents: Given that you will probably end up repainting the piece, there is nothing to lose by trying to remove the Sharpie mark. Give the piece a wipe with DNA or isopropyl alcohol, both of which are remarkably effective erasers of Sharpie marks. If the "milk paint" is really an acrylic paint in a milk paint colour and sheen (as most milk paints are), then you might get away with this. If the mark doesn't go away, it will at least be less noticeable and you should require fewer coats to repaint the piece.
 
I’ve done several pieces where I’ve put sandblast resist over milk paint. After blasting and removing the resist, I’ve used DNA to remove the adhesive residue without any effect to the milk paint (Old Fashioned brand).
 
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