Traditional flour paint has years’ worth of user experience, and the raw materials are known and safe to use. Flour paints are genuinely breathable, so they don’t form any kind of membrane that interferes with the moisture flow.
Red Earth Paint is easy to make yourself. It’s affordable, environmentally friendly, and very easy to renew. There are several recipes available.
Water, sulfate, rye flour and red soil are needed to make the based paint itself, and linseed oil and a little salt can be added if desired.
Making the paint
The cooking vessel is a large wall pot or an iron barrel, a brick of stone stove about 20 cm high is placed under the cooking vessel. In order to stir the paint, for example, a paddle is made from a board, which extends well to the bottom of the container.
Pour clean water into the cooking vessel, light the fire and boil the water. Part of the water in the instructions is left in an empty bucket and the rye flour is mixed evenly, pouring into cold water. If you cook rye flour in advance, it will speed up the process.
The iron sulfate is mixed with the heating water while stirring with the paddle, the sulfate helps to attach colour to wood and it also fights rot and mold.
When the water is steamingly hot, the rye flour mixed with cold water is poured into the pot. A starch paste cooked from rye flour acts as a binder for the paint. The mixture is boiled for 2-3 hours, the mixture must not boil, but kept at the boiling point of 80-90 degrees.
The mixture must be stirred with a paddle every now and then, so that it doesn’t burn. Linseed oil can be added at this stage, the oil improves the adhesion of the paint to wood.
When the paint is almost ready, stir in gradually adding the red soil. If the mixture tends to bubble over, the liquid can be taken into a bucket and later poured back in. The fire is reduced at this point.
After the red soil is added, the mixture is simmered for some time, mainly to mix the red soil evenly. The fire can already be extinguished.
The completion of the paint can be checked by dipping in a cleaned wooden stick. When the paint on the stick dries, test by hand by swiping whether it leaves colour. The paint is ready when no paint comes off the stick.
If the paint is stored for more than a couple of days, add a couple of handfuls of salt as a preservative.
Paint recipes:
The Finnish Heritage Agency Recipe:
Red Paint recipe for a 200-liter barrel
Water 150 liter
Ferrous sulfate 6kg (4kg bag)
Fine rye flour 12kg
Red soil 25kg (25kg sack)
(Linseed oil 5 liter)
(Salt 200 g)
The one used in Turkansaari:
50-liter base paint recipe
Water 50 liter
Ferrous sulfate 2kg
Fine rye flour 4,5kg
Red soil 8kg
Linseed oil 3 liter
