Image of person painting a wall green using a house paint recipe from Natural Earth Paint

Recipe: Natural Clay House Paint

Every room in my home is painted with this natural clay paint that's easy to make, economical, and gives my home a beautiful, soft, adobe-like look. I get compliments from all my guests!

Ingredients: 

Bag of flour next to a glass bowl filled with a cream colored mixture with a spoon resting in it next to a metal measuring cup

Materials: 

  • Drill with paint mixer attachment
  • Bucket

Step 1: Make flour paste: Mix 2 cups of cold water with 1 cup of flour, then add that mixture to 6 cups of boiling water. Stir until thick.

Metal pot of a stove with the cream colored mixture inside of it with a spoon resting inside

Step 2: In a bucket mix 1 part flour paste: 1 part clay or Earth & Mineral Pigment with 1 part fine sand.

bucket filled with cream colored mixture sitting next to two plastic bags - one with sand and the other with green Earth & Mineral pigment

Notes:

  • Adding sand gives your wall more of an adobe look that's coarse to the touch. You can also leave this out and it is smooth to the touch.
  • The paint will dry much lighter than what the color looks like in the bucket so it's best to paint a color swatch on the wall and let it dry to make sure you like the color before you paint the whole room.
  • Use paint mixer attachment in a drill to mix.
Plastic 5-gallon bucket filled with green house paint mixture next to a hand drill with a paint mixing attachment

Step 3: Add water to achieve your desired consistency.

View from above showing the hand drill with the paint mixing attachment stirring up the green house paint mixture

Step 4: Add Borax to prevent molding, about 2-3 tbsp per gallon.

Plastic 5-gallon bucket of green house paint sitting next to a box of Borax

Step 5: Paint on the wall! We’ve found that if you have sand in the mixture, you need to use a brush- paint rollers don’t work well. We like to apply the strokes in a random assortment of directions. This technique gives your wall more of a mottled, earthen-wall look that we enjoy. 

Image of person painting a wall green using a house paint recipe from Natural Earth Paint

Natural Clay House Paint FAQ 

  • How much pigment do I need to add?
    The amount you should add is completely different per color. Every pigment has completely different properties, different covering powers or transparency, absorb liquid differently, totally different compositions. In the recipe we say to start with 1 part flour paste:1 part pigment:1 part sand - but it could be drastically different than that per color. Just add the pigments bit by bit until the desired color is achieved - not exceeding a ratio of 20% by volume. The paint will dry much lighter than what the color looks like in the bucket so it's best to paint a color swatch on the wall and let it dry to make sure you like the color before you paint the whole room.
  • How much does the recipe on your website make? 
    If you follow the recipe on our website, you can kind-of see how much paint it makes in the photos - maybe around a gallon. But it handles differently than regular latex paint so it's not the same coverage calculations as latex. 
  • Is it waterproof? 
    It will rub off if scrubbed with a wet rag - It's not waterproof.
  • Is there something I can seal it with?
    You can use our Natural Acrylik Medium or our Natural Varnish. For the varnish, the number of coats is really up to you. One coat gives it protection but doesn't make it glossy (so no sanding needed). More coats make it more glossy and more of a barrier protection layer. For sanding, you can use super fine sandpaper and it will come out smooth. 

               

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