Toscana Powder Paint

Simply mix this high-pigment powder with water and you get gorgeous rich casein milk paint. It’s all natural and has been used for thousands of years and provides a beautiful historic looking patina. This product is perfect for both furniture and artwork, comes in 14 signature classic colors like Calais Green, Capri Sand, Champagne Yellow, to name a few. 

Everything you're going to need for the project

  • Piece of furniture
  • Amy Howard at Home H2Off
  • Steel wool
  • Furniture stain
  • Sponge brush
  • T-shirt rags
  • Amy Howard at Home Toscana Powder Paing
  • 3-4" China Bristle Brush
  • Plastic Container/Styrofoam bowl
  • Water
  • Antiquewax
  • Amy Howard at Home Dark Wax
  • Amy Howard at Home Dust of Ages
  • Cardboard palette

How-To Video

Steps:

1. Clean

  • Start with a clean stripped RAW piece of furniture or cabinetry or you can use the Toscana Binder. If there is a finish on your piece, you should strip it with our H2Off water-based stripper. 

2. Stain

  • Stain the entire piece with Amy Howard at Home walnut stain.
  • You will apply the stain over the entire piece. You can apply with a 3”sponge brush or a natural sea wool sponge. Just make sure you get coverage over the entire piece. You do not need to worry about the stain process being perfect, you will be covering it with your Toscana powder paint.

Note: You can also make a thinner type glaze of Toscana powder paint and use  it as a wipe on glaze or stain on your piece. The ratio is 2 parts water to 1  part Toscana Powder paint, if you are just using it as a stain.

  • After your stain has dried for 30 minutes or more you can apply your first  coat of Toscana Paint.


3. Mix

  • Mixing your Toscana Powder paint is 1/1. One part water to one part Toscana Powder Paint. You will mix it very well, and it should become the consistency of pancake batter. We strongly suggest you use measuring container to make sure you have accurate percentages. Mix with a hand held blender to make sure that it all gets very well mixed.
  • You can mix by hand, you will just need to mix vigorously. It is best to use lukewarm water and stir well for one minute. We suggest buying an old liquid blender at a thrift store and use it just for blending your paints. This will get all the lumps out and give you a nice smooth paint. If you need to add more powder you can. to give it the right consistency. 

4. Apply

  • Your surface will be completely free of dust or anything. You can apply it directly on top of your Amy Howard at Home Stain and apply with the grain of the wood. Long clean strokes to make sure that you have good coverage. Remember this is a thin paint and you will need to allow it to dry 20-30 minutes in between coats and lightly sanding in between with kraft paper or a very fine sand paper. Each application will make it more uniform. 3 coats of Toscana Paint is sufficient. You can also spray it on just strain it first and use a 2.0 orifice or higher for the spray gun. Remember that this product does contain Lyme and can burn your skin and keep out of your eyes.

5. Antique

  • Using lukewarm water, saturate your rag and begin to in and rub where you want the antique and the wear to take place on your piece.  
  • Remember to study antiques and see where the natural age and wear will take place. Where they will wear on the sides of the arms of the chair, along the back, where the hardware will go, around the tops and edges of the piece. Take your time and gradually start to pull the paint away with your wet rag. We also have an antiquing glaze that is great for this process. Allow the piece to dry for 20-30 minutes. You may see some areas where you will want to antique some more. You can antique it some more and let it dry a solid 30 minutes. 

6. Seal and Wax

  • You are now ready to seal your piece entirely. You will load your 2 inch brush with Antiquax or a clear wax that act as a sealer for the entire piece of furniture. Wax needs to cure for several weeks to be really hard and protective. Once it is cured we would suggest cleaning with just a soft dry rag and buff.

7. Antique with Wax

  • A light application of wax will dry for up to an hour before the application of the dark wax. Remember that your wax can come to a tack in order to HOLD the Dust of Ages. If your wax is too wet, it will go a dark grey and not have the authentic look that we are looking for.
  • Using your 2” Amy Howard at Home China bristle brush you should lightly dip it into the wax. With a loose wrist motion move the brush around on piece of clean cardboard. I use this as a palette to make sure that all of the wax is evenly applied all over the brush. When you start to apply the dark wax remember that you can always go back and add more. It is important to only apply around 10-15% of wax to your piece in the beginning. Think about where the piece would have gotten dirty and age over hundreds of years. That is where you are going to apply the dark wax. It is a dusting type action almost feathering. You have very little dark wax on your brush. After your application of dark wax, you are ready for the final application. 

8. Apply Dust of Ages

  • After your first application of clear wax has dried for at least one hour, you have then applied your dark wax here and there for depth. You will use a clean brush and pounce in the Dust of Ages. You can work on a clean surface and save any left over to put back into your can. After pouncing into crevices and carved areas, get a dry rag and buff the surface like you would as shoe. The raised areas and edges will start to get a beautiful patina that would be found on an old antique. The dust of ages will be in your crevices and add one more fabulous dimension to your finish.

Now . . . go and enjoy the bragging rights.

Coastal Fog