Safe paints and stains for wood toys?

[SuzyLee]

My dad is going to make some wood toys for DS. I would like to get some kind of non-toxic paint or stain to color them. Then I am not sure what to finish them with (will they need a coat of oil after the stain, for example).

Does anyone have suggestions of what to use adn where to buy it?

Thanks!

[jojospok23]

Most of the wooden toys I have seen that are coloured say that they are dyed with vegetable based dyes. That is the only thing that I would really consider safe.

[tinasquirrel]

I'm wondering this too. I've heard about using children's non-toxic watercolor paints?

[CallMeKelly]

http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/natural-wood-finish.html has ideas... I posted here earlier to see if anyone had made milkpaint from powdered milk but no replies yet.

[sarahn4639]

you can finish with beeswax. i've read that a good combo is 50% beeswax and 50% food grade mineral oil.

[famousmockngbrd]

I want to know about milk paint too, in fact I came here to start a thread about it. Maybe someone on this thread can give us some info.

You could stain a piece with tea. You can also use various flowers, such as calendula, and I think yarrow? Steep them like tea and paint them on. You could probably do a google search and find all kinds of natural dyes like that.

If you want something a little longer lasting than beeswax, you could try tung oil. http://www.realmilkpaint.com/oil.html I've never used it myself but it sounds neat.

[CallMeKelly]

I finally found a store that carries powdered milk so I'm going to give that recipe a shot tomorrow!!

[famousmockngbrd]

I painted a bench tonight using a milk paint wash. The paint was made by the Genuine Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co. I diluted 2 T. paint in 10 T. warm water. I am pleased with the results.

Good luck making your own milk paint - please let us know how it turned out. What are you using for your pigments?