Egg Tempera
A friend and I found this cake stand like serving plate called a sovelfat at a second hand shop. It very much resembles period ones found at auction houses or in museum collections. Sovel is the relatively luxurious proteins served to complement the more basic carbohydrates in bread and vegetables. Some of the extant objects were painted while some were not. I decided to paint this one to mask that it is not made out of whole pieces of wood like the old ones. Egg Tempera gives you a hardwearing surface with a wonderful sheen to it. It can be used on furniture and in interior design.
1-2 eggs
100 ml linseed oil
100 ml water
100-170 g pigment
Combine lightly beaten egg with oil, then ad water a little at a time to make an emulsion, strain through a fine cloth. The texture your aiming for is like gruel or fermented milk (filmjölk). Dilute the emulsion with water if it is too thick. Make a paste of pigment and some of the liquid before mixing it all together. Use the paint within a week or two and keep it refrigerated between coats.
Apply thinly tree times, 2 – 3 days apart. If you would like a more opaque effect ad Zinc White or even Titanium White to the emulsion in order to make a primer for the first coating, then ad coloured pigments of your choice for the following two. I did not use a primer on account the original serving dishes did not seem to have it. Once completely dry, after additional 10 days or so, I polished the surface with a soft rag and some beeswax (with plant-based oil). I probably went overboard with the pigments, the surface was dusty with them even when dry, but a simple wash took care of the excess. Take care not to leave any droplets or smudges behind; this paint is difficult to get rid of. As I was cleaning up everything got blue, even the bristles of my dishwashing brush.
Sources: Ölands Byggnadsvård; an architectural conservation business, Skansen; an open air museum & Lantliv; an interior design magazine.