Chalk Art – Make Your Own Paste

Several years ago – 2019, I learned about a company that sold Chalk Paste/Ink and Silkscreen Transfers, Surfaces and accessories. From the moment I saw their website I was hooked. I couldn’t believe all of the fun wall décor, signs, pillows and more that could be made with their products, and so easily. I’ve always loved symbolic and inspirational signs and this company seemed to have endless silkscreen stencils (transfers) that could be made on virtually anything. I was HOOKED! 

I joined their company as a designer and spent quite a lot of money buying transfers, pastes, inks and surfaces. I wanted to maintain my designer rank to continue receiving the significant discount, so I kept purchasing products. I could have been building a team, but that wasn’t really my “thing”. I was only using this product as a hobby, so I didn’t pursue bringing people onto my team. I’ve really never liked multi-level marketing companies – even though I’ve tried a few in my day.

After a few years I realized I was building up quite an inventory of supplies but wasn’t able to use them as frequently as I needed to to keep the pastes usable. A couple of shoulder surgeries and a move (to a new home) kept me from crafting for a while. I knew that it was time to cancel my membership with the chalk company.

One day I started googling how to make my own transfers. I really liked the concept of using silkscreens for stencils so I wondered how I could make my own using my own designs. That’s when I discovered Ikonart. 

Ikonart sells a tool that allows you to make your own silkscreen. Not only that, but they sell a product for making your own chalk paste. I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t heard of chalk paste before 2019. During the past several years I have found a few other companies who sell it as well, but it’s not an inexpensive product. When I realized that my lack of use had dried up virtually ALL of my chalk pastes, I realized this product from Ikonart was EXACTLY what I needed. This way, I can mix any color I want in small quantities, much cheaper and still be able to make beautiful crafts with my own designs. This was a WIN-WIN!

Ikonart sells a powder called Coco’s Chalky Powder. You choose the paint color you wish (I use Decoart Americana paint) and mix a 1:1 ratio of paint to powder and stir it together until it’s the consistency of pudding. Ikonart also sells small plastic cups for storing leftover paste. The great thing is, if it ends up drying out before using it all, you haven’t spent $12+ on the container of paste.

I created my own design and used homemade chalk paste on a chalkboard pedestal, then used the same design on a kitchen tea towel. The creativity is endless with the stencil maker and the ability to make your own chalk paste. Click HERE to read my blog about making your own silkscreen using the Ikonart Custom Stencil Kit.

First, I poured the amount of paint I thought I would need for this small project. I wanted to use 2 colors so I put some blue paint on one stirring dish and white on the other. Then I added approximately 1 ounce of paste to each dish and stirred the paint into the powder. I added a little more paint and eventually spritzed a little water into the dish until it was the consistency I wanted. 

Next, I placed my homemade silkscreen stencil onto the chalkboard surface and applied the paste. It turned out great... until I picked it up to screw onto the pedestal and realized I’d stenciled on the board upside down. Oops! No problem, since it was a chalkboard, I was able to wash it clean and start over. Fortunately, I had enough paste leftover. Even if I hadn’t, it would have been easy enough to add a little more paint and powder until I had enough for a do-over. After cleaning and re-chalking, I had a cute little sign to sit in our kitchen.

“Vazquez Crew” is a cute saying I came up with for our group of friends. My husband is a boat captain and we entertain quite a bit so I thought this was a cute saying/design to sit on our bar area. I used the design with my Cricut as well and put the saying on HTV and ironed it on can koozies for people to use if they need one when they’re at our house.

I had used the same design for a kitchen towel. Ikonart has stencil film for hard surfaces (for use with chalk) as well as for textiles so I made the same design on a textile film and used permanent ink to put it on a kitchen tea towel. Like I said, the options are endless and so fun!

Jane V