Milk on my mind

They do say "one's an incident, two's a coincidence, three's a collection"...

At our most recent meeting, this week, Janet made this

The technique is to print (letterpress) on soluble film, then cut out the relevant words and apply them (in this case to a seashell), with water, which dissolves the film and "glues" on the letters.

That morning, or the day before, I had ordered some books, among them The Missing Ink: The lost art of handwriting and why it still matters, by Philip Hensher. Look what arrived instead -

To make this coincidence into a collection, consider milk paint. Yes, there is such a thing - you may know it already, but it's new to me. It's made of milk and lime, perhaps with pigments and perhaps also borax. This "ancient material" has a short shelf life, unless refrigerated, and should be used the day it's made. Here's a recipe; use it to give a vintage look to wood, perhaps adding a protective finish.

Somewhat similar is milk art - an activity for young children of all ages -

Then, of course, there are paintings with milk in them - this is arguably the most famous -

Jan Vermeer, Maid Pouring Milk (image from here)

Those paintings are a collection in themselves ... a topic for another time perhaps.