How Do You Make Wallpaper Paste From Starch?
Long before commercial wallpaper paste was available, homeowners mixed up their own concoction to paste wallpaper on their living room walls. While some of those amateur interior decorators used a simple mixture of flour and water, others found that a recipe using starch worked well. Low-cost starch is a natural adhesive. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture says adhesives based on starch comprise about 60 percent of the natural adhesives available. Use it to whip up your next batch of wallpaper paste. Buy the cheapest starch you can find. Either the liquid or the suspended kind is fine. Be prepared, however, for your local grocery store to have only one kind and brand of starch. Most people today use the spray variety for ironing rather than mixing their starch for each use. Mix one part of the starch with one part tap water in a large bowl. This mixture of starch and water is called a slurry. Use a large spoon to thoroughly mix the slurry. Measure four parts tap water into a large saucepan.
