Makers Manual is a collaborative project between exciting makers and STORE STORE. These downloadable manuals are a practical guide to making at home for beginners and experts.

Milk Plastic provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a series of small sculptural key rings from a natural material made from milk. CASEIN is the name of the protein that can be extracted from milk, and commercial plastics made from this protein existed in the early 1900’s. You will learn to recreate a version of this ‘milk plastic’ at home by carrying out the very simple chemical process of separating milk curds from milk whey. This manual will offer suggestions on how to sculpt and press the milk material into different forms that can be used as decorative key rings – but feel free to create beyond this restriction! Try to source your milk responsibly or ask supermarkets if they have milk that has passed its sell by date and would otherwise go to waste.

This manual is created by Tessa Silva; a London based artist and maker of sculptural objects. Her practice focuses on how society is shaped by the materials that we use, and what that can tell us about human behaviours. With a focus on material research and exploration, the work draws inspiration from production methods that existed in the past.