Pallet-wood outdoor furniture. Limewash paint???

I've been asked to do a presentation at my Daughter's school on recycling and I've decided that building an adirondack style patio chair out of an old wood pallet will be it. I've built a few of them in the past, but I've always painted them using whatever left-over paint I could find in the garage or that family or friends had laying around.

Using up the odd bucket of leftover paint that one has taking up space in the garage is fine enough and fits the bill when it comes to recycling, but I'd like to take the "environmentally friendly" aspect of the project up a notch by using a home-made lime wash paint... Unfortunately I have ZERO hands on experience with lime wash.

I found a YouTube video where someone bought a bag of hydrated S-lime from the local home depot and mixed it with water to a thin gravy consistency and called it lime wash, but I'm in need of a little more expert direction and instruction before I have a classroom full of teenagers working with this stuff.

My 4 major questions are as follows:
#1, Can proper lime wash be made from home depot hydrated S-lime?
#2, I'll be doing all the mixing for the presentation, but what health and safety concerns should I give the students when dealing with hydrated S-lime?
#3, Will such a lime wash be a good sealing and protecting application on wood and will it weather the elements?
#4, Is this an overall good idea? And if not, what other environmentally responsible products should I be looking at instead?

Any advice you guys and gals can give would be greatly appreciated

#1, Can proper lime wash be made from home depot hydrated S-lime?

In general (I am a stickler for quality and the lime source being from a more "ecological" vender) yes.

#2, I'll be doing all the mixing for the presentation, but what health and safety concerns should I give the students when dealing with hydrated S-lime?

check the net, but here is a good source: http://www.lime.org/

#3, Will such a lime wash be a good sealing and protecting application on wood and will it weather the elements?

It is considered a natural permeable (breathable) sacrificial render/finish. I will weather naturally and eventuality almost disappear except where it has become part of the woods cellular structure. In a high exposure area, it may need reapplication every 3 years, or as aesthetics dictate.

#4, Is this an overall good idea? And if not, what other environmentally responsible products should I be looking at instead?

There are many traditional renders/finishes that you can make that are of course natural in their orgin. Here is a short list of venders and info that should help.

Finishes and Paint Recommendations:

Natural finishes (the short list- there is much, much, more...)
http://www.heritagenaturalfinishes.com/
The owner is a wonderful person and friend, I do not use any other wood finishes most of the time other that "Land Ark." If you want to talk "oil" finishes and natural finishes in general, call them and ask for Autumn, (Autumn Peterson-Owner, John is the manager)

http://www.olivettiorganicfinishes.com/#!
http://ogarnier.com/
Olivier Garnier is probably the best lime paint maker and traditionalist in North America, but there are others very good ones.

http://www.realmilkpaint.com/powder.html
Dwayne Siever (founder and owner) is a friend and will talk paint better than most. Great product

http://pinetarworld.com/?page_id=89
I have used this product, but it is the "Pine Tar Oil" that I wanted. I am trying to get Autumn of Heritage Finishes to start making and mixing this.

Additional consideration of possible interest.

http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/paint/paint.htm

http://www.ibiblio.org/london/rural-skills/homemade/homemade-paint

http://athenaeum.libs.uga.edu/bitstream/handle/10724/8231/dockery_jessica_p_200505_mhp.pdf?sequence=1

http://limeworks.us/

http://silkplasterusa.com/

https://www.americanclay.com/shop/node/12

http://www.keim.com/

Excellent! Thanks Jay, I really appreciate you taking the time to give me so much great and helpful information,

This is an old thread, obviously, but it appears to have been recently bumped. Anyway, the only thing that I wanted to point out directly is that any time you're working with things that have dusty particles, make sure you wear protective eye gear and a mask. Once the lime is mixed into a paste it's fine, generally, but the particles can be pretty irritating to the eye and any dusty particle getting into the lungs will cause damage. It's not fun.