Wet Palettes
Today is all about wet palettes. Having never used one I recently purchased this shiny new toy. Has it impacted my painting though? Well, let me tell you all about it.
For those that are unfamiliar with wet palettes, they are a palette that consists of a sponge soaked with water that is covered by a thin piece of palette paper. Think baking paper. This is all then contained in an airtight container.
You can make your own wet palette at home by taking an airtight sandwich container, a piece of sponge and some baking paper and putting them together with some water. There are a lot of great guides on the internet if you just google homemade wet palette. I have seen these over the years but never bothered because:
A – I’m lazy and it seemed like the time could be spent doing other things
B – I always heard stories of the need to keep replacing things due to mould etc forming over time.
C – I didn’t really see a benefit to it.
How Wrong I Was
I gave in recently because I had some credit at a store with nothing in stock that I wanted. I figured what the heck! Let’s grab that wet palette and see what all the fuss is about. The advertising around the one I purchased promises a mould resistant sponge, so that was the deciding factor. Time will tell if I’ve fallen prey to marketing here though. The regret I have now is that I waited so long to try one. This has really helped with painting in several ways.
First of all, the biggest advantage I have found is the amount of paint it is saving. As I’m sure many of you know, with GW paints not having dropper bottles you often end up with more paint out on your palette than you end up using. For me, it was always an issue with heat drying the paint before I had used it too. The wet palette solves all that by not only stopping your paints from drying out but also allowing any unused paint to sit in the container until you need it next time. I’ve just left paint on there for a week and came back to it and it’s still useable.
Saving me money in wasted paints is a massive positive. There is more though. Working with paints on this palette has enabled me to create much more consistent mixes. At the same time, the ability to do wet blending is a lot easier. The smoother wet blends are a massive plus in my book.
Thought For The Day
I still wouldn’t make my own (remember I’m lazy) but I will happily recommend the purchase of a wet palette to anyone that asks from here on out. The money I will save from paints not drying on my palette will pay for this one in no time. Hopefully, this will give me an advantage in the classic miniature paint off this month! Do you use a wet palette?
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