I've been looking into a lot of online tutorials and blogs of some really good mini painters (one's that make me look like I'm painting with my fingertips) And many of them kept talking about a "Wet Palette". I had never heard of such a thing, and didn't know what they were for. A photo I saw of one guy's wet palette made it look like a paper towel drenched in soupy paint..... so i went a looking into it and found out that one purpose of a wet palette is to keep your mixed paints from drying out... for a LONG time. The concept is as such:

You have a sponge or layers of paper towels on the bottom in a tray or bowl, you pour water over the sponge or paper towel until it's soaked to it's capacity, but doesn't have standing water. Then you use either a porous high grade paper, or a specifically designed sheet of palette paper on top of the wet sponge or paper towels. Then you mix your colors on top of this paper.

The moisture in the sponge or paper towels underneath, wicks up into the palette paper, thus keeping your paint moist, and preventing it from drying out.

Instead of making my own, I broke down and bought one at Michael's (they have them at Hobby Lobby too). A brand called a "Sta-Wet Handy Palette". [link] It has an 8X7 tray, comes with a pre-cut piece of shammy sponge, and a small pack of the palette paper. Refills of the sponge and the palette paper are readily available. It also has a lid for the tray. It boasts that with the lid on, your mixed paint can remain workable for up to a week.

If you guys are interested, the first time I use it I'll take some photos so you can better see what I'm talking about.

Peace

Caelyn




Member of the eye-of-terror deviant group