Levelling up - Wet Palette

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Hey,

So the improvement in all things painterly continues.  One thing I'd stuck to for years and years was using a simple plastic tray palette for working with acrylics.  And it simply wasn't going to do anymore.  Wet palettes are something you will soon learn about on painting sites or youtube, but for the uninitiated, it is mixing and keeping your acrylic paints on a permanently moist surface.  This extends working time of paints to as much as a couple of days, if sealed between uses, and certainly several hours where paint is exposed to air.  compare that to a few minutes for a normal blob of paint...

Now, a wet palette is a doddle to make:

My palette in use

To make this one, I picked up a metal hinged pencil box from a craft store; it of course came with a dozen pencils in it, which I added to my traditional arts supplies; you can probably find empty ones in some stores too, but at under a fiver I took the free pencils into the bargain.  Inside it I placed two thin sponge washcloths, the sort made of a dense foam rather than a open sponge, these are dampened down with water, and it is best to keep these topped up but not so wet water sloshes out of them.  Finally you need a barrier layer of paper to hold the paint, and for this cut a section of either tracing paper or baking parchment to fit.  I began with tracing paper, but baking paper/parchment has since proved to be far superior.

Then simply apply paint to that surface, and wonder at how long it lasts, and how easy it is to get all Bob Ross on those shades and go blending crazy.

You'll notice above that I still have the tray palette out.  There are three reasons for this; firstly, it is good to have additional clean water to hand for thinning paints on the palette.  Secondly, metallic paints are not advised to go on a wet palette, as the mica flecks that give the sparkle will pass through the paper and into the foam, from where they will soak back in to other colours thereafter.  Lastly, large mixes of paint, such as undercoats and basing tones will still need a larger space to be mixed, and would flood the palette.

While we are about it, as you may notice, there is a GW paint handle in the image above.  And I have to say, what a great little tool it is.  Sure, bits of dowel, or old paint pots do a similar job, but it is a really nice ergonomic fit, and allows for a really secure hold.  I got one for a treat, and am glad I shoved a rare £6 GW's way.

Anyhow, the first model I painted with the new set up was this Cyclops, I'm really pleased with the ease this came together, and the wet palette allowed for the job to be much quicker too.

  

This chap got a glaze over a basic dark flesh tone, followed by a reapplication from the palette, and two simple highlights.  All the other details are simple blending and layering.  I think it looks pretty grand, certainly a bit Wargames Standard, but not bad.

If you don't use a Wet Palette, and paint in acrylics, you really should.

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