3 June 2014

Craft challenge #2 - wet palette

If the last post (dice bag, remember?) was my magnum opus, this is far more straight forward but may actually be of more lasting use. A wet palette is something that many painters I admire have mentioned using, or recommended using, so I thought I should have one. After all, merely having one will make me a better painter, right?

Fortunately, this is dead easy and cheap to put together; I spent £1.89 to make my palette and the only tools I needed were a pair of scissors!

Step 1 - obtain a small, seal-able air-tight plastic pot (Tupperware is perfect for this, but other brands are available), a cheapo spongey cleaning cloth, and a pair of scissors.




Step 2 - cut the spongey cleaning cloth to fit the plastic pot, you want several layers. I went for four layers as that's all I could get from one cloth. Two of the layers were nice and neat, the two bottom layers were made from the off cuts. In hindsight, a square or rectangular pot would have been easier to cut shapes for.


Step three - add some water, just a splash more than the minimum required for all the sponge to be damp. You may need to leave it a moment or two to soak in.


Step four - cut a piece of standard baking parchment (mine was from Tesco's, according to its box) to cover the top layer of sponge




Step five - look around with pride to see if any of your nearest and dearest recognise your achievement.

Step six - decide it doesn't matter, you know what you've made is useful.


I put a dab of Foundry Flesh (5A) on the palette and left it. Here it is, still wet and thin, forty eight hours later. In fact, I'd put a bit too much water in the palette and the paint had actually got runnier!


I can see this being really useful for people like me who are likely to have to abandon a sneaky spot of painting when their young children stop entertaining themselves unexpectedly... Bless 'em!

Speaking of which, I hear one of them still awake...
Rab

6 comments:

  1. George Warburton4 June 2014 at 00:02

    Very useful!

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  2. I con't get back to normal palette now I've started using a wet one.I've opted for a lower recipient for combfort but the principle is the exact same. Only little drawback is that the sponge tends to rot after a few months but nothing that can't be fixed here.
    Good thing you spread the word !

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    Replies
    1. Well, I figured it was time to try it out.

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  3. I really should get back into using my old wet palette...

    Another benefit of using it is that you don't get dust, cat hairs and stuff on your palette as you put the lid on once your done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was partly the dust and stray basing material on my existing palette that pushed me into finally putting this together.

      Oh, and thanks for my parcel of lead :)

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