Artists Wren Posted May 27, 2009 Artists Share Posted May 27, 2009 I keep trying to find a way to make wet palettes work for me, but I don't think I'm there yet. Somehow I end up with messy pools of paint that dry out faster than I would expect instead of the neat little drops the wet palette afficiandos have. Just too used to a welled palette, I guess. The problem I had with the normal paper was that it would absorb the paint (and water that I added to it), and so my paint would actually thicken. It wouldn't dry out nearly as quickly as without it, but it certainly didn't maintain a consistent consistency. This has been my experience with the Masterson paper - the water moved back and forth inconsistently and made it very hard to maintain the paint consistency I wanted. I know at least one painter who prefers it, though. I've been using the Wilton paper. It curls when I put it down, then I flip it and rub moisture to the corners and it stays down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixminis Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Masterson instructions reduced: Get something deep enough to cover the sheet in water, and put pretty danged hot, if not boiling, water in with it. Submerge the paper. Keep it hot until the page gets translucent. (Original instructions say transparent and that is something I've yet to achieve). Once you get it to that point, rinse it in cold water (so you can handle it), get the water level higher than you need, place the paper in the palette and press it down when it lines up how you like it. Then, empty the excess out to your personally preferred depth. Finally, use a scraper/ruler/something with soft edges to work the air bubbles out from under (if there are any, and there usually are some). U R Now Red-E Water level in palette: YMMV, so choose what works for you. Like any mid-level to advanced tool, there is a part that is personal preference and it looks like most on this thread are figuring that out. Bleed through: I've seen some with some of the smaller pigments, and I *think* it's happened more when I am hasty with the paper prep... If you clean your palette and sponge consistently, it won't stain the sponge... the paper is flat out going to stain... Man, I really need to try my rolled up cooking parchment stuff now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yani Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Heh, I've been using my ghetto wet pallet for a while now. Only instead of a sponge, I use a piece of paper towel. Reaaaall ghetto... The curling of the parchment paper isn't a big deal for me - I wet the tip of my finger with the water, and run it over the edge of the paper. Most of the time, that's enough for it to stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Lurker Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Heh, I've been using my ghetto wet pallet for a while now. Only instead of a sponge, I use a piece of paper towel. Reaaaall ghetto... Hey now, don't be dissin' paper towels! I like my paper towels better than the sponge that came with my "Handy Pallet". I like the white color under the paper instead of that funky yellow. Helps me see my color mixes better. Plus I kept having fungus problems with the sponge. Now I just pitch the paper towels and replace with fresh every few weeks. Beauty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaGeek Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 I've never used a wet palette. I use something like this. I clean it out when I'm done painting for the day, or when I run out of wells, and need to start fresh. Very rarely, I'll need to save a color, and I'll just put the whole palette in a ziploc bag overnight. The paints dry out a little, but a few drops of water, and I'm ready to go again. What is the real advantage of a wet palette? Why are they so popular with the better painters? Should I try one, if what I'm using now is working for me? What can I do with a wet palette that can't be done with what I have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artists Wren Posted May 28, 2009 Artists Share Posted May 28, 2009 Oh, for the fungus problem, try putting a penny under your sponge. I read that somewhere and I've been doing it, and it seems to work pretty well for me. (And it'll often be the case that I use the wet palette for a week or so then leave it in a drawer for months before I use it again.) MamaGeek - I think wet palettes are popular with painters of a variety of skill levels, so I don't think you have to use one to get 'good' at painting. I think I'm a pretty good painter, but as I mentioned above, I have yet to unravel all the mysteries of the wet palette. From my observation, I think it might help with painting faster. I'll often work up my shade or highlight mixes in a single palette well. If I miss the arm or later find I need to increase the shading on something I have to mix up my paints again, whereas the mixes (or at least the base paints to mix them from) are right there if using a wet palette. They're often right there and still useable a day or three later if you don't notice the needed fix until then. I've been wondering if palette preference ties into paint consistency preference at all. I often work with pretty thin paint mixes, which work well in the welled palette but get messy or dry out quickly on the wet palette. I also like to have my colour mixes sorted before the paint touches the mini. Many of the wet palette painters I've observed work with paint close to straight out of the bottle consistency, or add water by wetting the brush before picking up the paint as CBP mentioned rather than mixing the paint and water on the palette. These painters also seem more likely to mix the colours on the fly. Jeremie might put blue, black and white blobs on his palette and mix all the shade and highlight colours as individual brushloads of what he wants at a given moment, and other wet palette users I've seen do similar things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vutpakdi Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 A wet palette works really well for me because I can put the cover on my sandwich keeper (aka my wet palette) when something comes up and I have to walk away for a while. When I return, my paints are still usable (though need mixing). And, if I'm interrupted for days, my paints are still workable (though might need a bit of water to get them back to the right consistency. I just use paper towels as well in my wet palettes. Both are cheap sandwich keeper type plastic containers. The only problem with the one that I use more often is that my son occasionally complains about me stealing his sandwich box. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumble_B Posted May 28, 2009 Author Share Posted May 28, 2009 I think that must be what I was missing. The people adding water to the paints on the palette through there brush very quickly. The brushes were moving so fast from paint to mini to water to mini to palette to mouth to mini to mouth .... i musta missed it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helltown Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 I think that must be what I was missing. The people adding water to the paints on the palette through there brush very quickly. The brushes were moving so fast from paint to mini to water to mini to palette to mouth to mini to mouth .... i musta missed it It's not a hard thing to miss when watching Jeremie paint, I found myself gawking at how fast the mini was progressing more than watching actual techniques. Aaron (olliekickflip) is another painter that's fun to watch and it's easier to get a read on his methods because he moves slightly slower than light speed. A good thing to remember is that most of the pros measure water added by brushfuls instead of in drops like mere mortals try to think of measures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 IIRC I was using cheap No-Name brand parchment paper from the local Loblaws grocery store when I did my bit of experimenting with wet palettes a little over a year ago. I wet both sides of the paper before putting it on the sponge, mostly to keep the curling corners to a minimum. Seemed to work fine. No issues with Master Series paints or IIRC a few craft paint colours I was using at the time soaking through to the sponge either. It suddenly occurs to me I might have left it sealed up and largely forgotten in my old painting area ever since... I'll try and remember to go see if it's still there tonight, and if it is there and doesn't look too infectious by now, maybe I'll crack it open and see if anything in there is still workable. But if I really did leave it sitting there sealed up for over a year, I won't be surprised if I end up taking a look and just chucking the container out, still sealed, mold-puck and all, in horror before it accidentally gets opened and starts a plague or something. ... What is the real advantage of a wet palette? ... What can I do with a wet palette that can't be done with what I have? Olliekickflip posted a great thread about wet palettes a while back. Basically, he answers these questions there as follows (but there is a lot of other useful wet palette info there as well): ...the wet pallet is to be used to keep your paints "workable" for that immediate session and thats it! It allows you to mix your shadow, median and highlight colors and use all three (or more depending on how complex you want your colors to be) at the same time. This really does help in the blending process and saves tons of time remixing paint and such. ... Now, I don't know that it is strictly impossible to have multiple colours mixed up for concurrent use in a welled palette like the one you posted, but if you don't use a bunch of retarder/slo-dri, it can get tricky. If you don't work pretty quick, sometimes your mixed colours might dry out of crap out on you due to over-watering before you're done with them. I haven't personally had huge success with wet palettes, I think mainly because the ziploc resealable container I was using was smaller than I would have liked to be able to spread my paint mixtures out on. Maybe I'll try it again with a larger container some day. Kang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raewyn Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 My wet palette consists on a Pyrex dish with a lid and 2 pieces of white craft store felt. For my first mini, I used just plain printer paper. The second one I did, I used parchment paper (Reynolds). I noticed when using the parchment paper the pigments in my colors separated. For example, after a few minutes, blue undertones started to rise to the surface in my pink paint. Now, it could be that I am using inexpensive paint (Apple Barrel and Folk Art as that is what I can easily get). Does anyone else have this issue? Is there anything wrong with using printer paper long term to avoid the color separation? Would Reaper or Citadel paints not do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pae Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Using printer paper can lead to having bits of paper fibers in your paint. Not good. If your pigments are separating on the palette, what is keeping you from swirling your brush in the paint to re-mix it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewen Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I purchased a wet palette and use Reynolds brand parchment paper that you get in the isle at a grocery store or super store near the baking stuff or baggies, wax paper, and aluminum foil. I tried the artist quality sheets too. I thought the baking stuff was not as slick or had a bit of tooth. The artist stuff also seemed to allow more water through which caused the paints to run. The baking stuff by Reynolds is cheaper and easier to find. my 2 cents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyberwolfe1 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 The Reynolds Parchment is the bomb. Honestly when I put my paint on the wet pallette I prep it like my ceramic pallette. After that thinner mixtures are purely created through brush water. Paper curling with the Reynolds can be cured through running hot tap water over it before you lay it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewen Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 ... Paper curling with the Reynolds can be cured through running hot tap water over it before you lay it down. Good point. I do the same and forgot to mention that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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