Hi!

I don't think you are to keep it wet with paint on it indefinately, maybe a few days. I thought after that you threw the paper away and cleaned the tray and sponge and let it dry until you used it again. Maybe I'm wrong. It sounds like it is stagnant water, growing mold and bacteria. It sounds like you are using it wrong.

Add a little ammonia to the water used to wet your sponge. Ammonia will not hurt the sponge or the paper, but will help retard the growth of mold. To keep your palette smelling fresh, sprinkle a little baking soda on the bottom of the palette before placing your sponge down.

modelmaker66

I don't think you are to keep it wet with paint on it indefinately, maybe a few days.

I agree. That's how I handle mine, anyway. I wet it up when I want to use it.

Sorry, I don't know what Terry Jones would say of this question but was it a fishy smell? 

For palettes, I use the carboard flers I get in the mail.  You must use the plastic covered ones.  The glossier are needed.  The more glossy the better, meaning a thicker coating (best to use ones with that glossy plastic on both sides).  The plastic coating is waterproof, thin CA proof, enamel proof.  Only thing that soaks in is lacquer.  I use these palettes for paint mixing, and for gluing with CA.  Works great, and cheap.  I collect that kind of mail just for palettes, and with election season now, I get more than enough.

I have a question;

   What in the name of flurry is a wet Palette? I know what a Palette is. I have done oil painting and such and I have a smaller version of the one Bob Ross uses. I use a little one for modeling. Now what is the use and need for a wet palette as well?

I have been planning on geting one, but i thought you could keep it wet as long as you wanted. I had not thought about the effects of the water in there for a long period though.

Tanker-Builder

I have a question;

   What in the name of flurry is a wet Palette? I know what a Palette is. I have done oil painting and such and I have a smaller version of the one Bob Ross uses. I use a little one for modeling. Now what is the use and need for a wet palette as well?

 

Basicaly, its a container, often a plastic tub, with a wet substance, tissue for example. It can be used to mix small amount of acrylic paint and keep it from going dry for longer than usual. Its used mainly by figure painters.

I think that the longest I've kept a batch of paint on my wet palette has been three days? Definitely not a long-term storage solution, but handy as heck for figure painting. 

Also, consider using distilled water in the palette instead of tap water. I have hard water in the place I'm renting and the minerals seem to bring their own sets of issues with Vallejo's acrylics, as well as the various smells and organic material the plumbing carries with it. The distilled water makes things easier and there's less of a chance of weird smells.

Thanks for the heads up Knight.

Bish

 

Tanker-Builder

I have a question;

   What in the name of flurry is a wet Palette? I know what a Palette is. I have done oil painting and such and I have a smaller version of the one Bob Ross uses. I use a little one for modeling. Now what is the use and need for a wet palette as well? 

 

Basicaly, its a container, often a plastic tub, with a wet substance, tissue for example. It can be used to mix small amount of acrylic paint and keep it from going dry for longer than usual. Its used mainly by figure painters. 

I have to offer a minor correction, or clarification, about the "wet" part.  I don't know of any wet palettes that use tissue.  It'd fall apart.  Rather, a wet palette typically contains a sponge of some kind, and a permeable paper that can stand up to being wet.

When I first started working with one, I made my own out of a take-out container, a kitchen sponge, and brown packaging paper as the permeable paper:

Some people use kitchen parchment paper.  But most brands are treated with silicone, to make them impermeable-so things don't stick-and you have to prepare the paper, if you want to use it as a palette.  The trick I have read about is to boil the paper.  Personally, I don't use it, that's too much effort.

I used that palette for a year or two, to get used to working with one, and then I bought myself a commercially-produced palette, from GreenGrass Games.

My homemade palette worked OK, though with repeated use, yes, the sponge would get a little grungey, the plastic wore out and cracked, losing the air-tight quality, and the packaging paper would start to break down, resulting in fibers in my paint.

To clean the sponge, I would just nuke it from time to time.  I could keep paint for about a week.  I refreshed the palette by pouring a little water in it as it evaporated.

The GreenGrass palette is nice, because it has a small footprint on the bench.  Their paper is super-fine.  And you can re-use a piece of paper.  But I sometimes find myself looking back on my homemade one, because I got so used to how it works.

Also, though I paint figures, I use it on any model work involving water-based acrylics.

It does help working on a subject, to be able to keep a batch of colors fresh from one session to the next.

Est.1961

Sorry, I don't know what Terry Jones would say of this question but was it a fishy smell? 

 

E. Halibut

Yes, I should have cleaned it out more often

I just looked at the AK wet pallette. Nice little unit, looks like a good choice.

Keep in mind the paper is meant to be disposable, not reusable. When you're done with a session or the palette is used up, just dispose of the paper top layer and leave the lid open to allow the sponge to dry.

I can see no need to clean anything, I've had mine for several years and certainly haven't.

One thing I've noticed is that you have to adjust downward the amount of paint you use. When you squeeze acrylic paint out on a regular palette, you know that there is going to be some wastage, as even with a thinner it starts to dry at the edges before too long. Not so on a wet palette, I squeezed out four big drops of Vallejo black and it was still wet when I used it all up 45 minutes later. If you put out too much, it stays wet in a big puddle on the palette, which might lead to odor problems, but will also flow around the palette if you tilt it (to close it or just to move it around on your workspace). It will possibly (read: inevitably) blend into that perfect mix that you wanted to keep for the next session. 

KnightTemplar5150

I think that the longest I've kept a batch of paint on my wet palette has been three days? Definitely not a long-term storage solution, but handy as heck for figure painting. 

Also, consider using distilled water in the palette instead of tap water. I have hard water in the place I'm renting and the minerals seem to bring their own sets of issues with Vallejo's acrylics, as well as the various smells and organic material the plumbing carries with it. The distilled water makes things easier and there's less of a chance of weird smells.

 

TankerEasy

...I suggest checking it out; it’ll make painting figures night and day easier, along with anything you’re trying to add detail too.

Absolutely.  If you use water-based paints of any kind, the wet palette can make using them much easier.  If I could figure out a practical way to use a wet palette with other acrylics, like with Tamiya's, I would.

the Baron

Absolutely.  If you use water-based paints of any kind, the wet palette can make using them much easier.  If I could figure out a practical way to use a wet palette with other acrylics, like with Tamiya's, I would.

Bobstamp

 (I don't use an airbrush, which just wouldn't work in my small apartment.)

 

Bob

 

I took up airbrushing while living in a two room apartment with half bath and half kitchen. In fact it could be argued I took up airbrushing because I lived there, having prior to that been a fan of rattle cans. That was 1974ish.. Not knocking brushes mind you, do that too to some degree.

Bobstamp

 

the Baron

Absolutely.  If you use water-based paints of any kind, the wet palette can make using them much easier.  If I could figure out a practical way to use a wet palette with other acrylics, like with Tamiya's, I would. 

Question: Why not Tamiya acrylics, which I have used exclusively?... 

Because Tamiya acrylics don't thin well, if at all, with water.  Tamiya's acrylics are alcohol-based, not water-based.  And even though some say they have used isopropyl successfully to thin Tamiya acrylics, that has not worked for me.

Through trial and error, I settled on using Tamiya's proprietary acrylic thinner (X20A) when I work with their acrylic paints, and that solved the problems I previously had with the paint clumping, or coats lifting when I tried to apply successive coats.  But their thinner is too expensive to use to fill a reservoir in a wet palette.

It's not a problem for me, though, not to use Tamiya acrylics with a wet palette.  When I use any Tamiya acrylic, I use a small jar of X20A and dip the brush in the paint and thinner, then apply it.

if I tried that, my dogs would drink from it. Nothing makes them happier than drinking from the pond out front.

Ecchhh!

Bill

the Baron