Life on the palette

[Kris370]

Hi guys,

Made my first wet palette the other day and found it great. I used fresh out of a packet sponge and fresh out of the box parchement all sealed in a thoroughly cleaned tupawear tub. I havent painted in 2 days and opened my tub and have a little eco system going on in there, with mould covering the parchement. I was expecting it to get clammy in there eventually but not after 2 days unopened.

Wondering if this is a common problem, should they be cleaned out after each use or if not, any ideas on causes. All I can think of is a layer of something must have out foxed my washing up liquid, Im considering bleaching the next container but even if its well rinsed after im dubious as to putting anything bleachy where im going to have my paint as i dont know what effect it would have. Also could the paint be the cause? Though i think then my pots would be ripe with fur too then lol.

Kris

 

[Stewsayer]

Hi Kris,

I've kept mine for weeks at a time with no mould, in the refrigerator. Mind you the paint is only good for about 24 hours after that it tends to have taken up too much water and is only good for glazing without adding new stuff to it from the pot. It tends to work best for me if I clean it up and let the sponges air dry after use.

 

[DarkStar]

Add a penny (or whatever copper currency is in use in your realm) to your next wet palette. The copper coin will keep the nasties at bay for as long as it's in there. Sounds like alchemy, but it's a true wonder of science.

Just today come to think of it, I was cleaning and I found a long neglected wet palette that I had abandoned mid use when I found out it was leaking from a faulty seam. I had left the paints and their sponge inside with the lid closed and there it sat for God knows how long. I opened it ready to be repulsed, but found the insides dry as the proverbial bone with not even an unpleasant odor. The penny I had inside had done it's job well worth more than it's value as a simple coin.

 

[MrH]

I actually just watched a tutorial on Youtube and I'll be picking up the stuff I need tomorrow to make it, hopefully I won't run into this issue.

 

[Einion]

Wondering if this is a common problem, should they be cleaned out after each use or if not...

Yes and, ideally yes but it's not absolutely necessary to scrub the thing out each time you refill it.

The no. 1 tip to prevent this is not have the palette directly in front of you when you paint so that you're breathing directly into it. As horrible as it sounds that is the source of most of the crap that'll start growing in a stay-wet palette. Storing them in between session in the fridge is also a good idea. I did a test recently and after a couple of months the paint (small puddles initially) was still just about usable.

I recommend not using sponge or foam as the reservoir by the way. Since this is a consumable it's best to use something just as cheap and disposable as the membrane paper so that you can throw it away before it gets funky - I use kitchen paper/paper towels.

Add a penny (or whatever copper currency is in use in your realm) to your next wet palette. The copper coin will keep the nasties at bay for as long as it's in there. Sounds like alchemy, but it's a true wonder of science.

I've tried that and it didn't seem to make any difference that I could notice. In case the effect was specific enough that one type of copper coin worked and another didn't I've also tried it using US pennies. Same result.

Einion

 

[DarkStar]

Weird that the copper coin didn't work. Works on all 3 of the wet palettes I use in rotation. I keep paint open on them for weeks at a time with no foul odor and they all have coins under the sponge. I use plastic and metal wet palettes both. I wonder why that is that it works for one and not the other.

 

[MrH]

I made one today and it's so nice, usually my paint drys out in like 5 - 10 minutes because it's so hot in my room but using the homemade wet palette the paint lasted about 3 hours before it started to dry out. I'm not going to bother leaving it in the tub though, I just took the sponge out, washed it and it's now drying, it only takes 1 minute to clean so there's just no need to let mold grow on it.

 

[Kris370]

Hey cheers for the replies, Im going to give the tub another good scrub and ill try switching to paper towel and adding a penny, even if it doesnt help it cant do any harm ey! Also the reason i want something that i wouldnt have to clean daily is to keep my mixes in for highlighting when im doing repetetive squads and what not, sometimes due to boredom i can drag it out over a few days just getting the basic armour colour etc on. And id rather not start taking up loads of room with more little pots of millions of mixes as it would be a waste and a pain.

Actually this has just reminded me, i have a friend whos into the hobby and leaves all his paints and modelling gear at mine in my back room as hes even lazier than me and only ever gets round to doing any when hes here(great for "dipping into" if i ever run out of something though lol) The other day when id made mine i was prattling on to him about how good it was how he should make one, which we did as i had more spare stuff and has now sat somewhere in my back room for a few days, Id best go check its not causing some sort of infestation! lol

Though i suppose if that one is ok ill know it was just my tub that was the problem (should also save me making a new one haha)

 

[Einion]

Weird that the copper coin didn't work.

Yep, lots of other people swear by it too and say they've noticed a big difference. I suspect that it's as much or more to do with other factors, but who knows it could be as simple as an interaction with different water?

I keep paint open on them for weeks at a time with no foul odor...

Ditto.

I made one today and it's so nice, usually my paint drys out in like 5 - 10 minutes because it's so hot in my room but using the homemade wet palette the paint lasted about 3 hours before it started to dry out.

Yeah, there's just no comparison is there? That's why I kick myself on a regular basis that I didn't try one a decade sooner... although in my defence I didn't realise how well they worked, or that you could make them at home.

Hey cheers for the replies, Im going to give the tub another good scrub and ill try switching to paper towel and adding a penny, even if it doesnt help it cant do any harm ey!

Can't hurt. But I'm pretty sure the main thing is not to be breathing directly into it as you work - having it off to one side should make all the difference.

If you find you're still having problems with a wet palette getting stinky or mouldy too quickly, add some ammonia or bleach to the water you moisten the reservoir with.

Einion

 

[Kris370]

I'm pretty sure the main thing is not to be breathing directly into it as you work - having it off to one side should make all the difference.

Oh yeah sorry i forgot to mention that in my first reply, my palette is always set off to the side of me due to the "organisation" of crap on my desk (It may look a tip but everythings where its meant to be haha)

And yeah i wondered about bleach, though i was panicky it would effect the paint in some way?

Kris

 

[Ordo Septenarius]

Do you use wax paper or parchment paper for this? Is there a difference? Also, you make it "slick side up" (in terms of the paper), correct?

 

[Einion]

Oh yeah sorry i forgot to mention that in my first reply, my palette is always set off to the side of me due to the "organisation" of crap on my desk (It may look a tip but everythings where its meant to be haha)

In that case it might simply be due to the mould load in your vicinity; not saying you have a dirty house or anything...

And yeah i wondered about bleach, though i was panicky it would effect the paint in some way?

Don't mix it directly into your paint and you should be fine. Lots of people add some bleach to the water and I don't think I've ever read of any problems - the different pH could make for a problem with acrylic and vinyl paints, but generally this would show up immediately as a change in consistency where the paint 'seizes' and goes slightly like cottage cheese.

At the very least you could use a bleach solution to clean the container to be sure you're killing all the mould spores inside it before reloading it.

Do you use wax paper or parchment paper for this? Is there a difference? Also, you make it "slick side up" (in terms of the paper), correct?

These types of products vary from place to place but generally something called parchment paper will work fine. If it has two distinct surfaces - one smooth and one rough - I'd definitely use it smooth side up.

Wax paper can actually be truly waxy, which means it's pretty water-resistant so not suitable as a membrane paper.

Einion

 

[Kris370]

At the very least you could use a bleach solution to clean the container to be sure you're killing all the mould spores inside it before reloading it.

Yeah thats the plan then I'll give it a good rinse with boiling water.

Kris

 

[RuneBrush]

I tend to use filtered or purified water as well as that way I know I'm not putting any kak from my tap into it. Although in the grand scheme of things, water out the tap shouldn't contain anything, you don't know what it's picked up from the pipes.

 

[tomusannonymous]

I use one of those flat sponge cloths and a smaller square of wax paper sitting in water in a flat tupperware lid,and ive never had any mould growing, but i dont store mine sealed, i just let the paint dry on it and replace the paper every so often (it lasts months anyway). also mine is very flat compared to other ppls wet palettes ive seen.

that said after using it for months i hated the wet pallet and started using a simple plastic well pallet, and long as you add water to the paint mixes it doesn't dry out for a long time. I left the wet pallet club because i found it made my paint either too wet or too dry depending on the weather. (im in qld Aus. and the humidity is very high here, which definitely adds to it lol)

 

[Wren]

The penny trick seems to work pretty well for me. I have a commercially produced wet palette, and the lid is NOT completely air-tight. So if people are using more air tight storage containers, maybe that is increasing the microbe production in some way?

 

[MrH]

I've been having a problem with my homemade wet pallet, the paint separates nearly instantly and just dissolves into virtually nothing, what is causing this?

 

[Kris370]

Complete guess as I'm new to wet palettes but I'd say the paper, what are you using? I'm in the uk too and just using morrisons supermarkets own baking parchement and it seems to hold the paint pretty well.

 

[MrH]

I'm using Sainsbury's Greaseproof and Baking paper.

 

[Kris370]

Hmm not sure then, I'd guess theyre the same thing, probably even same manufacturer and paper with different names on knowing the shops here. Though i suppose you could try another one, or maybe its too wet? Other than that i dont know, id wait for one of the more experienced people to answer as i may just be leading you further astray lol.