Wet Palette issues

[dshavers]

Thank you!. I have the water about even with the sponge, so that the paper almost floats on top. I think it's just going to take a little getting used to. My biggest hurdle right now is mixing up enough of the colors I use so that they hang around long enough to paint. ie. I place 2 small blobs of color down for mixing. I take a little from blob A and B and mix them together to make a C mixture. Since I'm taking small amounts of the two colors the mixed tone seems to "dry" on the paper after about 30 minutes or so.

Too much water means it pools on top of your palette and the paint becomes runny. You can't control it and becomes more like a wash than a paint. You want the paper wet but not puddles on top of it. That being said, when you mix your paint, you can add a couple of drops of water to it, especially if it's thick or a little on the old side. I have a dropper bottle here and if my paint is thick, I just add one or two drops at the most. Anything more and I've got a puddle that runs over the sides and into the sponges and makes a mess. Then I take the end of my brush and gently mix it just enough to get it stirred.

And good luck corralling the 9 mo. old. I hope you have your track shoes on. They move amazingly fast despite the stubby little legs.

 

[Einion]

I find that if I mix only a small amount of color using the "blobs" layed out first on the palette, the paint tends to dry out much quicker. I'm assuming the key is to mix a bit more volume to combat this.

This would help, but it shouldn't really be necessary. If a stay-wet palette is working correctly small areas of brush-mixed colour shouldn't dry out noticeably over a short timeframe - by dry out I mean enough that the paint stops being usable, rather than not staying exactly how it was when it was first mixed.

It is sounding more and more likely that your parchment paper isn't quite permeable enough I'm afraid; it might be worth trying the boiling trick and seeing if it helps.

These sorts of papers do vary quite a bit unfortunately, the baking parchment I use works perfectly straight from the box without any prior soaking and on a barely-wet reservoir. I'd expect that a small amount of colour I mixed off to one side with the tip of a brush on Friday night should be able to be picked up with a damp brush on Sunday.

Also is there a negative side to having "too much" water in the well?

During storage (when closed up, overnight or longer) paint drops on the paper will tend to get a little more watery. Plus as Kathryn points out there's more chance that water will creep over the edge and get into your paint, ruining whatever consistency you want them to have.

Einion

 

[dshavers]

Thanks once again! I'll give the boiling a try. I also want to try out just using paper towels instead of a sponge to see if that makes any difference. I know that once I come back to the palette after a few days, the paper is defiantly moist, so maybe I need to just give it some time to absorb some of the water before laying down paint.

 

[GraveRisen]

This is the exact one that I have. Do you use the included paper?

Yeah, on my 3rd sheet now and I haven't had any issues. I just turn the hot water tap in my bathroom sink to full and let it soak fully submerged for 10-15 min

 

[kathrynloch]

Yeah, on my 3rd sheet now and I haven't had any issues. I just turn the hot water tap in my bathroom sink to full and let it soak fully submerged for 10-15 min

Another method for me to test. I'm using the Reynolds parchment paper. I've tried boiling it, hot running water for about 3 minutes, and tepid water. Thus far I've had the best results with the boiled. I get more water transfer. The other two, it seems I don't get as much transfer and the paper lifts up from the sponge just enough that it dries out.

 

[QuietiManes]

Yeah, I've got the handy palette, too. I liked the size and price.

I noticed that when I mix up really thin paint (lots of water) it tends to suck up more water through the paper than when I mix up thick paint (less water). Osmosis is more efficient perhaps? But even strait paint doesn't dry up. Hopefully you can lock down the problem and get some trouble free use soon.

 

[Patyrn]

one thing i noticed is i have 75 watt bulbs everywhere and the heat from them tends to try out the paint quickly. even paint on the wet pallett will dry out from it.

CFLs! Almost no heat, and the "daylight" varieties make it much easier to see color.

 

[Coyotebreaks]

I was going to start off a new thread, but then I saw this one which is quite relevent to my question.

Does anyone have tips on controlling the mixes of colours?

I have recently started using a wet palett and for the most part is making life easyer. I'm not having to remix colours all the time due to pain drying out.
Where i am stuggling though, is contolling the paint. Im trying to mix up a pool of paint that has the darkest shade at one side and the lightest shade at the other, but if I have the paint at my usual blending consistancy it does not work that way. The colours uncontollably leach into each other so I end up with a dark shade a light shade and a mess in the middle. I have more controll if the paint are thicker, but then it is two thick for blending.

So yeah I would be intertested to see how others manage this dilama.

cheers (sorry for the hi-jack)

 

[Einion]

Im trying to mix up a pool of paint that has the darkest shade at one side and the lightest shade at the other...

Why? As you say if the paint is any way fluid it'll just tend to run together. Just do 'em separately.

If you want to mix between the any two colours it's better to do it manually so you have full control over what stage between the starting and ending colour you'll be using. So for example between a light grey and a dark grey you could mix a perfect halfway point between them that you can reliably go back to later on in the painting process if you need to. Although generally between colours quite far apart I'd often aim to have three intermediate mixes, not just the one.

Einion

 

[Coyotebreaks]

Cool I see what your saying. I was trying to do it the way described mainly thinking that I can access all shades at once. But now I see that that was never going to work. the reson I decided to try the wet pallet was because I thought it would work this way. But I can still see benefits with the wet pallet now i think.

cheers.

 

[Einion]

But I can still see benefits with the wet pallet now i think.

Oh totally, revolutionises the ease with which you can paint over long periods (and multiple sessions).

Einion

 

[cleen X]

Don't use the parchment paper that comes with the Mastersons sta-wet palette. It's meant for acrylics you paint on a board with and they are thicker. When using hobbypaints I just use baking parchment paper. That you can get at any supermarket. Just try and find one that is not very greasy, the paint will not be affected but it makes mixing a little bit harder and the paint kind of blobs together into drops. Get one without grease or a silicon layer and you should be fine.
And I love my wet-palette. Works as a charm.

 

[Spoontoes]

Don't use the parchment paper that comes with the Mastersons sta-wet palette. It's meant for acrylics you paint on a board with and they are thicker.

I've never had any problems using the Mastersons paper, works fine for me with VMC or GW paints.

 

[QuietiManes]

I've never had any problems using the Mastersons paper, works fine for me with VMC or GW paints.

Ditto. It is cheaper to use the baking parchment paper though.

 

[kathrynloch]

Thus far, the best results of all the stuff I've tried has been baking parchment paper soaked in hot water from the tap for about 10-15 min. But I also stopped using the sponges. I tried the paper towel but didn't care for it. Like I've said before, I've got fans going like crazy in here and they dry out the palette fast - even my round well palette where I have my super thin paint starts drying out pretty quickly.

Anyway, the holes in the sponges trapped too much air and the paper would dry out that much faster. When I was cleaning the other day, I found some old Sham Wow towels. I don't know if you guys have these things across the pond, but they're kinda a joke here because of the infomercial that started them. I used them like crazy at horse shows. On super hot days, I'd hose my horse down after the test, but you don't want to leave him dripping wet. Those Sham Wow towels worked great for drying him off before I put him back in his stall. I used them a lot and these were pretty close to getting tossed. It dawned on me to try them in the wet-palette instead.

They work fantastic! They retain a ton of water, much more than paper towels. They are nice and flat so no air bubbles and they're washable too!

I like my wet palette small because of the limited space on my table, so I use these cheapo plastic containers. I use the side with the sponge for rinse water and lightly drag my brush over the sponge to make sure I get all the paint out of it. When I'm done, I just pop the lid on. When I've finished using the colors or my palette is full, I rise off both the Sham Wow and the baking parchment, refill with clean water and off I go again.

It's quite handy. I can use more than one Sham Wow but it seems that only one is truly needed.

Anyway, just wanted to share.

 

[Niranth]

Anyway, the holes in the sponges trapped too much air and the paper would dry out that much faster.
...
When I was cleaning the other day, I found some old Sham Wow towels.
They work fantastic! They retain a ton of water, much more than paper towels. They are nice and flat so no air bubbles and they're washable too!

Sign me up for the kathrynloch fan club! I have followed her lead. If you do not have access to a Sham Wow, you might try a layer of paper towel between the sponge and the parchment. Capillary action should keep the towel wet even over the air bubbles.

My kids are long past diapers, but remembering how big pampers got in a swimming pool, I have to wonder how well that stuff might work. <silly grin>

 

[kathrynloch]

Sign me up for the kathrynloch fan club! I have followed her lead. If you do not have access to a Sham Wow, you might try a layer of paper towel between the sponge and the parchment. Capillary action should keep the towel wet even over the air bubbles.

Why thank you! The paper towel between the sponges is a great idea too!

My kids are long past diapers, but remembering how big pampers got in a swimming pool, I have to wonder how well that stuff might work. <silly grin>

LMAO!!! Oh too funny! I remember those droopy drawers too, felt sorry for my kid.

 

[marjedi]

I use 2-3 layers of paper towels, soaked with water and covered with a layer of parchment. It lasts a full day without drying out, i just replace it everyday so it is always freash and cleaned.

Oh and Niranth, ill sign u up for the fanclub.

Do you want the complementary mug or t-shirt?

 

[Niranth]

Oh and Niranth, ill sign u up for the fanclub.

Do you want the complementary mug or t-shirt?

It depends, is the mug made so I wont grab the rinse water instead? <grin>

Thank you for signing me up!

 

[marjedi]

I had it made from some semi depleted uranium the yanks had lying around...makes it heavy and glows in the dark...neat stuff!