Painting: Wet Pallete Tutorial

[Morfesto]

This is my friend Starks333's Tutorial.

 

A wet palette is excellent for painting because it allows you to thin paints and keep those consistencies wet for a lengthened period of time, I had foundation paint on saturday, brought my model home and finished him on monday with the same paint left on my palette, but ive had paint last up to a week in it

 

 

 

You need the following:

 

-parchment paper

-plastic container

-absorbant paper towel

-scissors

 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/Starks3333/Tutorial/Wet%20Palette/100_3243.jpg

 

First apply several layers of paper towel to the bottom, cut and shape as necessary, adding thickness holds more water and prevents the shape of the container from forcing water onto your palette( in some cases like mine the sides are sloped and bottom grooved and if the towel isnt high enough the water flows onto the palette which=bad)

 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/Starks3333/Tutorial/Wet%20Palette/100_3245.jpg

 

next:

 

add water to saturate the paper towel, you can have some water sitting on top and around but not too much

 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/Starks3333/Tutorial/Wet%20Palette/100_3247.jpg

 

finally:

add a layer of parchment paper to the top, press it down, wait, an the edges will curl, press them down again smile.gif (as you can see mines well used already)

 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/Starks3333/Tutorial/Wet%20Palette/100_3248.jpg

 

and thats it.

[Dark_Vengeant]

What is parchment?

[Kanazuchi]

It is sort of like wax paper. Highly resistant to wet/greasy substances. Reynolds makes a fairly cheap roll of it.

[Commander Sha'son]

i recommend same as above, however substitute the paper towels with art sponge. Also instead of parchment, use acrylic paper. soak it in water for 20 secs before putting it on the sponge.

[Morfesto]

You can get Parchment paper at any grocery store it's normally in the same section as wax paper, tin foil and saran wrap.

It should say Parchment paper on the box and it's pretty cheap.

[Incendium]

Thanks for the tutorial, I may have to try this out.

[Boy Miller]

I finally got round to trying this today, and WOW!! It's so simple and absolutely brilliant!

I was a firm believer in using a ceramic tile but this is so much better. I really cannot recommend this method enough!!

 

Many thanks for a great idea and an excellent tutorial. I think its going to change the way I paint :devil:

[CarbonCopy]

A quick note. Do not use WAX PAPER. There is a significant difference between wax paper and parchment and they are not interchangeable.

 

Wax paper, as the name suggests, is permeated with a heavy wax coating. It PREVENTS water getting through. You WANT water to get through.

[Xanthier]

I'm in the UK and I've tried several supermarkets and can't find parchment paper at all. Anyone know of a good place to get this stuff in the UK?

[Boy Miller]

I'm in the UK and I used baking paper, (I think parchment paper is an american name for the same stuff).

You should be able to get it from tescos. That's where I got some. It works great!

[Xanthier]

Alright, cheers, I'll try that then.

 

Edit: As there wasn't any in the local Tesco Express, I resorted to using normal greaseproof paper, and so far it's working reasonably well. Foundation paint has lasted around an hour and isn't showing any signs of drying. Compared to the usual 4 to 5 minutes, up to 10 if watered, this is a huge improvement.

[Starks333]

:)

 

good to hear you guys like it!

 

ill include other methods in my tutorials once i get them all written up and such...soon.....soon

[Xanthier]

Indeed Starks333, I've been using greaseproof paper, and in the 5 days since I last posted here, the paint I've not used is still liquid. Excellent really, especially as most of them are foundation paints.

[Sigismund Himself]

Ok, I finally found this gem. Starks, can we chuck this into the Librarium as an article?

[Apothecary Orpheus]

I recently used this technique and it works perfectly,solves

a lot of problems with mixing paint for layering.I used greaseproof paper

and it works just fine.It is excellent especially for painting single minis

to a good standard,thanks for sharing.

[crossfit]

I found this article about a month ago and made one immediately. The paints stayed damp and usable until last night. They were still usable, but I was finished with the mixes I made. I think this is great.

 

edit: One thing I noticed is that the paints separate a lot. Easy to deal with simply by mixing up before using again. However, I read somewhere that tap water has minerals that can make the paints separate and to use distilled water to solve this problem. I am going to try that when I set up my next wet pallete.

[elixin77]

quick question: do you just take a brush full of paint, and put it on the paper? dump a little paint onto the paper? how do you guys transfer paint from the canister to the paper?

[Starks333]

quick question: do you just take a brush full of paint, and put it on the paper? dump a little paint onto the paper? how do you guys transfer paint from the canister to the paper?

 

a brush...and then add water to thin

[Sugrjunke7]

Can't wait to try. It looks useful

[mgraham]

Wow.. I've read a lot of tips since I've gotten back into painting and modeling miniatures, but this is by far the best! What a difference! Before when I was using a cheap, plastic palette, I would notice that painting would become more difficult only minutes after pulling paint from a pot. As soon as I pulled more paint or added water, things would get better again. Using a wet palette? Forget about it, my paint now stays wet forever and goes on so much more easily. Thanks a ton. Hurray! :P

[wienas]

If anyone from other countries is having trouble finding the paper because it's called something else, parchment paper is just a thin paper used for baking that you use to line your cookie sheets (for example).

 

As an interesting aside for the environmentally conscious, you CAN bake cookies on parchment paper and still use it in your wet palette. :P

[Nathe Rabnud]

I'm a noob at this so....... What is the purpose of the wet pallet? Is it supposed to extend the life of paint or to keep the mixes together longer?

[Starks333]

keep paint alive longer

[Nathe Rabnud]

for how long?

[Starks333]

depends on your environment...all day is common as long as its not under a lamp, or your house isnt extra humid or extra dry...

 

if its in a container with a lid, you can keep it good for multiple days, just be careful sme colours will change hue, becaus ethey seperate, and you cant get them back to the original colour..so you will have to apply a new puddle of paint

 

 

i find this happens when painting my armies, but not so much on anything else...could be the colours more than anything