Wet Palette Water Management

[Void Knight]

I have an Army Painter wet palette and I have an issue when it comes to the appropriate water levels. If I have add enough water (like more than a few ticks of an inch mark on a ruler) in the palette or pour on top of the paper, the paint tends to run and expand into a liquidy mess that gets into the water. However, the palette can dry after a few hours and I have to lift the paper and sponge to wet the palette. I am not doing the proper techniques or is there something off with my palette?

[Firedrake Cordova]

Are you following Army Painter's set-up instructions?

 

 

Also, is it super-dry where you are?

[Bryan Blaire]

Don’t put water on the top of a wet palette - it is supposed to help hydrate your paints by the water wicking up slowly from below.

 

If you really need extra water to thin the paint on your wet palette, you can add a small drop of water to one side of the palette and pull from that, but usually you should be able to thin your paints with the water in your brush each time.

 

I always keep a small squeeze bottle with filtered water next to my palette and add a squeeze or so (not really scientific, but don’t over wet your sponge) of water in when I notice the sponge isn’t saturated.

 

Also, different brands of paint are going to react to a wet palette water level differently, some may get thinned much more quickly by less water than others require, which can also lead to paint skittering on the paper into the water.

 

When you put the paper down, I would put small weights on the corners to keep it from curling, and then as it hydrates, flatten out the bubbles/wrinkles out with a small straight edge - like a small bit of flat card (even an old gift card or something, but you don’t want anything that will flake off or contaminate you paper surface).

Edited April 7 by Bryan Blaire

[Void Knight]

15 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Are you following Army Painter's set-up instructions?

 

 

Also, is it super-dry where you are?

I can see where I went wrong. I was adding too much paint, not clearing out all of the creases, and not sealing the palette properly.

 

Also, thanks @Bryan Blaire for the advice.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Hopefully that solves it, then  

[Rowland]

I’ve discovered that the weather makes a big difference to mine.  Here in the UK we had rain all winter and the pallet was fine.  The last couple of days we’ve had sun and warmer weather and my top sheet is drying very quickly.

[W.A.Rorie]

42 minutes ago, Rowland said:

I’ve discovered that the weather makes a big difference to mine.  Here in the UK we had rain all winter and the pallet was fine.  The last couple of days we’ve had sun and warmer weather and my top sheet is drying very quickly.

 

That is common here (Arizona in the US) as we are a very dry hot climate state. A Humidifier in you hobby room can help along with not having the wet palette under or being blown by a direct fan source. That being said @Bryan Blaire's advice here is super important

 

On 4/7/2026 at 4:43 PM, Bryan Blaire said:

I always keep a small squeeze bottle with filtered water next to my palette and add a squeeze or so (not really scientific, but don’t over wet your sponge) of water in when I notice the sponge isn’t saturated.

 

as well as this helpful tip

 

On 4/7/2026 at 4:43 PM, Bryan Blaire said:

When you put the paper down, I would put small weights on the corners to keep it from curling, and then as it hydrates, flatten out the bubbles/wrinkles out with a small straight edge - like a small bit of flat card (even an old gift card or something, but you don’t want anything that will flake off or contaminate you paper surface).

 

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

The other option would be to add a smidge of drying retarder (e.g. Liquitex Slow-Dri additive).

 

Wet palettes should be able to greatly extend the life of the paint, but they aren't necessarily going to be able to completely stop it from drying out.