Hobby Basics - Wet Palette Tutorial

As many of you, I also use a wet palette for mixing and keeping my colors fresh. Inspired by Mr. Lees post about his way of doing it, I thought about making a "wet palette my way" post too. Et voila here we are. First of all: This is no rocket science, and I think most of you already know or use a wet palette these days. If not: Do it! Even if you are a beginners painter you will feel the difference between using a wet palette or just fetching your colors from a paint pot.
But I think everyone does it a little different and its best to experiment a bit with the stuff you have until you are satisfied and it really works for you.

The container

As a container for my palette I use an old Tupperware lunch box which has a transparent lid and closes pretty good (it is not airtight but comes close). As it is typical for me I didn't buy this one but pillaged the old Tupperware stuff of my mom :)
Hot tip: Clean this container regularly to prevent growing bacteria strain or mildew. This may seem odd but since you are going to fill this with water and colors this may be a real problem if you keep your paints for weeks in there. As soon as it smells of mildew it is too late and you have to throw everything away and clean the box with vinegar essence or worse.

The water absorbent

As water absorbent you can use many things, most use tissue (cheap and everywhere to find), some kind of foam (packaging material from your miniature orders may work here) or some kind of sponge (like the ones used in the kitchen for cleaning the dishes).
I found out that using a sponge cloth works best for me. It is pretty cheap and we always a package of them in our cubby. They come with some kind of protection fluid so rinse them well before stuffing them into your container.
Hot tip: As with the container clean this thingy regularly and you can use it a long time. If not you will experience that some kind of algae or mildew will grow after a while (depending on your water/moisture etc. pp.).

The color carrier

As paper for mixing my colors I use normal backing paper which comes in some pre-cut sheets and is always to find in our kitchen. One sheet lasts very long and is also on the cheap side of the hobby. You can use whatever you want, waxing paper, sandwich paper or as I do baking paper. As long as it lets the water permeate everything is fine.
Hot tip: Some baking papers have a kind of coating to prevent the stuff clinging to it if you put it in the oven. This kind of paper does not work (at least for me).

Wet palette ready to use

That's it. Really easy to build yourself a wet palette, isn't it? Only thing to do is to pour some water into the container and put the paper on your sponge. It should be enough water, that the paper is completely wet and nearly no air bubbles are seen. Put your paints on it and start painting.
Hot tip: Depending on your previous painting style you should watch out for your paint-to-water ratio. The wet palette already changes the paint consistency a bit. So if you are used to paint with thinned paints mix them up on the palette and not outside.
Another thing is that you will notice that the paints are separating much faster than before. That's because water is permeating through the paper but the pigments are "floating" on top (my theory here from what I observed). A short stir and everything is fine.

With a wet palette you can keep your mixed colors fresh for a pretty long time (depending on temperature and moisture of the region you are living). In the summertime my palette kept my paints fresh for about a week. Putting it in the fridge would extend this time but my wife would kill me then :)


Massive Voodoo did a nice video tutorial about their way of doing a wet palette. For me this one is way too big but as said: Everyone has to find the stuff which works for themselves best!

Hope this Hobby Basic/Tutorial article was somewhat helpful for you.


So long,
Paradox0n