Morning gents taking a step sideways decided to paint some 28mm figures so worked the Christmas list around this ,including a couple of boxes of Perry miniatures (plastic) some white metal(is it still called that) figures by the same company ,some 3rd gen paint set's to correspond with the subjects ,Jim Beam oh sorry diffren list I've also got a few 3d printed fantasy figures that were bought just out of intrest and something nagging at the back of my mind to have a go. Over forty odd years ago I was a member of the Southampton bmss but woman beer marriage children curtailed all that , like a few on here illness bought me back into the hobby so after 20 years of plastic armour have decided to take this small detour. I've had the wet pallet for ages now(still in the box) so after all that waffle (sorry)how wet do you make a wet pallet. Dave
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Morning Dave .
Others will have different views and ideas. I had a shallow plastic container with a well fitting lid . A thin piece of sponge in first , then a piece of greaseproof paper wetted the the sponge and allowed the water to soak the paper .
Now have a proper " wet pallet ,
In the base is a piece of paper , I soak mine in a bowl of water , then place in the tray. Allowing any surplus to drain out before placing the top sheet on . Once this sheet is wet your ready to add the colours you need. I space mine out and then taking a touch of the colour needed begin to mix into a thin coat as the dampness of the paper comes through . You can then darken or lighten as required.
Place the lid back when you have finished, this will ensure that when you return the paint will still be useable and not dried out. I find this works for a couple of days or more, but not much longer . -
Hi Dave
Not the answer you are going to want, but basically you make it as wet as you want it to be
I have a palette made by Redgrass that has a sponge as it’s water reservoir. I usually fill the palette and sponge in the sink, allow it to soak for a minute or two, then pour off the excess. Once I’ve done that I put the top sheet on and when that’s hydrated (it goes on smooth, curls up as it starts to hydrate, then flattens out again when it’s right) smooth it out. Try to get as many of the wrinkles out as you can, because air trapped in wrinkles under the top sheet can stop it working like it should.
Initially I find the palette too wet at the start, sometimes leading to certain colours becoming over diluted (reds in part seem prone to this), but as the water evaporates from the sponge in use it hits the “sweet spot” I like. Once it’s there I occasionally add a dropper pipette or two of water to the sponge around the edge so maintaining the hydration level that works best for me.
Like everything in this hobby it takes a little practice to get to where you want to be, but when you do you’ll wonder how you did without it.
As to paint life, John’s comment is about right. It is usually a few days, slightly shorter with some colours, and longer with others. You can reconstitute damp, rather than dry, paint with a touch of water or medium, but this isn’t always possible. You also have any previously mixed colours visible making them easy to match.
It might sound like you don’t gain much, but in my experience acrylics mixed on a dry palette have a working time measured in minutes, beginning to thicken almost straight away. On a wet palette they stay at the consistency you’ve mixed right through a painting session and beyond, and tinting and shading becomes immeasurably more flexible and easier.Comment
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I've got a DSPIAE wet palette, which has a reservoir side compartment for adding water, so you can see the level of the water in the sponge itself. I find that capillary action draws water up into the palette paper so long as there's some water in the system. The sponge should be sitting in water - whether it's 5-6mm or 1-2mm seems to make virtually no difference. So long as the reservoir has a ml or two in the bottom, but it's not so full that the sponge is awash, it seems to work fine.
As an aside, I recently got a replacement pack of papers from DSPIAE, and they've changed the formulation - it's clear that the composition of the paper itself impacts on how the palette works.
Here it is (without the palette paper in place).
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And good luck with the figure painting!Comment
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Thanks guys so its a bit suck it and see ,Paul mines a Dspiae as well must get it out of box , a while to go yet ,have built one figure struth give me 72nd individual track links any day bloody hell twice as fiddly putting these fellas together ,still I've got seventy odd of them to get the hang of it ,once I get round to slapping some paint about I'll post up ,give us all a laugh. Once again thanks all for your help Dave.Hi Dave
Not the answer you are going to want, but basically you make it as wet as you want it to be
I have a palette made by Redgrass that has a sponge as it’s water reservoir. I usually fill the palette and sponge in the sink, allow it to soak for a minute or two, then pour off the excess. Once I’ve done that I put the top sheet on and when that’s hydrated (it goes on smooth, curls up as it starts to hydrate, then flattens out again when it’s right) smooth it out. Try to get as many of the wrinkles out as you can, because air trapped in wrinkles under the top sheet can stop it working like it should.
Initially I find the palette too wet at the start, sometimes leading to certain colours becoming over diluted (reds in part seem prone to this), but as the water evaporates from the sponge in use it hits the “sweet spot” I like. Once it’s there I occasionally add a dropper pipette or two of water to the sponge around the edge so maintaining the hydration level that works best for me.
Like everything in this hobby it takes a little practice to get to where you want to be, but when you do you’ll wonder how you did without it.
As to paint life, John’s comment is about right. It is usually a few days, slightly shorter with some colours, and longer with others. You can reconstitute damp, rather than dry, paint with a touch of water or medium, but this isn’t always possible. You also have any previously mixed colours visible making them easy to match.
It might sound like you don’t gain much, but in my experience acrylics mixed on a dry palette have a working time measured in minutes, beginning to thicken almost straight away. On a wet palette they stay at the consistency you’ve mixed right through a painting session and beyond, and tinting and shading becomes immeasurably more flexible and easier.Comment
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I got a small RedGrass wet pallete for christmas. I'm not a figure painter but do brush paint my models 100% and don't have an airbrush.
It's early days but I'm finding it incredibly useful already.
I use Vallejo model colours and some air colours and like being able to do a painting session, put the lid on and come back to the next session with my paints still working and fresh.
I have been occasionally re-hydrating the paintings on the palette and topping them up and it does vary for different colours but I think I am wasting so much less paint and I don't have to keep cleaning up my dry pallets.
I've had my first sheet on the palette for about a week now and have plenty of space to add more colours if and when I need them.
Time will tell but so far I am only getting positives from using it.
MikeComment
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Good point about saving paint, too - makes a huge difference.Comment
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