Sunday 23 August 2015

Building a Wet Palette

I came to the idea of a wet palette this year on my return to gaming, and have found it invaluable for day-to-day painting. As a friend is starting into painting, and itt seems no two palettes are ever quite the same, here's my interpretation for his benefit.

Here's the components, and below is the explanation of key ingredients to make the palette:


Plastic tupperware container with a matching lid. Important, as when you seal it back up, the moisture now trapped inside cankeep your paints workable for a week or more.
  • Sponge. This is a simple car sponge from Halfords that I cut into upper and lower halves. My irregular cutting is then hidden because you want the smooth surface uppermost.
  • Kitchen towel. Highly absorbent and offers the baking parchment better support than just the sponge.
  • Baking parchment. Cut to size - ideally a little smaller than the container size. The one in my illustration is a little too big.
  • Sainsbury's strawberry & vanilla ice cream cone. Probably THE critical item in the build. You'll know when the moment arrives.
Late addition to the article. As good practice, and I was reminded by the first poster on this article (thanks Brambleten) you should look to replace the kitchen towel and tower on a weekly basis. It can fur up with mold, and you want to keep this clean with fresh supplies to ensure it has the best lifespan possible.

Onto the compilation of the elements ...

  • Fill the container with water to almost the brim, put the sponge in and soak up as much water as possible. Once the sponge is at capacity, I tip away some of the excess so around the corners it's only up to the top surface of the sponge.
  • Put the sheet of kitchen towel over the top and watch that absorb some of the excess. Tuck in the corners for neatness.
  • Place the baking parchment on top. This will be a barrier to the water below, but will benefit from the moisture and keep the paints.


That's it. Wet palette made.

I can't disclose at what stage the ice cream was eaten. This is only something you'll be able to determine from a couple of dry runs of your own.