Wet Palette

Are you willing to know not a technique but a tool of great value for the painting of our miniatures? Well, today, you will discover the Wet Palette.

If you don't know it, a wet palette is a plastic container with a wet sponge inside, and on top of it, there is a sheet of vegetable paper that absorbs the moisture from the sponge.

This allows the moisture from the paper to be transferred to our paints, thus extending their useful life. So far, so simple, but... how can I make my own wet palette, you may be wondering?

Fear not because below, I will show you the easiest way to make your own wet palette.

I will also give you a series of tips that will come in handy, so you won't have any problems when it comes to making it or using it. Without further ado, here we go.

On my blog, I published a guide about Wet Palettes: Tips and Tricks.

Materials you will need

• 1 plastic container that is not too high and has a lid (if it is airtight, all the better).
• 1 sponge that has dimensions as close to our container (if it is bigger, we can adapt it).
• A piece of vegetable or baking paper (butcher's paper is also ideal, although it can be more difficult to find).
• Blade, if possible, is very sharp.
• Rulers.
• Marker pen.
• And of course... Water!

Once you have your materials ready, draw the perimeter of the bottom of your container on the sponge with the marker.
Then you will cut it with the blade and help yourself with the ruler to cut straight as possible.

When you have your portion of sponge cut, check that it fits perfectly inside your container.

Measure the height of your container and measure half of its height. This will be the thickness you will give the sponge to retain a good amount of moisture.
Once this is done, divide your sponge into sections with the previously measured thickness (in my case, 1,5cm) and cut them with the cutter.

The advice I give you to cut the sponge as best as possible is to cut on all 4 sides and leave the center area uncut.

You will get a more precise cut by folding the edges in on themselves and passing the blade underneath.

Once this is done, check that your sponge section fits perfectly in your container and reaches about halfway up.

Next, layout the outline of the bottom of your pan on the baking paper.
At this point, you might be tempted to cut the paper directly along these lines and continue with the process, but my advice is not to do so.

Leave a 0.5 cm margin on the inside of the outline and cut along there. This way, the paper will not curl, and you will always have direct access to the sponge to rehydrate it if it should lose moisture in the future.

Now it's time to moisturize your sponge for the first time, so I recommend being generous in doing so.
The sponge needs to absorb enough water to hydrate fully and to adhere the baking paper to it.

So, after pouring a good amount of water and squeezing the sponge all over to help it absorb the water, it's time to put your paper on it and spread it out well so that it makes contact with the entire surface of the sponge.

Once the paper has completely adhered to the sponge, you will remove the excess water in a glass or any other container so that you are left with the exact amount.

Ideally, do this operation and wait for an hour, then repeat the operation until you have no liquid at the bottom of your container.

Done this; you already have your palette ready to extend the life of our paints for several days.

I hope you found this tutorial article useful and see you in the next one.

Cheers and strength to your brushes 😛 ! !!!!