First, thank
you to the person, (and I’m sorry I don’t recall your name) who introduced me
to the Wet Palate. When Rick and I (Rick is my husband) moved to Bend Oregon
from Orange County, I was having trouble with my paints drying out faster than
they had in the moister climate of Southern California. Wet palates are a way to keep the moisture
from being sucked out of your paints.
Living in dry climates like the High Desert of Oregon (Yes, Oregon has a
desert.) having a wet palace is a paint saver!
They come in many forms and prices, so here are some things I’ve tried
and what I found works best for me.
And it is what I use most; I have several so I can switch from one project to another with ease. It consists of a plastic container, a thin sponge and a piece of palate paper. The paper is not waxed and it is a thicker than standard palate paper. The instructions have you run the piece of paper under hot water for 45-60 seconds. And then fully saturate the sponge, do not wring out and place in the tray. Putting the paper on top of the sponge allows the paper to wick moisture from the sponge, keeping your paints moist for several days. I usually take my palate with me when I attend a painting class or convention, as you often don’t complete the project in class and this lets you have the same colors and any mixes you have until your project is complete. I’ve had sta-wet palates stay fresh for a month…it’s not ideal but if you keep adding water, they will keep.
Paper towel wet palate – this is a great way to have a wet palate
without actually buying anything or if you find yourself at a class and need
one on the fly. You will need a good
paper towel, Viva or the blue shop towels work well. You will also need a piece
of palate paper (wax paper or a paper plate will work too) to put it on. Wet the paper towel so it is pretty wet but
not dripping. Fold it in half, then you
want to make little channels, this helps keep your paints from bleeding, it
also gives you natural rows to put your paints in color groups and
values. This will not travel well and won't keep your paints fresh more than the one day. If you need them to keep longer you need some sort of container.
Homemade palate – at the SDP Convention in Wichita in 2010 one of the
items we received was a thin plastic case with a latch and inside was a shammy,
like the kind you can use on a car. As you can see it was cut to fit inside the
case. I use it with a paper towel and it
makes a great wet palate. You can also use waxed paper on top of the shammy. I like that this container is thin, it
travels well. If you can’t find one
this size a sandwich size food storage container works great, and you can use
either the shammy or even a regular kitchen sponge to hold the water and then
put the paper towel or wax paper on top. - Any palate you need to keep for any length of time should seal well but should not be airtight, it should still be able to breathe; closed up and no circulation equals smelly and moldy in no time.
- If you know it will be awhile before you finish your piece, I’d add a touch of baking soda under the sponge/shammy to keep it from getting stinky.
- Put a penny underneath the sponge? I’ve heard this but I have a feeling it’s just a wives tale. If you’ve done this please share with us if it worked.
- Misting – in classes where you are in air conditioning for several hours your paints can get gummy on the top, even on a wet palate. A small spray bottle that can mist the paint helps keep them fresh.
- Keep it
level – you might have noticed in the picture of my wet palate above, some of
the paint colors ran a bit. If you are
going to be traveling any great distance I recommend you wring out most of the water
first and keep the palate as level as possible.
Yes, you can take them on an airplane, I’ve done it.
So do you use a wet palate? Do you like it? What type to you use/prefer? Care to share what the longest you have kept paints in one is?
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