Wet Palette was >>-->Re: Stuart's Painting Tips

On the topic of paint drying out due to painting out of an open bottle:

Try using a wet palette. It sounds "ooh... complicated painting stuff" but it
isn't. Honest!

Obtain some baking parchment, also known as baking paper/cooking
paper/baker's parchment.  I found a great big roll of it at a grocery
store right next to the waxed paper and aluminum foil (In America, dunno how
you ferriners arrange your stores). You'll also need paper towels.

Get a shallow, flat-bottomed container and cut a piece of the parchment
just large enough to cover most of the bottom of the container, likewise cut
sections of the paper towels, to the approximate same size.

Lay the paper towels down first, and soak them with water You want it as wet
as possibly without the water running out of it when you tilt it. Then put a
single piece of the baking parchment over it. It will want to curl and pull up
initially, but after a little flattening it will lay flat. It's ready for use.

The way you use it is to pull paint out of your bottle with a brush and put it
on top of the baking parchment. Moister will leach up through the paper and
keep the wet without diluting it but the paint doesn't soak down through the
paper. I've had paint last for DAYS on a covered wet palette. You can have
several colors on the same wet palette without having multiple bottle open at
one time, this can speed up painting a lot, as well as preventing spills.

Tips: If the paper towels stick out a little from underneath the wet palette
you can moisten the brush by lightly touching it to the paper instead of
dunking it in water. You can also add more water by using a dropper and adding
it right into the paper towels, no need to take off the wet palette.

If you use a container with a cover (like tupperware, etc) covering it between
painting sessions becomes simple. Just add some extra water before you put on
the over and keep the container flat to keep the paint and water from running
to one side.

> On Sun, 2002-04-07 at 05:10, Thomas Barclay wrote:

I mostly use acrylic tole paints available much more cheaply from hobby
outlets or Wal-Mart like stores. They have another advantage besides
price,
they com in pop-top squeeze bottles and it is easy to apply a few drops
to a
palette and paint until it is used up. If you keep the pop-top cover and
hole clean, it seals very tightly. I have bottles of this paint three years
old and still very usable. If necessary a drop or two of water will replace
lost moisture easily.