Heresy & Heroes

Ok, this should be a relatively short one from me today. It’s a tip that will save you money, feed you, and it may even help you to achieve some better paint jobs too. How’s that for a slice of fried Retributor Armour?

I’ve seen a lot of people spending money on wet palettes and I want to tell you that you don’t need to do that. I was lucky in that when I was in my early teens, my friend’s mum (who’s a professional artist) showed me how to make a wet palette. I was painting canvasses at that time but it’s the same sort of thing for miniature painting – it’s all just acrylic paint. And now, I want to pass that knowledge on to you!

Here’s what I use:

The way I look at this, it’s the makings of a wet palette and it comes with free chocolates (which I’m already eating – yummers). Remove the chocolates, fold a couple of sheets of paper towel into the tray, cover it with a layer baking paper cut to size and, well, you have a wet palette. It’s that easy. Well, you have to get it wet of course but a bit of tap water’ll do. Here’s the one I’ve been using for the last few months:

You can sub in a J Cloth, layer of sponge or even a duster for the paper towels if you like – as long as it’s absorbent, it works. And I’ve seen some folks use black baking paper as that helps if you predominantly undercoat with black (it looks a little more like how it will look on the mini). I have yet to discover the goth baking suppliers that sell this, but I’ve not been looking so it may be very easy. And I guess you don’t need to buy chocolates (I mean, why wouldn’t you?) as all you need is a tray with a lid (the lid helps keep it wet so is essential) and any such thing will work just fine.

Why do I want one?

Well, this will keep your paints “alive” (read “wet”) for longer. If you’re mixing colours, this gives you a bit more time to paint at your own pace, and helps when it comes to touching up mistakes too as you can easily go back to exactly the shade you were using. I don’t use mine for everything – in fact, unless I’m doing something tricksy where I need a lot of those mixed colours, or if I’m trying to be really fancy and I want a tonne of different shades of the same colour (this gives me the time to work without fearing the paint drying), I don’t really use it. If I’m working with a  colour straight out of the pot, I just use a regular palette. But, another reason people use them is because it technically saves money by keeping the paint wet and usable for longer but I always think we’re dealing in pennies there, even for the pricier paints (given the tiny quantities you’re likely working in) so whether it saves you much in this way is up for debate. 

So there you go. Short and simple, and if it helps you out, I’m glad. Now, I have a load of chocolates to eat so if you’ll excuse me, onwards!