baudot
New member
I paint with a wet palette, and for the most part I love it. But it has one serious problem: It gets too wet and too dry at the same time.
When the palette is too wet, water puddles through the parchment paper. The paint on top gets too thin, and separates into different colors.
When the palette gets too dry, the parchment dries up and so does the paint on it. It starts to curls off the sponge and resists being moisturized anew.
Here's a pic of the wet palette after it's been closed up overnight, and the paints have diluted and puddled together. And the paper is also too dried out, letting the paint spoil, and starting to curl off the sponge. So it got too wet and the paint mixed, and then it quickly dried out overmuch. This happens constantly.
View attachment 51925
It works great when I first start using it, but I'm throwing out parchment paper and unused paint a lot, which is missing half the purpose of a wet palette. Better paint mixing? Score. Saving paint? Not so much.
The palette is the P3 brand wet palette from Privateer Press, using their parchment paper to go with. I've moistened it with plain old tap water - not distilled water. I haven't boiled the parchment paper either, but since that's supposed to increase wicking, it sounds like that would just make the problem worse. The climate I live in is hot and humid: Usually 80 degrees or higher, with the humidity levels you'd expect a mile from the ocean. (i.e. Oakland, California, near the docks.) I re-moisten the pallet when I notice the paper starting to peel off the sponge, which sometimes happens in less than an hour of working, and while other parts of the pallet are still soaked through.
Thoughts? Which behavior should I be changing to solve this problem? Or is this just a lousy sponge/lousy batch of parchment paper? Have another brand wet palette that's always worked for you?
When the palette is too wet, water puddles through the parchment paper. The paint on top gets too thin, and separates into different colors.
When the palette gets too dry, the parchment dries up and so does the paint on it. It starts to curls off the sponge and resists being moisturized anew.
Here's a pic of the wet palette after it's been closed up overnight, and the paints have diluted and puddled together. And the paper is also too dried out, letting the paint spoil, and starting to curl off the sponge. So it got too wet and the paint mixed, and then it quickly dried out overmuch. This happens constantly.
View attachment 51925
It works great when I first start using it, but I'm throwing out parchment paper and unused paint a lot, which is missing half the purpose of a wet palette. Better paint mixing? Score. Saving paint? Not so much.
The palette is the P3 brand wet palette from Privateer Press, using their parchment paper to go with. I've moistened it with plain old tap water - not distilled water. I haven't boiled the parchment paper either, but since that's supposed to increase wicking, it sounds like that would just make the problem worse. The climate I live in is hot and humid: Usually 80 degrees or higher, with the humidity levels you'd expect a mile from the ocean. (i.e. Oakland, California, near the docks.) I re-moisten the pallet when I notice the paper starting to peel off the sponge, which sometimes happens in less than an hour of working, and while other parts of the pallet are still soaked through.
Thoughts? Which behavior should I be changing to solve this problem? Or is this just a lousy sponge/lousy batch of parchment paper? Have another brand wet palette that's always worked for you?
