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Hi all. I finally got onto the wet palette bandwagon. I haven't used it in a while (honestly, probably a couple weeks my best guess) and opened it up today and noticed some mold has started growing in the paper towels that make my reservoir.

I read that one solution is to put some pennies at the bottom because the copper will help prevent mold. Has anybody tried this / other options to help prevent mold from kicking in?

Clean your pallet out from time to time? The "selling point" of a wet pallet is that it keeps your paint useable and reduces waste, not that you can use it as a paint pot alternative.

You're supposed to replace your paper towel when you're done with it, so pretty much what Breotan said.

Yep, I use Parchment Paper and have never had that issue....

Never heard of using pennies. Might be worth a go, purely for the sake of curiosity. I've heard of people adding a small portion of various thinners to the reservoir to act as a fungicide, but I don't like the idea - first, they tend to be volatile, and will evaporate too quickly to do long-term good and second, they're liable to transfer into the paints and change their behavior, should they stick around long enough to do anything.

Personally, I'd just change out your paper towels more frequently. It's far from necessary to toss them after each session, but we're talking pennies and a minute or two spent for a total refresh of your palette's guts (if you're using paper towels, at least) - there's no reason to let them go funky. My palette (i.e. tupperware container) seals quite well and sees only sporadic use, so it can go for a few weeks without anything starting to grow in there, especially if the room is kept on the cooler side. When things do start growing, though (usually get gray fuzzies sprouting in the scratches on the lid, personally, before the paper towels get slimy), I start fresh, whether I've used the whole surface or a tenth of it.

Change your towels.

Wash the container in water and maybe a bit of Vinegar to kill stuff.

Repeat whenever the flora starts growing again.

as some one who uses a "real" wet palette (which I found works better then homemade), I have never had a problem with 2 months between opening the lid.

As everyone said. Throw the towels out and start fresh. The paint doesn't last too long anyways. Since you are going homemade route it seems, it won't be expensive to replace every few days

You can out some miltons in with your water to wet the towels/sponge...

I use a dish cloth in the bottom of mine and just squeeze it out then let it air dry when I'm not going to be using the wet palette for a day or two.

Obviously I replace the top layer of paper when I do this too, I really don't see why you would need to keep the same water/paper in your palette for months.