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Hello folks,

first try with a wet palette, the P3 one.

I filled the tray to soak the sponge, but it floats (!) so I drained off water til the sponge was sitting on the base of the box.
I wet both sides of the paper, placed it on the sponge and chased off the air bubbles.
I wiped over the top surface of the paper with tissue to make sure there was no standing water.

I added a drop each of Vallejo Game Colour 'Bronze Fleshtone' and 'Elf Skintone', then painted one coat on a few faces, then closed the box and went out.

Approximately 3 hours later I came back to this:


Any idea what's causing this? Is it just too wet? the paints are old (out of use ~2 years) but I gave them a good shake.
(the purple is leftover from a previous colour, not a separation of the flesh tones).

thanks.

That is probably a little too wet, but it is also what will happen to paints on the palette.

You can poke little divvets into the paper/sponge to keep it together, but it will always separate. Mixing it together will get it usable again, but it will be thinner.

Ah ok, I was expecting a bit less spreading, but I'll give the divot plan a try, thanks.

It really depends on the paint, some of my GW paints (pallid wych flesh) utterly separate really quick. Others, like a lot of metallics, will generally stay in the one place.

I never really leave them alone for long, the idea of leaving your paints mixed and then going to bed, coming back the next day and carrying on where you left off seem like a fantasy to me - they are worth their weight in gold over a painting session, but generally I throw the paper out after that.

Also, I've read a lot of bad things about those P3 pallets, as they tend to let air in, and also not fit properly - I'd have to google to find it. I use their papers, an old GW terrain Tupperware box thing, and a kitchen sponge - literally perfect.

I've read/seen a youtube clip about folding a sheet of kitchen towel on top of the sponge to make a better seal - slows the drying out and makes the paper behave better apparently.

I wasn't expecting an overnight perfection, but to go from ~1cm pools to the above starburst over 3 hours just seemed a little bit extreme. Likely my expectations being off kilter more than anything else!

That's far too wet for the P3 palette.
You want to assemble then tip it out until water stops flowing out freely. You'll need to weigh the corners down with a couple of pots you're not using, or the edges curl, but it should then last 1-2 days and not spread like that.

You can add more water with a dropper to the sponge and paper if it gets too dry. You'll never get 100% wet paper but you'll get good working areas.

Thanks for the response - that's a couple of things I can try now.

I'll be setting mine up after lunch, I'll show you how it looks when working how I'd like it.

I've yet to find a way around the paper gradually curling as they made the sheets a bit big.

Er, cut the sheets smaller like I do?

Oh good grief.
...Logic has never been my strong point.

I'll be over here.

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
I'll be setting mine up after lunch

Man, I'd love to be able to say that on a week day! I'll be setting mine up aroun 6:30 tonight, and will have until around 7:45 to use it

mockingbirduk wrote:
Man, I'd love to be able to say that on a week day! I'll be setting mine up aroun 6:30 tonight, and will have until around 7:45 to use it

Being a self employed useless bastard means I get to paint in daylight and work in the evenings when everyone's home who needs me to answer their stupid questions about my products.

Anyway, I shamefully closed this a week ago and didn't open it since. Apart from the fuzzy mildew, that is exactly as I left it, and I could paint on that paper if I didn't mind dying from it.


The white paint is blotchy because I mixed it far too wet before trying to put it on the palette, it's not the poor sponge's fault there.

This is how I'd usually use the palette. It shouldn't make you wet if you rub your hand on it. It's like a clammy forehead. But not a forehead after you walked across town on a hot afternoon and feel like death.

I am yet to see any mildew in my wet palette, I am using an anti-bacterial dish sponge as the backing - must be working somehow!

BC, is that pink for the ork?

I get mildew pretty much everywhere in the house. Living in a damp country in the damp countryside.

[Muttering] No kb, it's what I thought was red when I painted the trousers of thirty Mordians for my army. I haven't got time to repaint them, either.

i use one of those air tight glass containers with a rubber gasket on the lid and a vent that i can open once it is closed to let more air out ...

inside it i place a sponge that i wet down and then rung out ... on top of that some wax paper ... it sits in the center of the container

around the edges i place the small mini cupcake papers and that is where i place the paint ... i only put it on the middle if i am mixing up a color ... if it is a color combo i like or want to use more ... i end up mixing some of it up and putting it in a container by it's self (dropper bottle) so i have access to it again later on.

Tried again last night with a double layer of kitchen roll, poured off most of the water, made a divot before pouring.

Much more successful! Thanks all.

kb_lock wrote:
It really depends on the paint, some of my GW paints (pallid wych flesh) utterly separate really quick. Others, like a lot of metallics, will generally stay in the one place.

Interested to see what you said about metallics there as I'd always been led to believe that it was impossible to use metallics on a wet palette. Tried it out last night with a little dollop and everything seemed ok! Cheers!!