Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi All

Ive been using a DIY wet pallet for a long time.
While its very helpful and free for the most park I find it can be a bit inconsistent in terms of keeping the paint at the same consitency and separating during session. Bit hit and miss.

Im thinking of investing in an actual wet pallet. Does anyone use one, if so what are your experiences and any recommendations?


Thanks!

I've been using a stamp pad for a wet pallette for over a year. It works well, the foam pad stays moist and the lid makes it a bit cleaner. It does slowly collect debris, though, making it a bit ugly (but that doesn't affect the paint, since you use clean parchment paper).

Paint left on the pallette will separate and become too watery after several hours, I don't think there's any way around that.

Yeah but paint seems to separate within 30 minutes in some cases. Granted I can just give it a good stir on the pallet with a brush and its usually ok.

But am looking for any potential better alternatives if it will help me improve.

Far as I can tell there's a selection around on Amazon and the like, but they all appear to be fairly cheap plastic trays with a lid that are, honestly, overpriced for what you get (at least that's my impression). There's the "ultimate" one that doesn't dry out (its orange) but that comes with a very steep price tag.

From what I can tell many just use one of those plastic food tubs with some foam/sponge/kitchenroll in the bottom with water and then a sheet of greeseproof paper atop it.

That's what I am currently using as per my 1st post. I think I saw sam lenz use the orange one in some videos...

Yeah the orange one appears to be the only "higher grade" one I can find mentioned around, but at the same time its got quite the big pricetag on it. (somewhere in the 30-40Euros)/

I started seriously trying to use a wet pallet a few years ago, and went through a few options. Built my own which was... not good. Bought the Rowney one which is really cheap and crappy and pretty expensive for it.

In the end I bought the Redgrass Games one that had a kickstarter - https://www.redgrassgames.com/everlasting-wet-palette/everlasting-wet-palette-painter/. This is probably the orange one mentioned?

It was fairly expensive, but it's seriously a huge, huge improvement on the other options and was worth every penny IMO. It came with loads of paper and some replacement foam too, so I expect it to last a while.

I had a commercial one from amazon, which was okay but not great.
I actually went back to a DIY one. I had massive improvements when I started using wet paper towel at the bottom, instead of sponge/foam. I just put down two layers of paper towel, pour water on it, wait for a few seconds for it to wet everything, then remove the excess by emptying the tray and pressing a little bit on the PT to squeeze some of the water out. Finally I lay down a sheet of baking paper (or parchment paper? not sure how it's called in English), and I'm ready to roll. It really works like a charm. Some paints do separate, mostly metallics and some reds/oranges, but I believe it's due to heavy pigments, which the wet pallet can't do anything about.

I mean 30 minutes of worktime for acrylic paint is more than one can expect.

Wet palette isn't meant to 'preserve' your paints FYI. If you can keep paint wet & usable for 30 minutes I'd say you've already met your goal without investing further.

My personal 2 cents is don't follow the hype with all these cool gadgets and thingymagigs that supposedly help you paint 'better'.

I work with standard glass palette, dropper bottles, retarder & flow aid to get all my work done and it seems to work out better than what wet palette supposedly offers.

EDIT: I should add that I've seen greater success in 'preserving' acrylic paints when using standard acrylic paints for non-miniature painting. I'm not chemist, but I'd guess this is due to the amount you squeeze out of the tube and onto the palette as well as the application (I don't thin down as much as I would when painting miniatures), and potentially the composition of the paint itself. And by "preserving the paint", I would drop a couple of drops of water on the globs of paint and cover it loosely with aluminum foil, not a store made wet-palettes. The portions of paint I've used and thinned on the palette surface dries up however.

The amount you would 'dip and transfer' onto palette when painting miniatures is so little that these added benefits of wet palette doesn't seem to be justifiable in my opinion.

Depends on what you are trying to do. A GOOD wet palette can indeed make paints last days.
A wet palette is not the be all end all.

It's a tool in the toolkit. I don't always use mine, but I do when I want that tool.

Not all paints respond well to a wet palette, metallics for instance.

The home made ones are not as good as some of the commercial offerings, not all the commercial offerings are worth a damned.

I paid the money for the redgrass everlasting wet palette because it's the best I've found.

The problem with a lot of home made wet palettes is the rate of water transfer into the paint. Yes it's a thing.

The other problem is organic growth of which only the redgrass one has no issues with it even with high organic count water being used. Zero growth. I once kept the palette wet for about 4 months, It took that long for a musty smell to even begin. I was doing a lot of painting and that thing was wet, refilled, paper changed as needed so for 4 solid months it was wet. The paint-water rate through their paper is great, not too much, not too little, the paper is a bit fragile but that's not a bother by the time it is an issue the paper needs to be changed anyways.


This is an expensive hobby. All hobbies are expensive. You can cut corners or you can buy quality. Up to the individual how much they want to invest. I use the smaller of the two redgrass palettes and will never look back, until someone comes out with one even better.

But as with skchsan I use glass palettes as well as an "anything handy" mode when I am not too concerned but need to bash out some paint real fast.

Heck I even have those hobby organizers from Hobbyzone and also cheaper organizing tools as well.

Its a hobby, how much you want to invest but quality products do contribute to a more comfortable, efficient, and easy time when practicing one's hobby.
Right now my Redgrass palette is dry and to the side since I am painting some scenery which does not require it and in fact it would just be in the way.

There is no "one solution" no magic bullet that will make you suddenly paint better. But you CAN find it EASIER to paint BETTER with the right tools. In most situations you can use a large screwdriver as a hammer, prybar, and a screwdriver.. but that's far from ideal.

Deleted - accidental reply instead of edit.

meatybtz wrote:Depends on what you are trying to do. A GOOD wet palette can indeed make paints last days.
A wet palette is not the be all end all.

It's a tool in the toolkit. I don't always use mine, but I do when I want that tool.

Not all paints respond well to a wet palette, metallics for instance.

The home made ones are not as good as some of the commercial offerings, not all the commercial offerings are worth a damned.

I paid the money for the redgrass everlasting wet palette because it's the best I've found.

The problem with a lot of home made wet palettes is the rate of water transfer into the paint. Yes it's a thing.

The other problem is organic growth of which only the redgrass one has no issues with it even with high organic count water being used. Zero growth. I once kept the palette wet for about 4 months, It took that long for a musty smell to even begin. I was doing a lot of painting and that thing was wet, refilled, paper changed as needed so for 4 solid months it was wet. The paint-water rate through their paper is great, not too much, not too little, the paper is a bit fragile but that's not a bother by the time it is an issue the paper needs to be changed anyways.


This is an expensive hobby. All hobbies are expensive. You can cut corners or you can buy quality. Up to the individual how much they want to invest. I use the smaller of the two redgrass palettes and will never look back, until someone comes out with one even better.

But as with skchsan I use glass palettes as well as an "anything handy" mode when I am not too concerned but need to bash out some paint real fast.

Heck I even have those hobby organizers from Hobbyzone and also cheaper organizing tools as well.

Its a hobby, how much you want to invest but quality products do contribute to a more comfortable, efficient, and easy time when practicing one's hobby.
Right now my Redgrass palette is dry and to the side since I am painting some scenery which does not require it and in fact it would just be in the way.

There is no "one solution" no magic bullet that will make you suddenly paint better. But you CAN find it EASIER to paint BETTER with the right tools. In most situations you can use a large screwdriver as a hammer, prybar, and a screwdriver.. but that's far from ideal.

Yeah I get ya. I'm just trying to optimize my tools. I don't believe my painting will be drasticaly improved by magic if I just spend some money on expensive pallete.. Would if it did!!! haha
The home ones I use (with paper towels & baking paper) are too inconsistent so it feels like im constantly fighting the paint on the pallete and consitency is hard to get consistent. So I think i might not be getting the most out of my painting sessions. If my paint does not behave the same from session to session I feel like thats makes it hard to improve as you are not practicing the same way with the same tools and practice makes perfect.

I paint at most batches of 10 troops and I paint at least 3 afternoons a week. There is always going to be more stuff on my paint desk so Im not worried about not using it..

skchsan wrote:I mean 30 minutes of worktime for acrylic paint is more than one can expect.

Wet palette isn't meant to 'preserve' your paints FYI. If you can keep paint wet & usable for 30 minutes I'd say you've already met your goal without investing further.

My personal 2 cents is don't follow the hype with all these cool gadgets and thingymagigs that supposedly help you paint 'better'.

I work with standard glass palette, dropper bottles, retarder & flow aid to get all my work done and it seems to work out better than what wet palette supposedly offers.

EDIT: I should add that I've seen greater success in 'preserving' acrylic paints when using standard acrylic paints for non-miniature painting. I'm not chemist, but I'd guess this is due to the amount you squeeze out of the tube and onto the palette as well as the application (I don't thin down as much as I would when painting miniatures), and potentially the composition of the paint itself. And by "preserving the paint", I would drop a couple of drops of water on the globs of paint and cover it loosely with aluminum foil, not a store made wet-palettes. The portions of paint I've used and thinned on the palette surface dries up however.

The amount you would 'dip and transfer' onto palette when painting miniatures is so little that these added benefits of wet palette doesn't seem to be justifiable in my opinion.

30 minutes is not enough if I'm going through 10 dudes worth of detail and taking my time. But I know if I buy a wet pallet it wont magically make my paints last for ever. But maybe help with keeping consistency a constant.

I'm always looking to improve my hobby game. And sometime that means forking out for the right tools.
Like how I now use an airbrush and a mini dremel for a lot of filing because its so much quicker to get at those hard to reach areas.


On a side note I use a mix of slowed and distilled water to thin my paints and I find its better than the water in my tap. Obviously my own opinion.

 Argive wrote:

meatybtz wrote:Depends on what you are trying to do. A GOOD wet palette can indeed make paints last days.
A wet palette is not the be all end all.

It's a tool in the toolkit. I don't always use mine, but I do when I want that tool.

Not all paints respond well to a wet palette, metallics for instance.

The home made ones are not as good as some of the commercial offerings, not all the commercial offerings are worth a damned.

I paid the money for the redgrass everlasting wet palette because it's the best I've found.

The problem with a lot of home made wet palettes is the rate of water transfer into the paint. Yes it's a thing.

The other problem is organic growth of which only the redgrass one has no issues with it even with high organic count water being used. Zero growth. I once kept the palette wet for about 4 months, It took that long for a musty smell to even begin. I was doing a lot of painting and that thing was wet, refilled, paper changed as needed so for 4 solid months it was wet. The paint-water rate through their paper is great, not too much, not too little, the paper is a bit fragile but that's not a bother by the time it is an issue the paper needs to be changed anyways.


This is an expensive hobby. All hobbies are expensive. You can cut corners or you can buy quality. Up to the individual how much they want to invest. I use the smaller of the two redgrass palettes and will never look back, until someone comes out with one even better.

But as with skchsan I use glass palettes as well as an "anything handy" mode when I am not too concerned but need to bash out some paint real fast.

Heck I even have those hobby organizers from Hobbyzone and also cheaper organizing tools as well.

Its a hobby, how much you want to invest but quality products do contribute to a more comfortable, efficient, and easy time when practicing one's hobby.
Right now my Redgrass palette is dry and to the side since I am painting some scenery which does not require it and in fact it would just be in the way.

There is no "one solution" no magic bullet that will make you suddenly paint better. But you CAN find it EASIER to paint BETTER with the right tools. In most situations you can use a large screwdriver as a hammer, prybar, and a screwdriver.. but that's far from ideal.

Yeah I get ya. I'm just trying to optimize my tools. I don't believe my painting will be drasticaly improved by magic if I just spend some money on expensive pallete.. Would if it did!!! haha
The home ones I use (with paper towels & baking paper) are too inconsistent so it feels like im constantly fighting the paint on the pallete and consitency is hard to get consistent. So I think i might not be getting the most out of my painting sessions. If my paint does not behave the same from session to session I feel like thats makes it hard to improve as you are not practicing the same way with the same tools and practice makes perfect.

I paint at most batches of 10 troops and I paint at least 3 afternoons a week. There is always going to be more stuff on my paint desk so Im not worried about not using it..

skchsan wrote:I mean 30 minutes of worktime for acrylic paint is more than one can expect.

Wet palette isn't meant to 'preserve' your paints FYI. If you can keep paint wet & usable for 30 minutes I'd say you've already met your goal without investing further.

My personal 2 cents is don't follow the hype with all these cool gadgets and thingymagigs that supposedly help you paint 'better'.

I work with standard glass palette, dropper bottles, retarder & flow aid to get all my work done and it seems to work out better than what wet palette supposedly offers.

EDIT: I should add that I've seen greater success in 'preserving' acrylic paints when using standard acrylic paints for non-miniature painting. I'm not chemist, but I'd guess this is due to the amount you squeeze out of the tube and onto the palette as well as the application (I don't thin down as much as I would when painting miniatures), and potentially the composition of the paint itself. And by "preserving the paint", I would drop a couple of drops of water on the globs of paint and cover it loosely with aluminum foil, not a store made wet-palettes. The portions of paint I've used and thinned on the palette surface dries up however.

The amount you would 'dip and transfer' onto palette when painting miniatures is so little that these added benefits of wet palette doesn't seem to be justifiable in my opinion.

30 minutes is not enough if I'm going through 10 dudes worth of detail and taking my time. But I know if I buy a wet pallet it wont magically make my paints last for ever. But maybe help with keeping consistency a constant.

I'm always looking to improve my hobby game. And sometime that means forking out for the right tools.
Like how I now use an airbrush and a mini dremel for a lot of filing because its so much quicker to get at those hard to reach areas.


On a side note I use a mix of slowed and distilled water to thin my paints and I find its better than the water in my tap. Obviously my own opinion.

That's correct. A wet palette will in fact give you an extended painting period, which is extremely useful on batch painting.

Most slo-dries, for example, the vallejo one, are gel based. Which is less than ideal as it drastically changes flow out of the paint.

So the wet palette gives you that extended period without really altering chemistry. A good wet palette will not "over dilute" the paint, but that's going to vary. Some paints are more hydrophilic and will suck up water (Vallejo Air paints for instance will draw up water over night to an astounding degree vs their standard brush paint lines, and I am not saying because they start thin other thicker paints do the same).

Like you I always have something on the paint desk. So this would be a good buy.

Another thing I use the wet palette for is for smooth shading and blending/wet or otherwise. Again it's a great tool for that. The smaller Redgrass palette is ideal as it takes up less space. You really don't need the larger size. I moved down from the larger size to the smaller.

Is the Redgrass one they did the Kickstarter for a while ago? I had a quick look at their website - it is pricey but it looks good, if that's your bag I guess. It's a shame they couldn't get the permanent membrane thing to work so's you wouldn't need to use parchment paper. One of the things that lets wet palettes down, at least here in the UK I find, is sourcing correct paper for it. Some people swear by parchment paper or baking sheets and so on. I've tried a lot and they all sort of work but not quite, if you get what I mean. It's always a faff trying to work out if what you are looking at in the supermarket, is the right paper you need.

The big advantage to them for a lot of hobbyists isn't just the extended working time while painting, with a proper airtight seal and a "reservoir" that's wet enough you should be able to clip the lid on and come back to it a couple of days or sometimes even a week later and continue what you've been working on.

Mine is a simple DIY one with an airtight food tub from ASDA, and some kitchen roll, I do get the Daler Rowney membrane paper from Amazon and cut it to size but it works out at pennies for each sheet that I use once they're cut.

Rik

 The Phazer wrote:
I started seriously trying to use a wet pallet a few years ago, and went through a few options. Built my own which was... not good. Bought the Rowney one which is really cheap and crappy and pretty expensive for it.

In the end I bought the Redgrass Games one that had a kickstarter - https://www.redgrassgames.com/everlasting-wet-palette/everlasting-wet-palette-painter/. This is probably the orange one mentioned?

It was fairly expensive, but it's seriously a huge, huge improvement on the other options and was worth every penny IMO. It came with loads of paper and some replacement foam too, so I expect it to last a while.

I used a DIY wet pallette for a long time, then bought the Red-Grass Studio pallette. That thing is huge, but besides that the same as their orange, more reasonably sized palette.
It's a day and night difference. The paint stays useable for days - while using the lid to cover the thing while not in use.
The only issue I had was when I had it too close to the heating and this resulted in water condensating on the inside of the lid.
I placed it a few feet away from the heating and that resolved the problem.

TLDR: Two thunbs up, worth every penny!

To those who use wet palette for citadel paints - how much paint do you transfer onto the wet palette?

I use dropper bottles and standard glass "dry" palette, and 1 good drop would provide enough paint for base layer for 3~4 marines. Because of the mileage I get with a single drop, I've never found a good use for a wet palette so that I NEED to save the paint for later use.

For tanks (LR specifically), it would take me about 5~6 drop for a single base layer.

If I'm working on fine details/wet blending that would leave the paints on the palette "unattended" for more than 10 seconds at a time, I drop 1 drop of flow aid on top of the paint drop without mixing them together to keep the paint moist.

Using the above techniques, the benefit of a wet-palette was moot for me, which is the basis for my argument that wet palette is a luxury item that CAN help you paint easier, but not a necessary item to pull off certain painting techniques.

 skchsan wrote:
To those who use wet palette for citadel paints - how much paint do you transfer onto the wet palette?

I use dropper bottles and standard glass "dry" palette, and 1 good drop would provide enough paint for base layer for 3~4 marines. Because of the mileage I get with a single drop, I've never found a good use for a wet palette so that I NEED to save the paint for later use.

For tanks (LR specifically), it would take me about 5~6 drop for a single base layer.

If I'm working on fine details/wet blending that would leave the paints on the palette "unattended" for more than 10 seconds at a time, I drop 1 drop of flow aid on top of the paint drop without mixing them together to keep the paint moist.

Using the above techniques, the benefit of a wet-palette was moot for me, which is the basis for my argument that wet palette is a luxury item that CAN help you paint easier, but not a necessary item to pull off certain painting techniques.

Well, pretty much the entire hobby is a luxury item. So it's pretty hard to delineate. Flow difference from slow-dri, flow aid, etc vs wet palette moisture transfer.. honestly its a matter of degree and nuance. So, yes if you've got a system that works then go ahead. But most of us find our paints drying in less than2-3 minutes without some kind of assistance. By drop, are we talking 1ml? .5ml? Really hard to say size of a drop, dollop, etc. Painting is a very personal experience. Some people cannot fathom an air brush and achieve amazing blends w/o it. Others swear by the all mighty air brush. Which leads to confusion when people ask.. is something a MUST NEED? Well..... its about as personal as someone's favorite brand of pen for ink work or brand of paint for panting to all the other insanity of art.

The thing is most folks think that the bodged wet palette = wet palette.. no its a bodged wetting device. Until you get a good one and experience the difference it's hard to say. When you see someone with one try it out if they will let you, no nicking his gubbins though.

meatybtz wrote:

 skchsan wrote:
To those who use wet palette for citadel paints - how much paint do you transfer onto the wet palette?

I use dropper bottles and standard glass "dry" palette, and 1 good drop would provide enough paint for base layer for 3~4 marines. Because of the mileage I get with a single drop, I've never found a good use for a wet palette so that I NEED to save the paint for later use.

For tanks (LR specifically), it would take me about 5~6 drop for a single base layer.

If I'm working on fine details/wet blending that would leave the paints on the palette "unattended" for more than 10 seconds at a time, I drop 1 drop of flow aid on top of the paint drop without mixing them together to keep the paint moist.

Using the above techniques, the benefit of a wet-palette was moot for me, which is the basis for my argument that wet palette is a luxury item that CAN help you paint easier, but not a necessary item to pull off certain painting techniques.

Well, pretty much the entire hobby is a luxury item. So it's pretty hard to delineate. Flow difference from slow-dri, flow aid, etc vs wet palette moisture transfer.. honestly its a matter of degree and nuance. So, yes if you've got a system that works then go ahead. But most of us find our paints drying in less than2-3 minutes without some kind of assistance. By drop, are we talking 1ml? .5ml? Really hard to say size of a drop, dollop, etc. Painting is a very personal experience. Some people cannot fathom an air brush and achieve amazing blends w/o it. Others swear by the all mighty air brush. Which leads to confusion when people ask.. is something a MUST NEED? Well..... its about as personal as someone's favorite brand of pen for ink work or brand of paint for panting to all the other insanity of art.

The thing is most folks think that the bodged wet palette = wet palette.. no its a bodged wetting device. Until you get a good one and experience the difference it's hard to say. When you see someone with one try it out if they will let you, no nicking his gubbins though.

I apologize if my post came off snobbish.

By a drop it's usually a 2-3mm diameter off my 10ml dropper bottle - literally just a single drop. It's made of citadel paint with just enough flow aid to make it runny so it doesn't clump up at the nozzle.

I do have a masterson wet palette, but it largely goes unused because I found flow aid and/or retarder happens to get the job done better than if i used the wet palette. Also, I never find a need to preserve the paint for the next session because I use it up before needing to save them - I find dropper bottles much more useful in that sense that you can dispense multiple colors at rates that I can control rather than having to shake the citadel paint pot, waste tons of paint on the cap, dip and transfer, wash brush, repeat for second color. etc.

TLDR, I personally recommend retarder/flow aid + dropper bottle over an actual wet palette.

Interesting. How many ml you get in the citadel pot?

Coincidental, I have a bunch of dropper bottles and was planing on transferring my paints into droppers..However I have not done that much research into the process yet. I fear my bottles are too big and if there too much airspcace the paint will just dry up.

Are you sure you're not over-wetting your palette? I've found I can get separation issues if I have too much water going on. The sponge or paper underneath just needs to be damp really, not 'wet'.

Also it's worth investing in a palette knife to re-mix separated paints; job done in a couple of seconds.

Non stick oven cooking paper stuff ( forget the name).... that's what i use, works amazing! Any one else use that?

Edit - I put the paper over a wet flat surface, then drain excess water off surface so the paper is not floating on water sort of a thing.

 Rik Lightstar wrote:
The big advantage to them for a lot of hobbyists isn't just the extended working time while painting, with a proper airtight seal and a "reservoir" that's wet enough you should be able to clip the lid on and come back to it a couple of days or sometimes even a week later and continue what you've been working on.

Mine is a simple DIY one with an airtight food tub from ASDA, and some kitchen roll, I do get the Daler Rowney membrane paper from Amazon and cut it to size but it works out at pennies for each sheet that I use once they're cut.

Rik

Hmm can anyone expand on this membrane paper ?? Sounds like heresy. The good kind of heresy.

Yeah I have always been using the standard paper towel/baking parchment/paper.

Maybe there is some truth in me over wetting the pallet. I have had a very long hiatus and just been doing everything off memory.
Perhaps I have been quite liberal with the water.

 Argive wrote:

Hmm can anyone expand on this membrane paper ?? Sounds like heresy. The good kind of heresy.

Yeah I have always been using the standard paper towel/baking parchment/paper.

Maybe there is some truth in me over wetting the pallet. I have had a very long hiatus and just been doing everything off memory.
Perhaps I have been quite liberal with the water.

This is the stuff I use https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008PCGNWY/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It comes with some sheets of the "reservoir paper" too, but I rarely worry too much about that as kitchen towel is just as good, more importantly there are 12x A4ish sheets of the membrane paper for approximately £3, so 25 pence each and I cut them into quarters to fit my sensible sized wet palettes.

On a side note, if you keep your DIY wet-palettes small, you can have a couple and flit between projects as I like to because when they're sealed the paint keeps for about a week.

Rik

meatybtz wrote:
Depends on what you are trying to do. A GOOD wet palette can indeed make paints last days.
A wet palette is not the be all end all.

It's a tool in the toolkit. I don't always use mine, but I do when I want that tool.

Not all paints respond well to a wet palette, metallics for instance.

The home made ones are not as good as some of the commercial offerings, not all the commercial offerings are worth a damned.

I paid the money for the redgrass everlasting wet palette because it's the best I've found.

The problem with a lot of home made wet palettes is the rate of water transfer into the paint. Yes it's a thing.

The other problem is organic growth of which only the redgrass one has no issues with it even with high organic count water being used. Zero growth. I once kept the palette wet for about 4 months, It took that long for a musty smell to even begin. I was doing a lot of painting and that thing was wet, refilled, paper changed as needed so for 4 solid months it was wet. The paint-water rate through their paper is great, not too much, not too little, the paper is a bit fragile but that's not a bother by the time it is an issue the paper needs to be changed anyways.


This is an expensive hobby. All hobbies are expensive. You can cut corners or you can buy quality. Up to the individual how much they want to invest. I use the smaller of the two redgrass palettes and will never look back, until someone comes out with one even better.

But as with skchsan I use glass palettes as well as an "anything handy" mode when I am not too concerned but need to bash out some paint real fast.

Heck I even have those hobby organizers from Hobbyzone and also cheaper organizing tools as well.

Its a hobby, how much you want to invest but quality products do contribute to a more comfortable, efficient, and easy time when practicing one's hobby.
Right now my Redgrass palette is dry and to the side since I am painting some scenery which does not require it and in fact it would just be in the way.

There is no "one solution" no magic bullet that will make you suddenly paint better. But you CAN find it EASIER to paint BETTER with the right tools. In most situations you can use a large screwdriver as a hammer, prybar, and a screwdriver.. but that's far from ideal.

I pre-ordered one during the kickstarter. It doesn't seal

 Argive wrote:
Interesting. How many ml you get in the citadel pot?

Coincidental, I have a bunch of dropper bottles and was planing on transferring my paints into droppers..However I have not done that much research into the process yet. I fear my bottles are too big and if there too much airspcace the paint will just dry up.

I recall during my research that citadel pots were just shy of 10 ml per pot? where some youtube tutorials showed using 15ml dropper bottles and they would become about 2/3~3/4 full.

I use 5ml dropper bottles because they were cheaper per unit of volume, but it actually ended up providing unintended benefits. What happened is that the left over paint in the citadel pot would become the "pigment adder" to my dropper bottles when I find the paint in dropper bottle to be a bit too translucent.

As for the fear of paint drying up, because dropper bottles are taller than they are wider, it results in decreased surface area directly in contact with air. Second, the nozzle itself self-evidently has a smaller hole than a citadel pot would - which against results in decreased contact with air. As for the nozzle clogging, the dried up portion at the tip tends to stick to the cap and not the bottle itself (the bottles are more hydrophobic than the cap), and the semi-flexible nature of dried acrylic paint actually helps serve as a kind of "cork" that help seal the bottle better.

Oh and don't forget to get some agitator balls - some swear by glass beads but realistically stainless steel balls get the job done better and they don't corrode inside the bottle to the point it ruins the paint (contrary to popular belief). Corrosion is a chemical reaction at the surface of the alloy (corrosion is a result of oxidation of the alloy at its surface, and it is not something that "bleeds" into the paint.)

And to clarify for those who denounce the chemical properties of flow aid and retarders - they're actually what's included in your citadel pots. The liquid portion that separates when paints settle, especially evident in the metalic paints - this is actually a type of retarder/flow aid and not water. If it WAS indeed water, then your citadel pots would have a shelf life of few weeks once you break the seal. Lahmian medium, on the other hand, does indeed have similar properties to a varnish. Retarder and flow aids are FAR BETTER at preserving the quality of paint & pigment density & homogeneity than water, distilled or tap. Most if not all acrylic paint, citadel or not, come with a form of retarder and/or flow aid. I implore you to do more research and stop giving out false information.

It's important to note that I'm not making these claims as a pro-retarder/flow aid since water gets the job done just as well as far as miniature painting goes. Use of retarder and flow aid is my 'luxury item' to the standard water, brush & paint set up because it helps me painting more efficiently (less trip to the paint pot, less brush washing and wiping, paints staying wet for longer etc).

Use some plastic packaging from cheese, two palms wide or so, for many years. It's just a box. One thin kitchen sponge + 2 sheets of backer paper inside. Spray paper from spraying bottle for flowers once when it gets dry. Also makes me remember to water bloody flowers. Paint stays workable for weeks, since I shut the box every time I don't paint and it seems airtight. Paint doesn't separate either, if it does it means you use too much water. The only flow improver I use is also water; for washes/glazing I use Vallejo Glaze. Every few months I replace stuff inside and wash box to prevent mold.

Maybe I should patent my cheese box and sell it for 40 euro.