Steps written out by Crafting Step by Step from Art & Success - Pamela Caughey Art's video (opens YouTube) (9:53). Published .
Acrylic paint can skin over on an ordinary palette in about an hour. A wet palette keeps it soft and workable all day, and often overnight. Pamela Caughey of Art & Success shows the homemade version she learned in a workshop with painter Nicholas Wilton: a cafeteria tray, blue shop towels, water and a sheet of tracing paper. Her paint was still fresh 15 hours later.
The towels underneath act as a water reservoir. The paper on top is a thin membrane. Water seeps up through the paper into the paint as fast as the air pulls it out, so the paint stays moist without getting watered down. You get longer working time without adding a retarder or medium to the paint.
| Homemade tray | Store-bought wet palette | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | A few dollars | About $20 to $35 |
| Size | Any tray you like | Fixed |
| Lid | Add plastic wrap or a second tray | Built in, keeps paint for days |
| Refills | Shop towels and tracing paper | Branded sponge and paper |
This is the part people get wrong. Too wet and the paint slides around, turns runny and bleeds into its neighbors. Too dry and the paint skins over like a normal palette. You want the towels soaked through with no standing water. Pamela floods them, then tips the tray until only a few drops run off the corner.
If the palette starts to dry during a long session, lift a corner of the paper and pour a little water underneath. Water on top of the paper from rinsing your brush is fine.
Pamela leaves hers uncovered overnight and the paint survives. To stretch it to several days, cover the tray with plastic wrap or a lid. Swap in fresh towels and paper when the paint area is full or the towels start to smell. Rinse the tray before you set it up again.
Softer paint makes blending acrylic paint much easier and gives you time for mixing acrylic colors. If paint is too stiff, see how to thin acrylic paint. At the end of the day, follow how to clean acrylic paint brushes.
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How to use a wet palette for acrylics: soak shop towels in a tray, drain, add tracing paper. An easy project. You need 8 things, including blue shop towels, tracing paper and water. The 7 steps start with line a Tray With Blue Shop Towels for a Wet Palette, flood the Wet Palette Shop Towels With Water, tip the Wet Palette Tray to Drain the Extra Water and lay Tracing Paper Over the Damp Wet Palette Towels.
7 steps, about 10 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
Tick each step off as you go.
Start with a shallow tray. Pamela uses a 14 x 17 inch cafeteria tray. Cut blue shop towels to fit inside the tray so nothing hangs over the edge, then stack four layers in the bottom. Shop towels hold more water than ordinary paper towels, and that water is what keeps your paint wet.
Cut a stack of towels and paper to size ahead of time so a fresh setup takes a minute.
Pour water over the towels until they are completely soaked. Pamela uses a small container and keeps going until the towels look like a pond. Give them a few minutes to soak it all up, and add more if any dry patches remain. Too much water is better than too little here, because you drain off the extra next.
Room temperature tap water is fine.
Hold the tray over a bucket, bowl or sink and tip it onto one corner. Let the extra water run off. Keep it tilted until only a few drops are coming from the corner. The towels should be wet all the way through, but with no water pooling on top. That balance is what makes the palette work.
Press the towels flat with your palm after draining so the paper lies smooth.
Lay one sheet of tracing paper on top of the damp towels and smooth it flat from the center out. The paper lets moisture rise up into the paint without letting the paint soak into the towels. Pamela found a tracing paper pad the same size as her tray, so each sheet fits with no trimming.
Make sure it is tracing paper. Regular printer paper falls apart when wet.
Squeeze your colors onto the paper around the edges, leaving the middle free for mixing. Keep the top of the paper dry when you start. Pamela groups warm colors at one end and puts red, yellow and orange there first. Small puddles are better than big ones. You can always add more later.
Use the same layout every time so your hand knows where each color is.
Add the rest of your colors. Pamela puts white and black in the middle row for value studies, with blues, purple and green on the far side. When you stop to think, lay your loaded brush on the wet paper. The damp surface keeps the paint in the bristles from drying for hours, instead of minutes.
Rinse brushes over the palette if you like. A little water on top does no harm.
At the end of the day, leave the palette as it is. Pamela came back about 15 hours later and her black, green and yellow piles were still soft and glossy. If the towels start to dry out, lift the paper and add a little water underneath. Cover the tray to keep paint for several days.
Swap in fresh towels and paper when the paper is full of dried mixes.
Keep going
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More on this topic, picked for this wet palette for acrylics.
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How to Use a Wet Palette for Acrylics (Easy DIY Setup)
Liquitex
Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint Set (24 tubes)
Artist-grade pigment at student pricing, buttery enough to blend and thick enough to hold a stroke. The set most acrylic painters start on.
Benicci
Benicci 16-Piece Artist Brush Set
Every shape you actually reach for (round, flat, filbert, liner, fan) in nylon that keeps its point and does not shed. Comes with a palette knife and case.
FIXSMITH
FIXSMITH 8" x 10" Stretched Canvas (12-pack)
Pre-primed cotton canvases in a bulk pack so you can just start painting. The low-stakes surface for practicing before the big piece.
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