Acrylic paints dry by the water in the paint evaporating. The fact that acrylic paints dry very fast, particularly in warm climates, means that you cannot put a lot of paint on an ordinary acrylic paint palette as it'll most likely dry out before you've finished, wasting the paint. Various art supply companies have produced moisture-retaining acrylic palettes to solve this problem; the best-known is Daler-Rowney's Stay-Wet™ Palette.
How Does a Moisture-Retaining Palette Work?
The palettes are made from plastic and consist of a base tray with a tight-fitting lid. A wet piece of watercolour paper (or thin sponge) is placed in the base of the tray and on top of this a sheet of grease-proof paper. You lay your acrylic paints out on top of the grease-proof sheet. As the water in the acrylic paint evaporates, it is replaced by the water being held in the watercolour paper (a process called osmosis), so the paint doesn't dry out as fast as normal.
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| A rather well-used Stay-Wet™ palette |
A sponge-based moisture-retaining palette |
How Do I Use the Palette?
Thoroughly soak the sheet of watercolour paper with clean water and place it in the bottom of the palette. Wet the piece of grease-proof paper and place this on top of the watercolour paper. (Alternatively, place the two sheets in the palette, cover them with water, leave them to soak for a bit, then pour off the water.) Squeeze out a little acrylic paint onto the greaseproof sheet, as you would on any palette. If you place your colours around the edge, the central area can be used for mixing colours. If you're painting with a knife be a little gentler to ensure you don't tear the paper.
How Long Does Paint Keep?
If you ensure that the piece of watercolour paper in the palette doesn't dry out and place the lid on the palette when you're not painting, reducing evaporation, your paints should stay moist and usable for days. Like most things, once you've used a moisture-retaining palette a bit you'll learn to recognise when you need to add a bit more water to the watercolour paper. The clearest sign is that the edges of the greaseproof paper start to curl away from the watercolour paper. If you need to remoisten the waterproof paper, lift one corner of the watercolour paper, pour in a teaspoon or two of water underneath, then gently tip the palette so the water runs under the paper.
How Do I Clean the Palette?
Simply roll up the sheet of grease-proof paper and throw it away, rinse the piece of watercolour paper (this can be reused many times) and the palette itself.
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