A new wet palette

Cecile_Art

Hello everybody,

I’m working on an artist's wet palette specifically designed for heavy body acrylics and gouache paints. I would like to know if painters would be interested and if you could help me? The idea would be that the palette would be ready to use, there would be a mold-resistant foam and a hydration membrane to keep paints fresh for days and the case would have a high-quality sealing system so that the paints stay stable. What else do you think could be useful for such a product? Do you think of anything? Would you need it to be transportable for example? How long would you need to keep the paints fresh between sessions? Thank you for your help

 

TamDeal

Acrylic paints that I have will not remain usable for long even with a sponge.  I use a variety of makes including the golden open.  I do have an idea for it, but it really isn't practical for most people.  I would involve displacing the air.

dencal

Cecile_Art

Acrylic will turn smelly and weird in any saturated micro environment.

Suggest the best approach for acrylic or oils is to premix stock primaries in say 75ml snap caps. Premix all the values for a painting in groups, from highlights to shadows and a greying colour, in say 10ml snap caps.

Mix all oil paint with slow dry medium as Mark specifies, or use Geneva paint. Have not tried this with acrylic but should work fine. Air (oxygen) is the enemy here.

Paint directly from the containers, using a palette to mix a half tone or cool patch, keep containers closed when not in use.

Plenty of ready to use colour for rework sections or touch ups. Use leftovers to tone future canvasses.



The pic shows the 10ml containers. The oil paint remains useable for six to eight weeks, even longer for full containers with the air displaced by a glass marble. The 75ml containers retain useable paint for about three years.

So, for a product design, something like an ice cube tray, with airtight top/s, for each colour group.
Carefully moulded containers to make for easy cleaning and reuse.

Denis

Cecile_Art

Thank you both for answering! I understand that keeping paints fresh and stable is an important thing and it is exactly what we have been working on for long! We'll be using a patented hydration membrane and mold-resistant foam. It is specifically developed to keep acrylics and gouache paints fresh for days and at the right consistency. It is really amazing. After months of tests, we found the best advanced hydration technology. Here's our Facebook page for those who wish to take a look at our work concerning the wet palette we're developing RedGrass Art & Light | Facebook
Thanks for your time! 

Richard_P

Cecile_Art said:

Thank you both for answering! I understand that keeping paints fresh and stable is an important thing and it is exactly what we have been working on for long! We'll be using a patented hydration membrane and mold-resistant foam. It is specifically developed to keep acrylics and gouache paints fresh for days and at the right consistency. It is really amazing. After months of tests, we found the best advanced hydration technology. Here's our Facebook page for those who wish to take a look at our work concerning the wet palette we're developing RedGrass Art & Light | Facebook
Thanks for your time! 

Sounds good. But how long does the paint last even with mold-resistant form? If it doesn't kill the mold spores and the mold gets into the paint doesn't it spoil then?

I'd like to hear more about the testing and results you've achieved..

TamDeal

How does it keep the top of the paints from drying out?  I don't mean trade secrets, just from the fact that when the top is off the base plate usually is not able to deal with the top of the paint.

Cecile_Art

@Richard_P : the foam we use is highly efficient against molds. In fact, we already developed a wet palette for miniatures painters, using products that are very similar and nobody report any mold issues! For traditional artists, we use a membrane and a foam that are different of course, because the needs and paintings are not the same. But we chose with the same demand about quality! Keeping the inside of the wet palette's case clean and rinse the foam helps to avoid problems with molds too.

Cecile_Art

@TamDeal : after many tests, no problem to keep the top of the paint wet. The hydration system (specific membrane and foam) we developped works even with a thick layer of paints!

Richard_P

How long does paint last inside before mould appears then?

Cecile_Art

Hello Richard We worked on a wet palette providing a mould-resistant foam. It works perfectly and I won't be able to tell you about timing because the problem you describe is extremely rare with our hydration system. As a matter of fact, we use the same kind of foam with another wet palette for 4 years now (for miniature painters) and we have very little feedbacks about mould issues. If it happened, it would only be because the wet palette hasn't been cleaned properly.

Richard_P

Hi Cecile,

Well if you want to sell this to artists they will ask the same kind of questions about how long a palette of paint would last.

When you say "because the wet palette hasn't been cleaned properly", does this mean cleaned every day, every week?

Is the mould-resistant foam coated with an anti-microbial agent that will wear off in time? How long, etc..?

Not trying to be awkward, but these are the kinds of questions people will ask you.
Richard

tassieguy

Washing brushes all the time is such a pain, How about having a compartment in your sealable pallet for brushes so you don't need to wash them after every session. That would be great. If it keeps paint wet it should keep the brushes wet, too. Then you would just return to your pallet next day and you're ready to go with paint already on your brushes. Or you could just wipe them on a paper towel, dip them in water or medium and close them up for the night without having to wash them. 

Just an idea. It may not be practical. 

Cecile_Art

Hi Richard,
Thank you again for your time and you're right, we have a lot of questions concerning the mould-resistant point. Mainly because it is a problem that people have with DIY or other palettes. 
Concerning cleaning, you can wash the wet palette between 2 projects, it is enough. The idea is that the wet palette can keep your paints and mixes long enough so that you don't have to waste time/water/money to clean it that often and loose your mixes!
How long is it mould-resistant? From our test and feedback from other users: few weeks most of the time! We even have some users that told us they kept their paints fresh and at the right consistency... for months!
Thanks!
Cecile.

Richard_P

Sounds good Cecile! When is the kickstarter capaign?

Cecile_Art

As soon as we have a date for the KS campaign, I'll add a message
Thanks for your support!

Cecile_Art

A little update concerning the wet palette: A few Artists started to use our Wet Palette for Acrylic and gouache paints! You can check it out on our Instagram @redgrassartist if you like! For those interested, we'll soon launch the KS campaign.