A Must-Have for Acrylic Painters
If you're an acrylic painter, there is one tool artists like Kimberly Kelly Santini (Ep.97) say you must have.
A Sta-Wet Palette.
This special palette is specially designed to keep your acrylic paints workable while you store and mix on the palette.
The palette system includes a sponge, a special paper, and a lid.
Here’s how you set it up.
First, dampen the sponge and lay it in your palette.
Next soak the special palette paper as per the directions. Once it’s prepped, wipe off the excess moisture and lay it on the sponge.
Finally, lay your pigments on the palette paper and then seal the palette in between working sessions to moisture inside.
The special paper lets some of the moisture from the sponge up and through, keeping your pigments moist.
This allows acrylic painters to not have to worry about their pigments going dry while they work or in between sessions.
Put it to Practice:
Learning how to use a Sta-Wet takes some trial and error.
If you're using Golden Open acrylics, you won't need to use the sponge or keep it barely damp at all.
You can use a Sta-Wet Palette for fluids but it'll work best if you use them only for working time and not storing them in between sessions. Again, keep the sponge not too damp.
If you're using standard heavy bodied paints, you can use the palette as a working palette or a storage palette. Meaning you can set up your palette, paint with it, then add the lid back on and store overnight.
If your paints get too wet they will soften down, that probably means your sponge has too much water in it.
And you'll need to keep an eye out for mold in your sponge. It helps to have two sponges and occasionally swapping out one for the other, letting the unused sponge dry out completely between uses.