I think I'm using my wet palette incorrectly

[sick hornet]

I've had Army Painter's little portable wet palette for over a year now, and recently I've been working on my Guard army again, but it's revealing problems.

I thought the whole point of my wet palette was that it was meant to A: keep my paints moist between sessions and B: make thinning them easier, with thinning being as simple as just dragging the paint out from wherever I put the initial drop, barring paints that need to be very thin.

What instead happens is that the top surface of my paints dry out very quickly even when the sponge is kept saturated. This creates a dry coating of paint on top of which I can no longer thin paints, which effectively removes room on the sheet.

Any drops of paint I have on top dry out not completely but enough that they're no longer practical to work with.

I live in an extremely dry climate so I'm sure that doesn't help but the more I use it the more I wonder what exactly is the point? It really doesn't seem to be doing anything for me that I wouldn't accomplish with a dry palette. I'm not sure if it's just Army Painter's hydrosheets not being permeable enough or if I'm doing something wrong, but it's causing me a lot of frustration.

It's weird this thing is rated so highly, I'm finding a lot of like 3* reviews that mention how it doesn't seal and dries out quickly

[tribal willow]

It will not really keep paint useable between sessions no, it will keep it workable for longer during the single session

You still need to add water to thin paints out on it, the hydration rate of the palette paper is not that high or your paints would all turn into a soupy mess when you put them on there

If you do get one that seals well and try to store paint overnight it will over hydrate massively

[sick hornet]

If that's the case I don't really get the point. It's very rare I paint more than an hour or two and if the paint is going to be unusable the next day anyway, why not just rinse whatever is left off a dry palette?

And thats not mentioning the fact that I still can't really make use of the hydrating properties of the palette if the sheet is covered in a layer of dried paint anyway

Or like, I almost never put so much onto the palette that I have to worry about it no longer being workable before I've used the paint up to begin with

[tribal willow]

Well the point is paint will dry out faster than one to 2 hours on a dry palette

So you can put out all you need and not worry about going back for more

[sick hornet]

I tend to use such small amounts of paint at a time that I don't think I've ever really worried about them drying out before I have to go back for more. I just guess I always thought it'd be a more significant upgrade but where I rarely mix my paints or spend long sessions painting it really is kinda an incremental upgrade

Do yall rinse off the sheet at the end of the session or night then? Since preserving paint overnight isn't really practical?

[tribal willow]

No I bin the sheet and use a fresh one the next day

[sick hornet]

Well damn

I went from cheap plastic well palettes from hobby lobby to this and I really thought it'd add more to my workflow

Maybe I just lack the skill to really take advantage of the wet palette

[sage spade]

It is still worth it. Acrylic paint dries quick and before it really starts to dry it develops texture. Wet pallets prevent that for couple of hours, also when you mix paints, they will stay workable for longer, so you don't need to keep mixing like on a dry surface.

It might not be the godly tool you might have imagined but it is still an excellent tool. Especially when it comes to mixing paints.

[sick hornet]

The only thing is in one video the guy was talking about thinning his paints on the palette and he's like oh I just take water from the palette

Like wait even when the sponge is saturated all I have is a surface that's moist to the touch, I don't think I've ever had water actually sitting on the paper

[tribal willow]

It shouldn't be sitting on the paper no

He may be taking water from the reservoir beside the sponge

[sick hornet]

I'd have to assume

Alright well at least I know more what to expect from it

I mean I already own the thing I may as well get whatever use I can out of it

[sage spade]

Yeah he most likely took water from the reservoir. I was able to that before my sponge got old and now barely fits in the tray.

[hoary crescent]

It’s worth noting that the paper that comes with this palette is probably the worst I’ve used.
Try some cheap baking paper or a different brand of palette paper.

I love my little AP palette with it’s brush storage, but the paper really is the worst.