Alright after a kickstarter in the middle of a pandemic and all the mess that come with it, the wet palette has finally arrived ! Also I paid for this product just to be clear :)
I took much longer than anticipated and I know that's been as frustrating to the backers than the creators, but it's finally here, and it's glorious!
If you follow me on the blog or social medias, you probably seen the wet palette for many years now in the background of my pictures, that unmistakable orange top which wasn't really orange at the end...
Well the upgrade is here and a few quirks from the old one has been corrected !
I won't spend too long on why a wet palette is useful and why I love the Redgrass one so much, you can find more details in this article but I will concentrate on the evolution from the previous one.
Quick note, I'm reviewing the painter palette which is the smallest of the two, it is now a bit bigger than the original but still more or less A5 size, if you want the bigger one look for the studio model.
So what's new ?
First thing, appart from the bigger size, the lid is now air and watertight, and straight on this is a huge change. I live relatively dry appartement and don't count the time I came back to a dry wet palette, now even when it's 36°c outside like today, coming back the day after the same amount of water is in there !
The "drawback", you need to open it correctly otherwise you'll lift the whole palette because it's quite tight.
Final touch on the lid, you now have a classy 3d logo on top !
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| New pretty packaging including the way on the side |
The foam is double the thickness of the previous one, which mean it's easier to control the amount of water in the palette, where I sometimes put to much water on the previous one and it went one the paper.
It's still the same quality as the previous one otherwise and you get a spare one in the package!
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| What's in the box ! |
There are two new wavy thingy to clip to the palette, one are a little wells for shade, pigment, wash, etc... and the second one is to "lock" in place your contrast or shade pots to avoid spilling.
Since I don't use citadel pots, this will be a nice pot for pigments or holding tiny pieces when building models.
Instead of magnet, the new system is a slid-on which lock at the end, it's really strong and you can lift the whole palette with the wavy now. Since it's so tight it's a bit difficult to take it off when it's locked, as a personal preference, I just use it on the side on it's own.
As a reminder, don't use aggressive solvant to clean it, it's still plastic and don't spill your plastic glue on top (been there, done that... )
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| Already in use ! |
Now for the new membrane, this is something else and some people have been able to clean it up to 8-10 if you take care of it. You need to remember to clean it though otherwise you'll end up with dry paint that won't go away, again like me, on the other hand with the new lid it take that much longer !
The way the paint react on the paper is different from the first generation and need some getting use too. The paint tend to really stay on the spot and don't run all over the place if it's a bit to wet if you compare to the old one, I like it but it might no be for everyone, just try for a few time as you need to adjust a bit like changing for a new brush when you are used to the behaviour of the old one.
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| First clean, the lid wasn't really close so the paint dried and I couldn't take it off, that's on me! |
Washing is pretty self explanatory, just use a soft brush to avoid damaging the membrane, let it dry and you're good to go again! I really like this and less waste is always good!
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| Second clean, rehydrating the membrane actually allowed me to take part of my first mistakes away |
For example if you spill you paint on it, just go clean it and use it again !
I still love the portability of the system and the sheer functionality, still my most used tool and with this heat, it's more useful than ever.
If you can afford it, I can more than happily recommend it!
If you consider upgrading from the original, it's really up to you, mine was pretty used at the time and I was looking forward for the new paper and watertight lid as that was a small grip I had on the small one!
If you're interested, check it on Regrass website with this affiliate link Everlasting Wet Palette Painter v2 !
Next article will be a small tutorial on the red of my daughters of khaine as I was asked a few times how to do it!
Happy painting
Anamnesis
