How to make the perfect homemade wet palette by Redgrassgames
Our unique hydration system helps the paint to stay wet. You’ll need a plastic box with a lid, our hydration foam, unique hydration paper. Each of these 3 elements is included in our custom wet palette. Better than a homemade wet palette, now it works straight out of the box, but it took us quite a few months of work to make it real! We tell you everything about the process below.
« How to make the perfect wet palette by RedgrassGames »
Before creating RedgrassGames, we used to go to the grocery store and look up for the elements to make our homemade wet palette. We bought all the different things: a cheap plastic box, a household sponge and some random baking paper. It used to look like this :
We did some nice painting with homemade wet palette, but the dilution was unreliable, and well, the sponge did smell bad after a few times. Moreover, we had to cut out the paper into the right size every time we needed to change it. Not really convenient.
To fix these problems, we decided to start our project: the best wet palette for miniature painting. We thought that every painter has brushes and different paints with great quality. But why not an adequate wet palette to go with? A small and fine suitable wet palette, whose dilution you can trust, and can transport everywhere. It should also resist in time. That’s when we started the design process…
PALETTE BOX
So we first thought about the design that we wanted for the palette. We put a lot of thoughts, trials and time into it. We wanted something that was durable with no moving parts: that is why the everlasting wet palette has one lid and one case, which are separable.
Our first prototype was all grey and had a bottom case that was much taller. It wasn’t pretty at all.
So we changed the design and made the case slimmer, which made the palette more handy to use. The wet palette has now the perfect shape that helps you paint better. Indeed, the height of the box is low, so you can easily reach your paint.
We then realized that the lid was an opportunity: an additional space. So we thought, why not use it as an extra side palette? That way you could have 2 palettes in one if you need to separate your paints or want to share the wet palette with a friend.
We selected the most durable and capable seal: a simple design TPE seal.
Then, we worked on extensions and created the wavy, the first well palette with integrated brush holders. Wavy is a nice little tool, with some hidden details: the reverse draft angle orientation vs the palette. The fit is perfect when it is connected to the magnets.
Finally, we added the lid’s distinctive orange colour at the end.
This was the prototype that we used to launch the project.
After the prototyping stage, the case evolved further down the project when we reached mass production.
We have changed many things through the whole process, some of them might not be noticeable, as for example the case. The bottom of the case has some dotted relief. Actually, it wasn’t on the first prototypes. We added it later: it improves the sponge’s hydration.
Then, we noticed that the opening mechanism was too hard and difficult to use. We had to do a tradeoff. We went for the easier opening. Because we thought that it was more important to be able to open and close the palette without shaking it. So we modified the seal and added two small handles.
That is the palette you are using today :
HYDRATION FOAM & SHEET
The second big part of the project was the perfect hydration system. We wanted to create something that any painter can use in a minute and that should help to improve painting technics. The key was to change the way people use wet palettes. Instead of having an uncontrollable flow of water through the paper membrane (gradually increasing the dilution of the paint, or worst, gradually drying the paint), we wanted to have the most stable dilution possible. Once set, the paint dilution should remain as it is.
So we tried a lot of different materials for the hydration paper sheet. Indeed, we had to test over more than 50 different types of paper in order to find the right one that would fit us.
A few years back, Fabrice was working on chemical products, so he did some research on foams. He did a few tries in order to find the perfect sponge: one that can be both resistant and long lasting. And that can hold water much better than the others. We tried to keep as white as possible the colour of the foam, so we could effortlessly see our paints’ colours thanks to the neutral grey sponge beneath the white paper. Don’t worry about the smell! The hydration foam keeps the paint fresh.
With the combination of the paper sheet and the foam, the hydration system prevents the paint to become dry and useless. Your paint stays wet and also provides complete stability of it.
As you can see, we tried to make the perfect wet palette by trying many things over and over, step by step. From there, we finally transformed our homemade wet palette into the everlasting wet palette! Reliable and useful, you can use it straight out the box.
Want to see what people think about our Palette? See the reviews here.