How to save time and materials – creating a reusable palette

I hope this information will be useful for crafters who do decoupage, doll making, and various acrylic painting touch-ups. Most of us are working moms for whom making crafts is more of a hobby than a mass-production line. Therefore, a palette created with such effort for painting one or two items is doomed to a short life. And next time, you have to start all over again. I suggest not only saving on supplies but also significantly easing the creative struggle of color matching by creating a reusable, non-drying palette for acrylics.

You will need a closed container that is convenient for placing moisture-retaining material. A rectangular metal tin from mints or chocolates works perfectly for this.

You can decorate the outside of the box as you wish; inside, you should place a porous moisture-retaining material at the bottom, and a sheet of thick tracing paper on top. In this specific case, a cleaning cloth was chosen as the first, bottom layer. Soak it with water, and place the tracing paper, cut to the shape of the box, on top.

Now you can place the shades you need on the surface of the tracing paper.

It is better to mix them on a separate palette (for example, a plastic one). When finished, close the box tightly and place it in a zip-lock bag. Moisture will be supplied through the tracing paper in a metered way, so the paints will not be diluted, but they won't dry out either.

If you work with paints regularly, I recommend refreshing the cloth every 2 days and monitoring its moisture level. And may nothing distract you from your creative endeavors 😉