Artist stuff can end up costing one an arm and a leg. It's not cheap being an artist. As a newby and retired I'm always trying to save a buck or two. I was using plastic and foam plates for my palettes but often times there just wasn't enough room on one plate and had to use several for what I'm doing. They just took too much space already in a cramped area I'm working in. I decided to make my own palette, customized for me. It had to be lightweight and made from inexpensive material. It also had to last for at least a couple of paintings.
I bought couple of pieces of foam board (poster board with foam center), the stuff you can find almost anywhere that caries office supplies. I got mine at Dollar Tree. The boards were 20" x 30" and cost me a mere $1.00 each.
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| poster board with foam center |
From the 2 boards I was able to make 4 15"x20" palettes large enough to handle plenty of paint by cutting each board in half.
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| poster board with foam sandwich |
They are easy to cut-simply with scissors to your own custom fit. The thumb hole, I used a 1 1/2" hole saw added to my cordless drill. I could have just cut out a hole using a utility knife. Using my cordless and the hole saw made quick work out of it and a perfect hole to boot. The corners were rounded off using scissors. What I couldn't cut with my scissors, I used my utility knife.
Because the top layers on the boards are very thin, putting any kind of sealer on them will make the top layer come off and the palate will become too flexible, altho the foam will handle the paint easily. Just go ahead and use the new palate as is without a sealer. It'll work just fine. When I can't remove anymore paint off it, I just throw it away and grab another I had made earlier.
Here is a pic of one I've been using. I made it so that I can use both sides when I need to.
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| my first foam board paint palette |
Here are a couple of other styles I also made for myself. The thumb hole was cut out for a distance comfortable for me.
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| foam board palette |
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| foam board palette I made |
I decided to take this project a bit further and make one out of 3/16" luaun plywood. I went to my local lumber store and got me a piece of luaun 24"X24" . I drew out how I wanted it on the board and then cut it with a jig saw. It came out 16" x 22". A standard size would be about 16" x 20 1/2". Next I sanded all the corners with coarse sandpaper and then filed areas I couldn't get in with my sand paper block. I also took some steel wool size 000 to the top of it to smooth out. Once I got it cleaned off, I took some clear gloss oil base spray paint to both sides and let it dry. The paint has primer included. On the face of the palette I put about 4 coats and on the back side 2. The sides also got the clear coat. Here's what it looks like after I got it completed. It wouldn't hurt to use the steel wool before each coat for a smooth finish.
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| wood paint palette I made from luaun |
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| paint I used to seal my wood palate |
For added protection so that the acrylic paints won't dry onto my palette, I rub on some wax, any wax just to put something between the paint and my palette. Now it's ez to clean the palette for my next painting. All in all, the wood palette cost me a total of $15.00, if that to make. To buy one, I've seen them go for over $40.00.
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