How to make a D.I.Y. stay wet palette

Stay wet palettes are a fantastic time-saving invention, but they can be quite expensive to buy and often require additional purchases of custom fit paper. I used to use plastic palettes but got sick of scrubbing them, so for the past few years I've mostly used tear-off disposable palette pads made from grease-proof paper. It's frustrating though when I have to throw away paint that has dried up over night, even though a painting is still in progress. So I decided a while ago to try making my own stay wet palette, and it worked brilliantly. I've been amazed at how long I've been able to keep a palette going. My acrylics stay wet and usable, with the exception of those in very thin layers which sometimes still dry up. It's been a great addition to my tool kit, is saving money as my paints are lasting longer, and means that I can continue with a painting without having to remix colours. As this is such a useful tool for artists, I thought I'd share how to make your own DIY stay wet palette.

Here is the first stay wet palette I made. It works well, but is a bit small.

I'm using a larger shallow square food storage container bought at Coles. Line with paper towels. I've overlapped four.

Add a layer of baking or grease-proof paper.

Spray with water. Spray enough to dampen thoroughly, but not enough that there is liquid swishing about.

Sometimes the baking paper curls up at the edges, so I use sewing pins to pin the corners of the baking paper to the wet kitchen paper.

...like this

Add paint.

Keep the lid on between uses.

When I open up the palette after not using it for a while I give the paint a spray with unlocking formula. This is made specifically for Atelier acrylics. I use a few different brands in addition to Atelier, but I've not found any adverse effect on other brands of paint.

Happy painting!

If you don't use Atelier, spritzing with water might be helpful. Even without spraying, the paint stays usable far longer than on a normal open palette. I've had the same palette going for weeks.