Over the years I’ve used all sorts of surfaces as a palette for my paints- heavy glass plate, palette paper, and old phone books.

All were messy to clean up and I wasted a lot of paint. So when a student taking a class with me a few years back showed up with a palette that keeps acrylics and water based paints moist in an air tight container I was all over it.

Nanci Hersh's Studio shot of Masterson's Sta-Wet Palette

Masterson’s Sta- Wet palette on my Craftsman tool cabinet. Tight and tidy (at least for this photo op!)

I quickly purchased my own Masterson Sta-Wet Palette. Packaged with a sponge and special permeable paper I was able to use and reuse my paints for quite a while. At one point when I used the same paper for a considerable amount of time (month or more), when I did go to change the palette paper, the sponge underneath that keeps the paper and paints moist was not only still wet but smelly and literally falling apart.

After calling Masterson’s, I received a complimentary replacement sponge. Not soon after, despite following their recommendations of using distilled water, the new one started to get funky and fall apart.

Sta-wet palette with sham-wow in the studio of Nanci Hersh

Sham Wow! cut to fit in my sta-wet palette does the job!

Then I decided to try Sham-Wow!  That’s right – just like the late night info-mercial claims,  wet or dry, there’s nothing like it. These days you don’t have to stay up late to get a pack of the bright saffron colored cloths, you can order online, or check out your local hardware or pharmacy. Cut it to size, and you have a great way of keeping your palette moist. When you change your palette paper, rinse it out and begin again.

It’s a beautiful thing.

What’s a favorite art tip of yours?

 

 

 

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