Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Staining Colors Can Stain Your Palette

Yesterday, I began preparing for my watercolor class which starts tomorrow.  I took out my old class palette which is just like the bottom one shown here.  The last time I had used it, I guess I left the red paint a little bit wet.  Red paint had drizzled down out of it's well and spread across the big mixing area.  Having been there for months, it left a nice big red stain in the white plastic.  It would not wipe clean with plain water or even soap and water.  I decided to try a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge.  I dampened the sponge and swiped it through the big stain and it disappeared!  I was so happy, because I find it very distracting to have remnants of old colors on my palette even when they're nothing but a stain and cannot interfere with the new colors I'm mixing.  

I was so pleased, I wiped away the big red stain, I cleaned up the edges of the palette, the lid and bottom too with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, it is magic!  It even wipes away Sharpie marker.  I was able to wipe off the names of colors that were no longer in my palette.  I normally use nail polish remover to remove the old names.  I always write the name of the watercolor on the sides of my palette.  

After I so nicely cleaned up my palette I thought, this could be the new Tuesday's Tip!  Only problem was, my palette was clean, how can I show you?  A picture of a nice white palette means nothing, it could be new.  So I dug out all of my palettes.  I found one with a light green stain (bottom of the stack) and one with a purple stain (top of the pile) and the inside of a lid.  I snipped off about an inch of one of the Mr. Clean Sponges, dampened it and only partially wiped away each stain so you can see how well it worked.  Afterwards I wiped it down with a damp paper towel to remove any residue.  

Give those old white plastic palettes a fresh white look!

I even tried it on my white art table top.  It removes sharpie pen marks, pitt pen marks, dingy grey marks and even acrylic paint splatters.  Amazing stuff!