Materials: Mixing Plates

CAN’T I USE A CLASSIC PAINTER’s Palette like in the EMOJI … 🎨?

Because acrylic paints dry so quickly, you’ll find working on a wooden, plastic or glass palette to be a frustrating experience. Once the acrylic is dry it can be very hard to get off any surface. You could use alcohol or mineral spirits and scrape it off, but that takes a lot of time and effort. I find disposable plates are just easier to move around and store.

WHAT ABOUT PALETTE PAPER?

I’ve tried to use palette paper because I like the concept, but I found it too flimsy when working with thin paints. It’s useful to have the rim of the plate to keep these fluid acrylics contained a bit. For the amount of paint I’m mixing, I found paper plates to be more convenient.

OK, YOU’VE SOLD ME ON PLATES, but CAN I JUST USE ANY PAPER PLATE?

In a pinch, but I’m trying to save you time and headaches. The old school paper picnic plates get soaked through too quickly to make them practical. I was using the heavier Chinet plate for a long time, but I found they would start to fall apart with heavy mixing of wet paint. Chinet plates also tended to get moldy after about a week. You can spray vinegar on your paint mixes to prevent mold, but I found that kind of stinky. In the end, I found these sugar cane plates work the best for me.