Since launching Sprues and Brews with Matt, I’d like to think my painting has come a long way.

As part of this process, I have been learning new techniques, such as using transfers. Something I had always been interested in using was a wet palette. Needless to say, when one landed on my painting desk I jumped at the opportunity to give it a go!

The wet palette I’m getting to use, and review, is the Painter Lite by Redgrass Games. Redgrass specialize in hobby equipment, such as desk lamps, painting handles and of course palettes.

The Painter Lite forms part of their Lite range which is aimed at enthusiasts. This particular one is the smallest they do. If you are after a larger palette, they also do the Studio Lite. For those serious hobbyists Redgrass also do they main line of palettes which include a few extra features, most notably a slide lock system for attaching accessories to the palette, such as paint pot holders which is pretty neat.

Back to the Painter Lite however, the one I’ve got to take for a spin. Measuring at 15cm x 20cm, this neat little palette includes 50 sheets of hydration paper and two hydration foams. More on these soon.

The palette itself is comprised of bottom and lid, which when put together offers a low profile and TPE seal. It’s lightweight and feels robust. It’s a comfortable size to take with you to events or even just to a gaming group/friend’s house to paint.

I’d never used one before, so had no idea how simple it would be to use. You simply place one of the two included foams into the bottom part of the palette and add water, just enough to bring it level with the foam. Following this step you then simply place one of your hydration sheets on top, being careful to remove air bubbles by running your fingers across the sheet. You are now good to go!

A quick note on the hydration paper, Redgrass Games state that the paper has been designed so not to allow bleeding or overflowing, two things I have not encountered whilst I’ve been using this so far.

For my first shot at painting with one of these I happened to have to hand a primed Lord of Plagues (Maggotkin of Nurgle for Warhammer Age of Sigmar) on a paint handle ready to go.

Straight away, after putting paint on to the palette I noticed that it wasn’t drying up at all. In fact during the course of painting the miniature I didn’t notice any of the colours I’d used and applied to palette had dried up.

I can imagine how much less paint I’ll get through when batch painting Clanrats for Skaven for example, using this palette, as it did its job at keeping the paint wet.

For the amount of colours I used on this single mini, the Painter Lite had plenty of space for me to load paint on to it, with enough space between each to ensure none mixed. I can however imagine that if you are settling in for an evening of mass painting, and especially if you are looking to blend some of the paints (which is not something I have tried but have been told by many who have used wet palettes that these are awesome for this) that you may find yourself struggling for space without removing and applying a new hydration sheet. If you feel this maybe you, I’d probably point you in the direction of the Studio version which is larger.

After a few hours of painting my mini was complete. At no stage during my painting (and bearing in mind I wasn’t rushing, and had to take time out to distract my 2 year old) did I have to reload any of the colour because of any of it going dry. Instead, the only time I was reloading paint was because I had run out.

After I was finished, I could have closed the wet palette, and then carried on painting with those colours the following day, however I decided to clean it up ready for my next hobby session.

You can simply bin your hydration paper, rinse out the palette and clean the foam with water and soap. No fancy chemicals or cleaners are needed. Redgrass state that the foam is naturally resistant to Mould, which is fantastic, however I would always ensure you thoroughly clean yours after use. Once clean, allow it to dry out. You will notice once dry its gone hard and misshaped, but don’t worry, once wet again it reforms to its original shape.

I have used since a little bit of Contrast Paint on the palette; however I did notice a slight loss of control with the paint compared to straight from the pot or using a standard dry palette (which is what I expected as you wouldn’t normally have water mixed with Contrast). Other painters have successfully used wet palettes (in particular ones from Redgrass), so perhaps I’m doing something wrong.

I think the best way for me to summarize my time so far with the Painter Lite is to say I now won’t be using standard paints using a dry palette, which is simply down to how well this works. I will however continue to use a dry palette for my Contrast usage, but I will give Contrast at least one more go with the Painter Lite.

I can’t unfortunately compare this to another wet palette, as this is the first one I’ve used, however I can safely advise anyone like me or new to the hobby to try one of these out. It’s a great little tool to have on your painting table and will help you to make the most out of your paint without the worry of it drying out whilst your hobbying. It’s easy to clean and setup, weighs very little, and doesn’t take up too much hobby space. The sheets and foam work perfectly.

My only word against it is that I can expect some people to run out of space, however if you are finding this happening, or feel it would happen to you, then I’d recommend grabbing the larger Studio version.

Both sizes of the Lite palettes are available to buy right now directly from Redgrass Games or through our affiliate over at Element Games. You can also purchase additional accessories, as well as more hydration sheets and foam from the site too.

A massive thanks to Redgrass Games for sending us this to review. I’ll be continuing to use this, and I suspect you’ll see it soon on the returning painting projects.

Our thanks again to Redgrass Games for sending us a Painter Lite to review for our website.

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings