Palette | Knife

Palettes and Palette Knives

Two different tools that share a shelf. The palette is where colour gets mixed; the knife is how it gets mixed, and often how it gets applied.

Choosing a palette

Wooden palettes suit oil and are traditionally sealed with linseed before first use so they do not drink the oil out of your paint. White plastic and ceramic suit watercolour and acrylic, where you need to judge a colour against white. Tear-off paper pads save washing up. Sealed stay-wet palettes are the real answer for acrylic in a hot studio, since acrylic skins over within minutes here.

Choosing a knife

Trowel-shaped knives with a cranked handle keep your knuckles out of the wet paint and are the ones to buy first. Straight blades are for mixing on the palette rather than painting. Flexibility matters more than size: a springy blade lays a thin translucent skim, a stiff one drops a thick ridge of colour.

See also oil colours, acrylic colours and brushes. Stationerie, Kolkata, 25 years in art materials, shipped across India.