Etchr Mini Palette (review)
First of all, big thanks to Etchr Lab for sending over a free palette for this review. Etchr Lab is an Australian company and is the same company that makes the artist carry bags and has recently gone into making and selling sketchbooks as well.
The idea for creating such a mini palette actually came from artist Stephanie Law. She wanted to create a small portable palette that can hold plenty of colours. In order to put her palettes into production, she created a Kickstarter campaign for it and it was successfully funded in April 2019. Subsequently, Etchr Lab probably got the rights to make and sell the palettes, hence that's why you see this product being called the Etchr Mini Palette.
The two porcelain palettes are housed inside this circular tin box. I've had other tin boxes like this and it's definitely going to rust in the future.
The palettes were carefully packed. Inside there were pieces of cloth to cushion the palettes.
There are two palettes. The one with 37 wells is for storing paint. The other with 7 wells is for mixing. They are stackable.
Right in the centre, there's one well. The first circle has 6 wells, second has 12 wells and the outermost circle has 18 wells. There's also a piece of circular watercolour paper with lines printed on it so that you can paint the swatches for colours you add to the palette. You'll probably want to swatch out the colours because 37 colours can be difficult to remember.
The wells are small so this palette is not suitable for use with large brushes, and hence not suitable for use when painting large paintings.
The maximum brush size I would use with this palette is probably a size 6. For the sketchbook, I won't use anything large than A5. Well, you can use larger pieces of paper, it would just take longer to paint. It really depends on your style and your art.
Porcelain is great for mixing colours. Water and mixtures pool together easily on porcelain surfaces. And these are easier to clean compared to plastic which stains easily.
The palettes are small, almost palm size. They are compact enough to be portable but since it's porcelain, it's heavier compared to typical plastic or metal palettes.
I really enjoyed using the palettes with watercolour. They work very well as expected. I do wish the storage wells were bigger so that they can fit more paint so that you can use larger brushes. Maybe they should create a variation with 19 wells in addition to this 37-well palette.
The official price for the Etchr Mini Palette is AUS $72 which is around US $50, £39. That price includes free international shipping from Etchr Lab.
The Etchr Mini Palette is also available on other web stores. On Jackson's Art UK, it's £32 not including shipping. Search Dick Blick Art Materials (US) too.
For more art product reviews, visit https://www.parkablogs.com/content/list-of-art-products-reviewed
Comments
It's not there now, but when
It's not there now, but when I first looked at this, the additional details said that it weighed nearly a pound. While porcelain does make a beautiful palette, that's too heavy to carry in my sketch kit, even before being filled with paint.
I've got this mini palette
I've got this mini palette the first day it was launched and I reviewed it on my website. It doesn't weight that much but it is not that suitable for outdoor sketching as the porcelain dishes can break if the box is knocked inside your sketching bag or if they accidentally fall down.
The ceramic plates though are great for placing and mixing colours. This box would be even better if it was available in larger sizes for studio use.
And here btw is another thing that I didn't mention on my review because I realized it later on. It would be wise to open some holes on the sides of the metal box. As this box is airtight when closed, the paints can mold if you close the box before they are completely dry. So the metal box needs a few holes on the sides in order to allow a bit of air to circulate inside the box.
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