Wells in your pots

Hi Everyone,

I’ve come across multiple mention of people using wells in their colors (mainly for black and white) on this forum and have seen people using wells in their youtube tutorials.

I’m at my wit’s end trying to improve my game…and it’s just stuck.  Biggest issue being line work (both white and black) – I’ve tried different brands (Wolfe, Tag, DFX, Global) and they all have the general gloopy, sticky problem.  So I’m wondering if it’s just me.

I read that it could be the (over)saturation of paint and pigments that causes the clumping and a “well” in your black or white could eliminate that problem.  As I’m terrified of cutting into my paints I wanted to ask for advice on how to correctly utilize this method before I attempted it:

1) How deep do you cut?  Do you gouge out a hole to the bottom of the pot?  Or just halfway?  Should it be about the size of a 50 cent piece?
2) Once you have a well, how much water goes in it?  Halfway up the well?  
3) Where do you load your brush?  Do you load it directly from the well, using it as an “inkpot”?  Or do you load your brush from the wet slope of the well?

I’m not a good artist (I’d rate myself “above average”) but having the ability to use white or black “ink” would provide such an incredible boost in my facepainting…I would appreciate any and all thoughts, suggestions or advice based on your experience using wells as a regular facepainting tool.


Thank you!

The "wells" appear in my cakes, no need to create them. I work with dry,clean brushes and sponges and add water to my cakes a couple drops at a time, the wet spot creates the well, which gets bigger over time.

I add water as needed to keep the paint the right consistency to work with. There is no magic "recipe" it is trial and error to figure out how to make it work for you. It is all about the consistency of the paint.

If you would like to create a well quickly...
squish the handle butt end into the centre of the paint, and give it a wiggle. Voilá!
Happy Painting!

adding a bit more explanation -

as "guest" mentioned, wells naturally appear in the face paint cakes, as you usually swirl your brush or sponge in the center. over time, you deplete the paint in the center, creating a well or trough.

or, as fesspenter suggested, you can create one.

on a newer cake, the well is small, just where you swipe your brush tip.  on a cake where a lot of paint is used up, it might be next to a ridge of paint on the side.

you don't want to pour water into the well.

when you dip your brush in water and then into the cake, most of the water goes into the well.  you can vary the amount of water to figure out the best consistency to load your paint.

need more water?  just dip your brush in water again and then into the well.

then, as you mentioned, you can swipe your brush over the drier part of the cake if the paint is too runny.  for thicker paint, you can work some of the paint from the well into the paint on the slope of the well.  

so you have a gradient of wet to dry paint, for every use.

for example, for fine lines, you might use wetter paint, because very little paint is laid down, and it will dry quickly.

but for heavy stripes or outlines, wet paint would run, so you you might want thicker paint.  and for shading, even drier paint.