About to turn my paradise pallet into split cakes...... a bit worried.

Hi de ho,
As the subject says, I'm about to start carving up my double paradise pallet into split cakes, with the idea of not having such a large pallet to work out of.... kind of condensing it down. I was wondering if any of you who may have done this already had anything major go wrong?
Also is there any color combination's that really work well together? Any that don't?
Should I be doing similar colors or contrasting colours? or a bit of both?
I'm worried about - 1. The cakes falling apart when I try to lift them out.
- 2. using my popular colours in split cakes together and then getting left with my unpopular colours in split cakes not getting used.
Should I split unpopular with popular, or just what colors I like to see together.... personal preference?
Should I be trying to put together some themed ones..... like red orange and yellow for a fire cake etc?
Should I make two identical split cake pallets so I get used to the color combination's or mix it up for the second one?
Could I possibly ask anymore questions.......lol
I have some good pics from here of peoples kits and set ups so I can get an idea of what it will look like finished but how and why you split particular colors together is beyond me.
Any help would be appreciated.

Tash

If it 'goes wrong' you can always try again or return the cakes to the mother cake. Its not a problem its PAINT.
A little harder to mold/ shape than plasticene but thats about it.

I'd mix it up, you may surprose yourself by finding new uses.

I tend to keep similar colours in my main palette as its easier to disguise splashes plus is like instant highlight/ lowlight shading on a sponge. And in my split cake palette have contrasty ones/ rainbows etc.

Think what faces you do most/ WANT to do most and cut to suit that.

cat x

As far as color combos, I'm the wrong person to ask. What I did for my kit was to pair color combos that I liked (i.e., Red and yellow for fire, lime and dark green for leaf work). What I did was put a sliver of thin plastic between the split cakes to keep the color from bleeding into each other from direct contact over a prolonged period of time.

Paradise paints are somewhat soft, so I'd recommend refrigerating them first, but that may not help the crumbling if you don't use the right tools to get the cake out. I also used a razor (xacto blade) to cut the cake...it helped).I used an artist palette knife to lift the cake out, but even if it does break a little, just smoosh it together.

I would plot out the colors ahead of time, that way you can head off having any "ugly" splits, but even if you do, you can just use them as smaller quantities of two single colors. I personally have some splits that are there for a special usage purpose (leaves, fire, ect.) and others are just two left over colors sharing a pot like roomies.

What it comes down to is your preference. If you make 2 identicle ones, you'll always have a spare, but if you mix up the combos, it will probably squash a lot of indecision about what color combos to use.

It's your kit, so it's going to be up to you ultimately...there is no wrong way of doing it...unless you decide to dump your paints in a bathtub of warm water...I'd have to say that that would be wrong. lol

Tash,
You said " I have some good pics from here of peoples kits and set ups so I can get an idea of what it will look like finished but how and why you split particular colors together is beyond me. Any help would be appreciated."

The reason I have split and rainbow cakes is to get lots of colors on my 12x13" pallet and to get on as many colors on with one swipe of the sponge for popular designs!

Most on my pallet are dedicated colors, like the tiger snaz metalic gold, sparkling orange & copper; Green & yellow for snakes & foliage; electric & sparkling greens for dragons & monsters. Ocre & rust for giraffes, leopards & lions.

Several combos are for butterflies on dark & light skin as well as the fire & palm tree sunset. What look like solid colors on top are actually split too; Snaz sparkling & classic colors for white, pink & red, like the electric blue & sparkling turquoise (Avatar movie Na'vi colors) And of course the rainbow for tigers, butterflies, etc.

I tried the standard rainbow leading with red but found the red too harsh near the focal point as seen on my site, so I redid my rainbow that starts with gold on the eye area and all are sheer sparkling colors for a softer, yet dramatic look.

All split colors have their purpose of getting paint on faces, asap. I also can use any color individually if I want. The little holes in many colors are "wells" I use for line work in that particular color. Blacks & white are Snaz & DFX in seperate small containers on the pallet. All colors are snazaroo at the moment, except two - I love the bright opaque DFX black & white! My pallet has evolved alot since I started FP!
Hope this helps,
Susan

What are you using for these split cakes?

Winger1200 wrote:Tash,
You said " I have some good pics from here of peoples kits and set ups so I can get an idea of what it will look like finished but how and why you split particular colors together is beyond me. Any help would be appreciated."

The reason I have split and rainbow cakes is to get lots of colors on my 12x13" pallet and to get on as many colors on with one swipe of the sponge for popular designs!

Most on my pallet are dedicated colors, like the tiger snaz metalic gold, sparkling orange & copper; Green & yellow for snakes & foliage; electric & sparkling greens for dragons & monsters. Ocre & rust for giraffes, leopards & lions.

Several combos are for butterflies on dark & light skin as well as the fire & palm tree sunset. What look like solid colors on top are actually split too; Snaz sparkling & classic colors for white, pink & red, like the electric blue & sparkling turquoise (Avatar movie Na'vi colors) And of course the rainbow for tigers, butterflies, etc.

I tried the standard rainbow leading with red but found the red too harsh near the focal point as seen on my site, so I redid my rainbow that starts with gold on the eye area and all are sheer sparkling colors for a softer, yet dramatic look.

All split colors have their purpose of getting paint on faces, asap. I also can use any color individually if I want. The little holes in many colors are "wells" I use for line work in that particular color. Blacks & white are Snaz & DFX in seperate small containers on the pallet. All colors are snazaroo at the moment, except two - I love the bright opaque DFX black & white! My pallet has evolved alot since I started FP!
Hope this helps,
Susan

This picture might help... Is this the kind of palette you are cutting up? I really didn't have any troubles cutting this one up This was my attempt at 'pretty baby'

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I have got to use the splits because I am simply not fast enough and these cut my time on each face WAY down.

I have a municipal event for Autism, this coming Sunday, I usually get swamped and want to get as many kids done as possible. :O

PS
Thanks for all the great tips guys, love learning from all the questions I didn't even ask!!

My entire kit is split cakes with Paradise. I microwave mine for 5 seconds in the microwave to make the cake pliable. I then take a butter knife and slice down the middle of the two colors then gently pry/peel the color out of the container and then push it into my split cake. Warming the cake first gives it a play-doh or clay consistency which I find easier to manipulate. I would not suggest splitting any Paradise Metallics. They are too powdery/crumbly. Use a different brand metallic. I agree that split cakes in the colors that you use a lot like fire or leaves are a good idea. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my teal and lime split cake. I use that thing all the time. But I mostly have light and dark versions of a color in one split cake.

Ok I made a big rainbow cake PBGYORP - I chucked the pink in on the end because I miss calculated how fat the slices should be.
And I remade the wineberry artycake in Paradise, and made up my own baby colours split with purple light pink light blue and white.
I still haven't split the rest of my pallet because it hurts my head...... I keep thinking I would like teal/dark pink and mango combo and a wildorchid and teal combo, and maybe a shades of blue combo etc but what to do with all the left over bits.......
argghhhhhhhhhhh this is sooo frustrating me. I would really like to get my double pallet down to just one.... it takes up so much space!
Thanks for the pictures guys!! or should I say ladies.

**Suzy I wish I was only splitting that small pallet...it's the big paradise professional double pallet.

**Jenjen I would never put my paints in a microwave..... I can't
I'm in Australia and with our heat and humidity they are already microwaved moved of the time....lol
I did steal some gold from my metalic pallet for the wineberry mix and it was ok.... thankgoodness..... I did wet the cake first to try and hold the piece together.
Thanx everyone for their help!!!
I'll get there eventually!!
Tash

Post some pictures when you get a chance!

OK. I ordered that small black, latch front box, (And oh! It sounded so good to me when suggested!) for multiple paints. I made various splits. I don't like making tiny splits. I shall not be doing it again. It SIMPLY is NOT worth it for me. Metina has great splits, others are VERY good at this as well.

I HATE doing this!! I wanted to do it VERY badly! It WRECKS what's left of the cakes and does NOT look good and what good will it do me in these tiny amounts?

I feel like Julie (in Julie and Julia) throwing a $(#(@ fit on the floor because things didn't turn out as I wanted them to.

This rant was brought to you by The ""Sparkling?"" Lady.

Good idea about wetting the cake! I've been wanting to make the wineberry cake too and was worried about the metallic..no longer!!! Sorry it is so hot down there. I'm up in Washington state and it is freezing until June (I'm a big baby with cold). My cakes are little ice cubes.....

[quote="Painted Dragon"]What are you using for these split cakes?

I'm using a pair of watercolor pallets found at Michaels. My old single pallet only held 20 colors and this pair holds 22. I just estimated size, cut the snaz up and inserted them into the deeper wells which can take two 18ml snaz cakes each.
The rainbow colors make butterflies, tigers etc go very fast with one swipe.
I found a thin one inch wide scrapbook paper holder at walmart for five bucks that the two pallets slip into along with my mirror to keep them in place when traveling or not in use.
Hope this helps,
Susan

jenjenhana wrote:My entire kit is split cakes with Paradise. I microwave mine for 5 seconds in the microwave to make the cake pliable. I then take a butter knife and slice down the middle of the two colors then gently pry/peel the color out of the container and then push it into my split cake. Warming the cake first gives it a play-doh or clay consistency which I find easier to manipulate. I would not suggest splitting any Paradise Metallics. They are too powdery/crumbly. Use a different brand metallic. I agree that split cakes in the colors that you use a lot like fire or leaves are a good idea. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my teal and lime split cake. I use that thing all the time. But I mostly have light and dark versions of a color in one split cake.

Neat idea. I've been doing the opposite. I've sent my paints for a good vacation in the freezer before I cut them up and that seems to really do the trick. Kryolan's metallics and "interferenze" are very crumbly too so I'm thinking that's a universal problem.

I've recreated several of the arty cakes and I try to cut strips as close to the rim as possible since I usually load from the middle. Let me tell you, its an unholy mess if you don't freeze them first!