Palette boxes

Hello all! I am pretty new and am still trying to get my kit together. I have been using the little snaz palettes from michaels, but am disappointed with how easily they smudge and rub off. I am considering ordering a boxed palette from paradise or DFX. Can anyone tell me the size of the actual boxes? And are they interchangeable? Meaning are the paint jars roughly the same size from wolf to dfx to paradise, ect? It seems like a lot of you prefer to mix your brands depending on color.

I am kind of OCD about being able to organize a working system. I don't want to hve to take everything apart and out before I paint. I currently work from an open scrapbookers tote, but it really is too small. I don't like my fat max or the totes on wheels because I find it difficult to work directly from them. Anyone have other ideas or suggestions?

Thank you so much!
Summer

First of all welcome to the forum. I recomend trying a few before you get a permanent set up. There are pro's and con's to all brands. With Paradise paint some people love the smell and other hate the smell. I personally love the smell. You can buy the .25oz paints to try and there is a color sample palette. If you buy them in the palette case to go in and you decide you like them you can get the foam insert for the bigger size paints and put it on the opposite side of the palette case. I like Paradise for it's softer blending qualities and I use DFX black and white for linework since it is bolder and more waxy. I buy the large pots of the black and white DFX.

I'm new too and bought big stuff at first and I probably shouldn't have. I do think you need a big white and black but like Tanya said, you might want to buy small pallets of the different brands first to see what you like and what works in your climate. The small pallets actually go quite far and would last you awhile. You might like pearls/metallics more than matte colors and there's other choices to make depending on whether you like to sponge or brush, do a lot of full faces or like one-stroke.

Don't get the Wonder Pallet from Silly Farm though...I don't know what paints they use but it was my only bad purchase. Everything else I've gotten I've been able to use up.

I personally like TAG for colors, Wolfe or DFX for black and white. Metina has good prices for it in the shop.

D.

Also, with metallics I would not go with Paradise. They tend to be very sheer. If you want bold metallics then I would go with Wolf or DFX.

I been trying to fill in my kit with the basics to try out different brands as I go. I am currently using Aquacolor white, Paradise and Wolfe blacks, and Fab red and antique gold. I also tried a starblend white both dry and wet and hated it (although it was probably me).

My take so far:
Fab is great. It goes on a little stiffer and smells like perfume but not enough to make a difference to me. The gold makes an AMAZING cheetah!

Paradise makes a nice base since it doesn't stain the way the Wolfe does. However, the Wolfe black doesn't bleed onto whatever I paint on top of it, though it takes a little longer to dry. The paradise does smell like a piña colada but I love it.

The aquacolor white seems to be ok, but not great. I will use it for bases and try dfx for lines. It mixes into whatever you go over.

And I have a couple paradise prism cakes that I still can't seem to decide what to do with. I prefer to do full faces and seem to work with sponges and brushes equally. Originally I had planned to cut them into mini cakes (thanks to the member that posted about this idea!), but now I'm undecided. Maybe I want to keep them large to use with sponges. Hmmm, choices choices!

What I have found to work in the five months I've been painting:

Bases: kids seem to find Wolf/DFX to feel "tight", so, I use - (in no particular order)
1. Snaz - soft feel
2. Paradise - soft feel
3. TAG metallics - medium feel - softer than DFX (to me), yet, firmer than the above.
4. TAG regular colors. Firm feel, yet softer than DFX.
5. DFX (this is my last choice for bases of those mentioned above because of the "feel factor" for kids).

Line work:
1. DFX (my preference)
1a. I use Paradise Black for line work on kids as it seems to wash off easier.
2. I want to try using TAG Black for line work. (it's on my list of things to order next) . Simply because it's less expensive.

Metallics -
1. I use mostly TAG because of cost and how well they work - TAG metallics seems a little softer - I use it most often.
2. DFX metallics are nice... great coverage/blend well.
3. Snaz sparkle - is what I tend to use for a 'metallic' base when I want something more translucent. (though, it can be used for a matte finish as well. Just apply more generously.
4. Paradise cherry red is the only Paradise brand that I've tried (and liked).

Good luck.

(There are some wonderfully talented, and experienced painters here who can answer these questions much better than I. *s*
Hopefully, they'll pass through soon!)

Neon colors - I lean towards TAG because of cost.
They perform well!

I generally make my own splits... so, no recommendations there, sorry.

I just buy the colors that I like from each brand then re-pot them into bead containers. Then I place the bead containers in a project box from the Office supply store and that's about it. Works for me.

I'm definitely considering the Pickin-style! My current re-pot fiasco involved moving everything to DFX containers, but they just don't want to stay in their pots (I hate lids). Oh well,

And, DFX and wolfe are the same size, paradise's container is smaller in diameter but taller, but approx the same amount of paint.

Also, the reason for the foam on the left side is because I bought a project box that was so deep that the paint pots flop around during transport.. I sit the foam on top of them and then they stay in their spot. I guess that I could velcro stuff down, but I don't like velcro for two reasons:
1. in the heat, the sticky side of velcro melts and it slides down the inside of your box... making it look awesomely messy and it's a paint to fix.
2. sometimes I would forget with part I had in the box, the hook or the loop part of the velcro, and then I would put the wrong part on the paint pot and then it was just annoying having to peel stuff off and use more velcro!

I also like everything to be free floating because I just lay a few paper towels in the bottom on my box each week and this catching any flying paint or water. Then I change them out and voila! nice and tidy in the bottom on the box, and the box itself isn't messy at all.

Ashley, where does one get said foam? And is it dense or squishy?

I really wanted everything to look as neat and professional as possible without having to repot anything... or velcro... or hot glue lol
so I bought the double Paradise pro pallet when I was starting out and I haven't looked back. I now have the prisma pallet too and I put all my Tags and tag splits into the lid of the prisma so all my stuff is contained in the space of two laptops.... and nothing ( except Tag has to be re lided.)

I would not buy DFX - or recommend it - go for TAG - after what just happened to all the DFX customers I wouldn't buy a thing from them.
Oh by the way Paradise is great but the containers are different to all the others... Tag wolfe and DFX are all pretty much the same size so can be used in the same pallet.
Also Paradise metalics suck... I have the gold and silver but only so I can mix their metalic powders into them. Tag Pearls are the way to go... they are lovely.

Thank you so much!!!

Tash, do you have a foam insert in the lid of your paradise box? If so which one? If not, how do you contain them? What do you do with your prismas? I seem to need some inspiration. And btw, I adore your avatar!!!

Ashley, I love how organized and simple it looks! How do you make them look so nice when you make your splits or repot them?

Summer

Oh, and Tash, what are the dimensions of the palette box?

The double Paradise pro comes in two pallets with foam inserts. You need to take one insert out of one and put it in the lid of the other to make a double pallet.
I don't know the exact dimensions off the top off my head, but the call them Laptops as they are pretty much the same size. All the pallet boxes are the same it's only the foam inserts that are different according to what you need. So you can get one from Tag to hold all your splits too.

Ok I found tape measure... it's approx 32 cms long - 25.5cms width and about 3cms high........ sorry I can't convert into inches.

Here's a pic from last weekend where you can kinda see my kit.... I was painting in a nightclub so please excuse the mess... It looks really light because of the camera flash... but I was working in the dark and getting stuff everywhere.
I'll look for a better one.

Thanks Tash! That makes sense now. What a great setup! It looks simple to work from.

Making repotted paints look nice:
-Squish them down with the back of a spoon as much as possible, toss them in the microwave for a couple of seconds to soften them up if needed. Then use water to remove any and all spoon marks. Works like a charm. I tamp down my paints about every 2 weeks.

Where'd you get that awesome foam stuff?!
That foam actually came as an insert with my super cool anniversary addition Dremel tool. Sooo... not sure where you would buy it. Maybe good styrofoam supply?

How do you keep it organized?
Good question! I've come to this setup after years of trying different methods.. it's not a final choice, but it works for me right now. And that's all that really matters.