DOODLEWASH REVIEW: A Cautionary Tale & Palette Hack

The post opens a series on travel palettes and uses the Grace Art Model 118 18-piece Water Colors Field Sketch Set as an example of a cheap set turned into a travel palette. It argues that the paint quality was poor, then shows how the box was converted and how the setup was carried.

Reading notes

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• The text starts by announcing a series on travel palettes and linking that theme to Koi & Cotman sets.
• The author bought the Grace Art Model 118 set for 12 dollars only to remove the paints from the pans and use the box as a travel palette.
• After finding the pans empty, she decided to keep the kit, review it, and show the conversion into a travel palette.
• The box measures about 7.4 x 4 x 0.8 inches and comes with three mixing areas on the hinged lid, a water brush, a small piece of sea sponge, and a ceramic dish.
• The text says the product description overstates itself by calling it high quality and says it is too large for a pants pocket unless the pocket is large.
• The Amazon reviews are described as very positive, but the author shows a bad painting and says the paint was hard to use.
• After drying, the painting looked chalky and her hand rubbed off the pigment.
• The recommendation is to buy the best paints that fit the budget or save up for them, instead of spending money on bad paints just because they come in a set.
• The set with removable pans is seen as useful because it holds 18 colors and still leaves room for extra pans or brushes where the water brush used to be.
• The author says she already expected a problem with the lid latch and that it closes, but not as securely as desired.
• The wells come out easily and were cleaned with warm water and soap and a toothbrush.
• One setup shown in the text uses the empty box with space for small brushes, and another uses pans already filled with Daniel Smith watercolors.
• The author has not yet refilled the pans that came with the set and says she is still deciding what to put in it.
• To deal with the lid not closing well, she used a tubular cotton sock, folded, as a band and as protection for transport.
• The same fabric can also serve as a brush-cleaning cloth on the wrist, which she considers useful for outdoor sketching, especially at the beach.
• Another reason not to worry about the lid is the use of the Lihit Lab Teffa Bag in Bag A5, which holds quite a lot of travel material and has extra space in the main compartment.
• The text ends by saying there are many travel palette options, such as candy tins, Altoids tins, other small tins, makeup cases, and metal boxes made for watercolor, and that the series will explore more of these options.