CREATE: DIY Altoids watercolor travel palette

May 8, 2017 | Create

One of my favorite things about art is art supplies. I adore looking at them, using them (obviously) and now making them! I’m currently obsessed with the watercolor medium—how amazing it makes everything look, the way the paint flows wherever the water goes, and the palette of colors with an array of color combinations.

I have been shamelessly binge watching art journal YouTube videos, mostly while I’m journaling (so it feels like I’m doing it with other people lol). And I saw that a few people had these tiny tin watercolor palettes that they would take with them on travels or while journaling on the go in cafes and libraries. I’ve always had a thing for miniature art supplies (I loved tiny things as a kid), so I wanted to try to make my own tin watercolor palette.

What you’ll need:

1. Altoid Mints tin

Or any other box of your choosing! I like to keep my breath minty fresh and am too much of a nostalgic person to throw away my Altoids boxes, so it’s great to reuse them this way. Another option is to use pill boxes.

2. Watercolor half pans

There are half pans and full pans, but I like half pans because I’m not a marathon painter and don’t need much paint at one time. Also because I can fit more colors in my travel palette. I bought mine on Amazon. They’re quite pricey, so substitutes I’d recommend are water bottle caps or beer caps.

3. Watercolor tube paints

I’ve only ever had the pre-filled pans in my Sakura Koi and Prima Confections kits, so this was my first time using tube paints. I got this Royal & Langnickel Medium Tin Watercolor Set for really cheap on Amazon. I was going to get Reeves, but as you can tell, I love tin sooo my mind was made.

4. Other things you may need are:

– Double sided tape
– Watercolor paper
– Scissors
– Acetate paper
– Paintbrush
– Water

HOW To make watercolor travel palette:

1. Eat all the mints in one sitting (or spread out over several days, whichever tickles your fancy) and rinse the Altoids tin box.

2. Gather watercolor tubes. Arrange and plan colors.

3. Carefully fill half pans with paint from the tube.

4. Use double-sided tape or other adhesive and adhere to bottom of tin.

5. Affix pans over the tape/adhesive.

6. Measure tin cover and cut watercolor paper and acetate into slightly smaller dimensions, so that it will fit inside of the tin.

7. Paint each color in the order that the watercolor pans are arranged.

8. Use the water to control the opacity of the swatch, going from opaque to transparent. This will help you in the future to know what the color looks like both opaque and transparent.

9. Insert color chart in the top half of the tin, and the acetate paper layered over it. The acetate paper will block the paint from touching the color chart.

10. And you’re done!

Just a fun little painting of sabrina’s aura I made during a girls’ wine and paint night.

And that’s it!

So simple, right?

I’m still a total noob, but it’s fun to paint with watercolors, especially from this cute little travel palette.

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