Review: Reusable hydration membranes from the Everlasting Wet Palette 2 Kickstarter

On May 20 2021, Redgrass Games introduced their redesigned Everlasting Wet Palette 2 on Kickstarter, including a new patent-protected hydration membrane that can be cleaned and reused up to 10 times! In this review, we’ll take a look if the new membrane lives up to the hype.

The new reusable hydration membranes are part Redgrass Games’ Everlasting Wet Palette V2 Kickstarter and are meant to replace traditional “sandwich paper” style wet palette paper. Redgrass Games claims that due to their special coating, the membranes can be cleaned multiple times, up to ten times and more – depending on your care.

The membranes were provided by Redgrass Games. Opinions are our own.

Features

The new Everlasting Wet Palettes 2 have been substantially re-engineered for a sleeker look and a better seal. The Painter 2 palette is 3cm longer than the original Painter palette, but still more compact than the Studio XL palette. The updated Studio XL 2 palette will retain the same size as the original Studio XL. I’ve reviewed the original Everlasting Wet Palette in the Painter edition, and liked it alot.

There is a also new locking system for attaching accessories, gone are the magnets from the original generation. An upgraded Wavy accessory has been devised to work with the new sliding lock system, as well as a brand new “anti-spill” shade pot holder accessory to accompany the Kickstarter campaign. However, there is some backward compatibility, as Redgrass Games have left spaces for anyone who wishes to attach their own magnets to the casing. This will allow you to use your existing Redgrass Games accessories, like the older Wavy extension. There is also an interesting glass insert for using oil paints.

But surely the most interesting new feature is Redgrass Games’ patented new hydration membrane, for which I received some samples that I’ve been using for a couple of weeks now. Unlike the traditional “sandwich paper”, the new membrane seems to be made from a slightly thicker, coated paper. As the membrane is one-sided, it’s important to apply it the correct way up. I immediately noticed the new membrane was much less prone to curling or wrinkling than traditional wet palette paper sheets, which I really liked. Hydration-wise, I didn’t notice any substantial difference between the traditional paper sheets and the new membrane.

And here comes the deal: Thanks to the unique coating you can rinse the membrane under tap water and rub off any remaining paint with your fingers or a soft brush. As long as the paint retained some of its moisture you will be able to remove it very easily, and it shouldn’t be a problem to repeat this process up to ten times, just as promised by Redgrass Games.

But how about dried paint? Here you can see the new membrane in the original Everlasting Wet Palette. The membrane in the picture has been in use for over a month and has been cleaned two times so far:

As I tend to replace the sheet of paper only every two weeks or so, a lot of leftover paint will have dried. Nevertheless, I was still able to remove most of the dried paint with a little bit of additional scrubbing with my fingernails. I wasn’t able to remove some of the thicker-bodied paints or certain metallic paints without risking damaging the membrane, but I was able to clean about 80% of the surface with the second cleaning, which left me plenty of space to work with. As you can see there are some slight markings from older paints, but this is normal and doesn’t affect the performance much or soil fresh paints.

As you might notice, the coating seems to start to wear off in some places because of the additional scrubbing, so I think I’ll replace my membrane after the third cleaning and usage.

So, a single membrane made me save three additionial sheets of traditional palette paper. Pretty good considering I let so many of my paints dry on the palette. Your mileage might vary, and if you tend to work with thinner paint consistencies and/or clean your palette more often, you might be able to get out even more uses.

Value

Redgrass Games new reusable wet palette membranes will help to reduce a lot of waste, which I really appreciate, but will it also be easier on your wallet? At the moment you need to head over to Redgrass Games Kickstarter page and back the new Everlasting Wet Palette 2 for a chance to try the new membranes.

There is an upgrade pack for the original Everlasting Wet Palettes, for 20 Euro you will get 15 membranes and 2 foam pads in the original Painter size, plus an anti-spill pot holder accessories. The upgrade pack for the original Studio XL is 29 Euro. The redesigned Painter 2 palette comes with 15 membranes, 2 foam pads, and a painting booklet, and will start at 29 Euro with additional upgrades available.

I’m curious to see how much a pack of membranes will be once the Kickstarter has been fulfilled. Currently, a pack of 50 Painter sized sheets have an RRP of 7,90 Euro, and a single foam pad 4,50 Euro. My guess is that the pack of 15 membranes will be of a similar price as their current pack of 50 sheets. Considering you should be able to clean and reuse a membrane at least twice, 15 membranes would replace 45+ sheets, which sounds about right.