If you’re a hoarder ecologically conscious like me, you feel bad about throwing away CDs that you don’t need and noone wants — AOL junkmail, old driver software for equipment you don’t use or even have any more, freebies from magazines, that sort of thing. One way I get a lot of extra uses out old CDs is to use them paint palettes.
I paint mostly with craft paints and mix a lot when I’m doing minis so a small palette is great to have. You could buy something to use as a palette, or use foil, wax paper, or other disposable things. But I think you should use what you have and avoid creating waste that will go to a landfill.
Step 1. Have a CD you were going to throw away
Step 2. Turn it over and use as a palette. Remove dry paint every few painting sessions by peeling or scraping off dry paint. Once in a while a CD will be so heavily coated with paint and glue that I finally tossed it. But I have found that CDs make good terrain bases too, since they will not warp from exposure to dampness or glue.
My daughter also uses CDs in craft projects. This is one incorporates a quarter of a chestnut shell, a synthetic cork with an animal print on it, and a bunch of glass beads.
I could probably work this into D&D. Ley node, alien monolith, something like that.
That dwarf is plastic; he’s from the Milton Bradley HeroQuest game.
Swords & Dorkery 
[…] by Mike on October 10, 2011 This an excerpt of a post from my other blog. […]
if you wanna use cds for scenery rather than palettes, you can use a glossy magazine for a palette. Lots and lots of pages. Maybe you knew that.
That’s a good idea too. I don’t use paper for a palette any more though because I like to able to mix washes right on the same palette, and the water always soaks through eventually. Maybe I need to read glossier magazines. 🙂
We’ve hung them on things to keep birds away from seeds in the garden or something like that, I forget. I like your painter’s palette on the cheap here.
Two great ideas here Mike. I have not used an old CD for a paint palette but I have used a couple as terrain bases. As the comments mention above I have never thought about using glossy magazines before either.
I will say this… I have used a lot of things while painting and traveling. I have used the back of the little sign in hotel bathrooms that say if you forgot something call the front desk. I have used the bottom of water or sports drink bottles. Just about anything that I can control the flow of paint on I will use it. LOL
[…] Use an old compact disc as an infinitely reusable paint palette. […]