This is one of those projects that made me immediately think ‘why on earth didn’t I think of this before?’.  There are lots of travel watercolor sets to buy and I nearly did buy one, until I saw this DIY version on Julie Balzar’s fab blog.

I popped out and bought a tin of Altoids (I bought the blue one because I liked the colour and I don’t intend covering the outside of the tin) and a pack of gum which was sold in the tray style packet.

The only problem I had was deciding which sixteen colours I was going to squeeze into my trays to tote about with me and my watercolour sketchbook.  I managed to choose a selection and then I arranged them into a pleasing palette.

I did make a note in my sketchbook of which colours went where. I also want to get another pack of the gum so that I have an empty tray to use for mixing colours.

This is such a great way to make you own travel set, I am so pleased with it.  In total it cost me about $3.50 for the tin and trays, the paints I already owned.

I will use a water brush with the paints, so that I don’t have to worry about carrying about water and a brush which may well defeat the whole concept of a travel tin!

So there you have it, your very own travel paint set.  You can use one or two trays which would allow eight or sixteen colours.  If you only use one tray, you may be able to fit in a tiny pencil and a sponge for extra equipment.  I will most likely fold up a sheet of kitchen roll in the bottom of the tin for wiping off my brush between colours.

I hope you make your own set if you fancy.  What colours would you choose?  Have I missed a vital one out?  Yikes I hope not.

Happy Wednesday! We have big thunderstorms here, I hope you have sunshine!