Artist palette and method of making same

An artist palette having a tray with an upper surface, a plurality of recessed wells positioned in the tray, an aperture in an edge of the upper surface of the tray providing a place for a painter to hold the tray, a drip ledge groove positioned on a periphery of the upper surface of the tray including a first upwardly extending edge useful for removing excess paint and water from a paintbrush, and wherein the drip ledge groove serves to hold paint or water that has been removed from the paintbrush.

BACKGROUND

The present application generally relates to the field of artist palettes. More particularly, the present application relates to an artist palette that may be thermoformed or injection molded, as well as a method of forming an artist palette.

An artist palette, also referred to as an art palette, may take the form of a flat handheld board or tray onto which different colors of paint may be placed to allow a painter to have a number of different colors of paint to choose from, and to allow the painter to mix different colors of paint together on the handheld tray to form a different color of paint. Art palettes may be used by painters as a place to position paint on the handheld board or tray which is held in one hand while a paint brush is held in the other hand.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, an artist palette is formed using a thermoforming or injection molding process. Using such a process allows the artist palette to be formed as a single integral unit, and allows for mass production of the artist palette. In addition, a thermoformed artist palette may be designed such that the artist palettes are easily stacked in a nesting relationship which provides for easy shipping and packaging. The art palette may include a tray with an upper surface, a plurality of recessed wells positioned in the tray, an aperture in an edge of the upper surface of the tray providing a place for a painter to hold the tray, a drip ledge groove positioned on a periphery of the upper surface of the tray including a first upwardly extending edge useful for removing excess paint and water from a paintbrush, and wherein the drip ledge groove serves to hold paint or water that has been removed from the paintbrush by the upwardly extending edge. The art palette may further include one or more slots positioned in the tray adapted to hold a paintbrush. The slots may be formed as a pair of intersecting slits like a straw slot on a soft drink lid. The art palette may be made from environmentally friendly material that may be recycled, and the art palette is also advantageously reusable, and eventually disposable where it may be recycled.

In another aspect, an artist palette is provided including a tray having an upper surface, a plurality of recessed wells positioned in the tray, an aperture in an edge of the upper surface of the tray providing a place for a painter to hold the tray, one or more slots positioned in the tray adapted to hold a paintbrush, and a drip ledge groove positioned on a periphery of the upper surface of the tray including a first upwardly extending edge useful for removing excess paint and water from a paintbrush.

In a further aspect, an artist palette is provided including a tray having an upper surface, a plurality of recessed wells positioned in the tray, an aperture in the upper surface of the tray providing a place for a painter to hold the tray, a drip ledge groove positioned on a periphery of the upper surface of the tray including a first upwardly extending edge useful for removing excess paint or water from a paintbrush, and wherein the drip ledge groove serves to hold paint or water that has been removed from the paintbrush.

In yet a further aspect, a method for thermoforming an art palette is provided, with the art palette having an upper surface, a plurality of recessed wells positioned in the tray, an aperture in the upper surface of the tray providing a place for a painter to hold the tray, a drip ledge groove positioned on a periphery of the upper surface of the tray including a first upwardly extending edge useful for removing excess paint or water from a paintbrush, including the steps of (i) forming a tray having an upper surface in a sheet of plastic; (ii) forming a plurality of recessed wells positioned in the tray; (iii) providing an aperture in the upper surface of the tray that provides a place for a painter to hold the tray; (iv) forming a drip ledge groove on a periphery of the upper surface of the tray that includes a first upwardly extending edge useful for removing excess paint or water from a paintbrush; and (v) wherein the drip ledge groove serves to hold paint and water that has been removed from the paintbrush.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present embodiments shown inFIGS. 1-7Bbelow are directed to an artist palette that may be advantageously formed using a thermoforming or injection molding process. Thermoforming has been used to mass produce plastic parts including packaging for food products. A sheet of thermoplastic material or other plastic material is positioned over one or more mold cavities. In some instances a vacuum is used to draw the thermoplastic or plastic into the mold cavities, and in other instances a positive pressure may be used to force the thermoplastic or plastic material into the mold cavities.

Furthermore, rotary thermoforming of parts has also been used where an extruded sheet of thermoplastic or plastic material is fed over the surface of a rotatory drum which contains a series of mold cavities on the outer surface of the drum. The material within each of the mold cavity cools as the drum rotates and is eventually removed from the mold cavity as a formed part, where it may undergo further processing steps in some instances.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an artist palette through a thermoforming or injection molding process. Using such a process allows the artist palette to be formed as a single integral unit, and allows for mass production of the artist palette. In addition, a thermoformed artist palette may be designed such that the artist palettes are easily stacked in a nesting relationship which provides for easy shipping and packaging. The artist palette may be formed using the thermoforming apparatus and methods disclosed in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/631,369 filed Feb. 25, 2015 and entitled “Rotary Thermoforming Apparatus and Method of Using Same,” herein incorporated by reference.

The artist palette made be made from a thermoformable or injection moldable plastic. For example, artist palette could be formed using polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or recycled PET (rPET). The use of these materials is environmentally friendly because they can be recycled. In addition, a chemical resistant material of coating of chemical resistant material may be applied to the art palette to protect against certain types of corrosive paints. In addition, the art palette may be reusable, and ultimately may be easily disposed of where it may be recycled.

FIG. 1is a perspective top view of artist palette10that may be advantageously formed using a thermoforming or injection molding process. Artist palette10takes the form of a tray that includes an upper surface20that may be used to mix different colored paints together. Artist palette10further includes a plurality of recessed wells70a-d,72a-f, and74a-eof varying sizes that may be used as paint wells, and separate different colors of paint as a different color of paint may be placed in each of the recessed wells. In addition, art palette10includes a plurality of recessed water wells60,62, and64which may be used to hold water to clean off paintbrushes or dilute paint, which are particularly useful when working with watercolor paints, although art palette10may be also be used with other types of paint such as oil or acrylic paints. Although a plurality of water wells are shown, a single water well or additional water wells could also be provided. Art palette10further includes an aperture40positioned between points30band50bto provide a place for an artist to hold the art palette10. Further, although not shown, a hole could be provided on upper surface20to provide a place for an artist's thumb to extend through to further aid in holding art palette10.

Art palette10further includes a raised section30on the periphery of upper surface20that includes slots32,34, and36that may be used to hold paintbrushes. Slots32,34, and36may take the form of a pair of intersecting slits, similar to the straw slot found on the plastic lid of soft drink cups. Art palette10also advantageously includes a drip ledge groove80having edges that can be used to remove excess paint or water from a paintbrush. As shown inFIG. 1, drip ledge groove80may extend from downwardly sloping wall30aof section30to downwardly sloping wall50aextending from section50of art palette10. In addition, drip ledge groove80may be downwardly sloped and drain into one or more of the plurality of recessed wells, such as recessed wells72a-f, to channel or drain water and/or paint removed by the edges of drip ledge groove80. Further details of drip ledge groove80are shown and described with reference toFIG. 7Bbelow.

FIG. 2is a top view of the artist palette10shown inFIG. 1. Recessed wells70a-dare shown with each having the same configuration and depth. Larger recessed wells74a-eare shown with each having the same configuration and depth. Even larger recessed wells72a-fare shown with each having the same configuration and depth. The largest recessed wells72a-fmay be used for more commonly used paints depending on the particular painting being painted, and smallest recessed wells70a-dmay be used for less commonly used paints. However, recessed wells70a-d,72a-f, and74a-ecould all have the same configuration and depth, or all have different configurations and depths. Recessed wells60,62,64may be used to hold water that may be used to clean paintbrushes or dilute paint. Recessed wells60,62, and64are shown with the same depths and configurations, but they could all be different as well.

Slots32,34, and36may be used to hold paintbrushes or other items, such as a pencil. In the embodiment shown, slots32,34, and36are shown as a pair of intersecting slits, like a straw slot found on plastic soft drink lids. However, slots32,34, and36could be formed with only a single slit, or with additional slits, and may include a hole at the center. Slots32,34, and36could also be formed with three slits that extend to a central portion of the slot where the slits meet each other.

Aperture40is shown positioned between edges30band50b, where the palm of a painter's hand may be inserted to hold the art palette10. Drip ledge groove80extends from downwardly sloping wall30ato downwardly sloping wall50a. However, the drip ledge groove80could be formed of separate sections around the periphery of the upper surface20. As noted above, the drip ledge groove80(or grooves) could be downwardly sloped to channel paint and/or water removed from a paintbrush towards and into one of more of the recessed wells70a-d,72a-f, or74a-eto allow for such water and paint to be collected to help prevent drip ledge groove80from becoming overfilled.

Art palette10is shown with a generally round or oval shape in the present embodiments. However, other geometries such as square, rectangular, or other shapes may also be used.

FIG. 3is a perspective bottom view of the artist palette10shown inFIGS. 1 and 2. The bottoms of recessed wells70a-dare shown with each having the same configuration and relatively shallow depth. The bottoms of recessed wells74a-eare shown with each having the same configuration and slightly deeper depth than recessed wells70a-d. The bottoms of recessed wells72a-fare shown with each having the same configuration and depth. The largest recessed wells72a-feach have a greater depth than recessed wells70a-dand74a-e. However, recessed wells70a-d,72a-f, and74a-ecould all have the same configuration and depth, or all have different configurations and depths. The bottoms of recessed wells60,62,64are also shown that may be used to hold water that may be used to clean paintbrushes or dilute paint. Recessed wells60,62, and64are shown with the same depths and configurations, but they could all have different configurations and depths as well.

The bottom of slots32,34, and36are shown in section30of tray20which may be used to hold paintbrushes or other items, such as a pencil, and there is a clearance beneath section30to allow for paintbrushes to extend beneath slots32,34, and36. In the embodiment shown, there are three slots32,34, and36, although fewer or additional slots could also be provided. Bottom of drip ledge groove80is also shown extending around the periphery of tray20.

FIG. 4is a bottom view of art palette10shown inFIGS. 1-3. The bottoms of recessed wells70a-d,74a-e, and72a-fare shown with each having the same configuration and depth. The bottoms of recessed wells60,62, and64are shown as well. In the embodiments shown, the positioning of the recessed wells70a-d,74a-e, and72a-fare shown in a particular orientation with respect to each other, i.e., recessed well64positioned between recessed wells74a-eand72a-f, and recessed well60positioned between recesses wells72a-fand74a-d. However, the recessed wells can be positioned in any desired orientation with respect to each other. The bottom of drip ledge groove80is also shown extending around the periphery of tray20.

FIG. 5is a view looking towards the front side of art palette10(looking towards the side with aperture40) shown inFIGS. 1-4. The relative depths of recessed wells60,62, and64in comparison to recessed wells72a-cand70a-dis shown. The side of drip ledge groove80is also shown along with the aperture40extending between end50bof section50and end30bof section30.

FIG. 6is a view looking towards the right side of the art palette10(looking towards the side with recessed well60) shown inFIGS. 1-5. The relative depths of recessed wells60,62, and64in comparison to recessed wells72c-fand70a-dis shown. The side of drip ledge groove80is also shown along with an extending edge of section50.

FIG. 7Ais a perspective top view of art palette10shown inFIGS. 1-6with paintbrushes100,102, and104positioned within slots32,34, and36. Slots32,34, and36allow for the positioning of different sized paintbrushes positioned therein. For example, slot32houses smaller paintbrush100whereas slot36houses largest paintbrush104. It is also possible that the slots of32,34, and36or additional slots could be of different smaller or larger sizes to accommodate a greater range of paintbrush sizes. Slots32,34, and36allow a painter to have a variety of different sized paintbrushes housed within artist palette10to provide the painter with a greater range of paintbrush options that may be needed for a particular painting. In this embodiment, drip ledge groove80is shown extending around the periphery of art palette10.

FIG. 7Bis a cross-sectional view of drip ledge groove80of art palette10shown inFIGS. 1-7A. Drip ledge groove80is positioned on a periphery of upper surface20of the tray and may include a first upwardly extending edge82that that terminates at its end. First upwardly extending edge82is useful for removing excess paint and water from a paintbrush. A paintbrush is simply scraped against the upwardly extending edge82and paint is removed from the paintbrush by the upwardly extending edge82. In addition, drip ledge groove80also may include a second upwardly extending edge86. In this embodiment, second upwardly extending edge86abruptly transitions to downwardly extending portion88of tray20. The second upwardly extending edge86is also useful for removing excess paint and water from a paintbrush. A lower trough84is positioned between first upwardly extending edge82and second upwardly extending edge86where it serves to hold water and/or paint removed from a paintbrush by first or second upwardly extending edges82,86. As noted above, lower trough84may be downwardly sloped to allow for lower trough84to channel water and/or paint to one or more of the plurality of recessed wells positioned in the tray to drain the lower trough84of drip ledge groove80. The drip ledge groove80may have other configurations and geometries as well.

FIG. 8is directed to a method800of thermoforming an artist palette having comprising a tray having an upper surface, a plurality of recessed wells positioned in the tray, an aperture in the upper surface of the tray providing a place for a painter to hold the tray, a drip ledge groove positioned on a periphery of the upper surface of the tray including a first upwardly extending edge useful for removing excess paint or water from a paintbrush. The method800includes the step802of forming a tray having an upper surface in a sheet of plastic; the step804of forming a plurality of recessed wells positioned in the tray; step806of providing an aperture in the upper surface of the tray that provides a place for a painter to hold the tray; and the step808of forming a drip ledge groove on a periphery of the upper surface of the tray that includes a first upwardly extending edge useful for removing excess paint or water from a paintbrush, wherein the drip ledge groove serves to hold paint and water that has been removed from the paintbrush.

Method800may further optionally include the step of cutting one or more slots in the upper surface of the tray adapted to hold a paintbrush.

Example embodiments have been described above. Those skilled in the art will understand that changes and modifications may be made to the described embodiments without departing from the true scope of the present invention, which is defined by the claims.