Let's Talk About Racks

Oh, sorry, not that kind. My "special file" must have gotten confused with the clip art I use for this blog. Sorry Marie Claude Bourbonnais.

Instead I want to talk about Paint Racks. I recently received a pretty cool laser cut MDF rack from NEWay Designs and I thought it would be a good time to talk about what and why I use what I use. Here is my current set up. As you can see I use various racks from different companies. There is a homemade wrack consisting of drilled 2x2 to accommodate dropper bottles, a Paintier 80 turning wrack, and an acrylic nail polish rack bought on Ebay from my wife. I told her I wanted either a 3 way with Amy Schumer, to be right for just one day, or the rack. Guess what I got?

The Paintier 80 has by far been my longest use storage device. I can easily move it via the handle on the top and I have owned it for about 20 years or so and it turns just as good the day I got it. It still bears the damage of paint strokes gone wrong and while it can hold dropper bottles they can easily get knocked over. It is more so meant for GW bottles hence the reason I bought it many years ago. The wood rack was made for me by a friend who shall we say has a problem when it comes to Woodworking...he must own all the tools. Based on his expertise and arsenal was able to knock out the thing in under an hour. It sat unused for a long time as I did not have the space for it. Now with my newer setup it holds all my metallic paints.  For the longest time I had a hogepodge of GW, alcohol metallics, and P3 that sat cramped on my Paintier 80 for the longest time I am now able to spread them out. Based on my set up I hope you can draw a few conclusions. I am a creature of  habit, I desire function over form, I am cheap, and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

The NEWay tray I was fortunate to win via a Facebook contest. Which is great, because my luck is crap (you should see me roll dice). The rack holds 27 paints and is meant to be modular combining with elements from their other lines to create an entire paint station for your desk. The rack consist of 6 Laser Cut Plywood sheets that easily and snugly fit together.

I can hold it on its side and it will not slide apart. I imagine a good bead of wood glue would make thing super sturdy. It holds any normal 18ML dropper bottle, modeled here by Army Painter Reaper MS, and Vellejo. There is a decent amount of room on the top if you want to store your larger paints, glue, or current projects

The cost for this item on their website (link above) is 19.95.

Pros:
Made in the USA by gamers
Sturdy construction
Holds all major brands of dropper paint
Modular
Aesthetically pleasing (my opinion)

Cons:
Does not fill my needs (see below)
Cost (see below)

Final Thoughts.
Giving me this item is like giving me a new Lamborghini. I am going to be appreciative, but I might not be the right audience for it. As stated I like to be cheap, and I need things to have a purpose regardless of how they might look. I own simply too many paints and have a system in place for this item to be of use for me. To accommodate my current collection I would be dropping over a 140 bucks and still not have a place for my larger paints. I have been since been contacted by one of the owners who CAN CUT TRAYS TO GW AND OTHER NON DROPPER BOTTLES, my mistake.

However that being said I would totally recommend this rack to a more hobby based beginning painter with better self control. This rack can easily be filled with paints and left on a shelf until needed and 20 bucks is not bad if you plan to keep your collection small. Our hobby is a great deal smaller than you think and when you buy from an artist you are not just purchasing their knowledge and skill, but a small piece of their heart and soul. The fact this item is made by people who are part of OUR hobby, put their name out there and on this product should be final evidence as to the worth of this product.