Finishing Beasts and making wet palettes!

So I've finally broken the shackles of my painting slump and have managed to finally finish some of the models I bought at Essen (hurray, I hear you cry he'll stop going on about it!)! Plus I've finally put together a wet palette (it's only been three years since I saw the article on BoLS about how to make one). But the real question is am I happy with the results of my endeavours?

Have a look and see what you think:

Post dipping avec Blood for the Blood God (What a crap paint name) but pre basing & sliming

After several coats of slime aka Nurgle's Rot (slightly better name for a paint)

I wanted it to look as though the beasts had slime oozing out of the bone growths...

...whilst also suffering some form of skin degeneration.

Whilst these boys were dipped to give them a brown feel rather than the purple/blue of the GUO or Plaguebearers, most of what you see see is actually painted on after (thanks Lee for the advice).

I've since added little bits of turf to the bases and put a thin layer of matt varnish on the horns to really create a contrast between the different areas on the model and help the 'wet' bits look as slimy as possible. Overall I'm really pleased. There are areas where I'd wish I had taken more time (a few tricky mould lines I never spotted or a couple of area where the dip pooled a little) but they feel like they fit with the GUO's aesthetic whilst still being a different enough to represent the Beasts unique gifts. 

The palette on the bottom right and the drones who are slowly earning their place on the 'slightly closer to being finished shelf' of the paint station

As already mentioned I have finally put together a wet palette. This consists of a GW basing box, one kitchen sponge cut in half and doubled up, with some baking paper cut to fit on top. My initial impression is 'why the hell didn't I do this earlier!'. It is pretty astounding the difference it makes to the drying time of the paint. I have been painting for three hours straight using the same amount of paint as when I started, I've had to add a little water to it every now and then as I like my paints pretty thin at times but I see why people like them. I may experiment with a more conventional sponge and the water ratio to see if it gives me a longer drying time but when you compare this test with my previous paint sessions where I'd have to keep adjusting the paint every 15 minus it has been quite the revolution for me.