Two Issues - Mould Lines and Paint Thinning

So I am still have two main issues while getting my painting sorted.

Mould Lines

I have got a craft knife and a file for removing these, but I am still not able to remove them. I am probably being too careful, but I am not wanting to damage my miniatures while attempting to remove these lines.

Again, with time I will become less precious and will become more comfortable.

Paint Thinning

This is a big issue I am having. First of all is getting a good amount of paint onto my palette without damaging my brush. I am finding it hard to do, and then I am finding it hard to get the right amount of water into the paint. Often it's too thin, or not thin enough.

If it's too thin, then the paint doesn't hold and runs a lot. If it's not thin enough, it doesn't go onto the mini well and obscures detail. Most of this problem is fixed by getting the right amount of paint out of the pot into the palette, but as I said, I am finding this tricky without the paint running up into the ferrule of the brush, which damages it.

I need to play with using a different brush for getting paint to the palette, and then getting the mixture of paint to water correct. It's all going to boil down to practice.

I do find that the paint tends to dry out very quickly in my palette, which is odd. I could use a wet palette, which is easy to make, but it seems odd that I am having this issue so quickly. Most times I have heard a wet palette is good if you want your paint to be held for a few hours, not just 15 minutes, but I am finding my paint will dry in less than 2-3 minutes. Probably because I am not using enough of it.

There is a lot of stuff to learn that experience painters I think take for granted.