Gansai pans may exhibit cracking due to extreme dryness or appear rough in texture due to tiny air bubbles, however neither of these traits affect their quality. Though they give nice and expected colour results when they get mixed, the mixes dry three to four tones lighter in shade from what you see when they are still wet and give very dull colour results. Quite disappointing results from such otherwise brilliant and heavily saturated at a first glance colours. com, the Sell on Etsy app, and the Etsy app, as well as the electricity that powers Etsy’s global offices and employees working remotely from home in the US.

Enji - Shortened from enjimushi which is the Japanese name for the insect from which the deep red dye carmine is derived. The large pallets allow working straight from palette to paper, making them great for painting on the go. Originally used with large Japanese brushes on rice paper for quick and efficient paintings or underpaintings, they perform better when used wet on dry paper. Some colors in the 36-color box already have white mixed in, same as designer’s gouache and cheap watercolors. The Kuretake Gansai Tambi 6 Large Pan Graphite Watercolour Paint Set includes six whole pans of traditional Japanese paint in graphite colours.

Gansai is a lot more vibrant due to this, as well as being more opaque and drying with a glossy finish rather than a matte one.

Oudo - Ochre; perhaps the oldest pigment, found globally in prehistoric cave paintings - synthetic alternatives to the natural pigment are more frequently used today, as in this instance. I like the fact you can make colours as opaque or transparent as you want without losing the richness of colour.Because Gansai colors were formulated to use on rice papers, they don’t flow like most Western watercolors. If heavily diluted the paint dries highly translucent or with less saturation it dries opaquely with a slight sheen. Water dropper: this simple accessory allows you to dose water precisely in the compartments of your mixing palette.

Gunjou - Ultramarine - in translation this colour means across the sea, referring to the rare lapis that was used to make the pigment. While the color flows easily from the brush to the paper, they don’t flow much once they are on the paper. Gansai, Japanese watercolour paint, is particularly suited to those who seek to create their own nihonga paintings. Gansai Tambi ( 顔彩耽美) Watercolour Paints by Kuretake are traditional Japanese water based paints loved by professionals and craft workers alike. Primary Matte ‘Wet on Dry’ Mix – This produces a slightly stronger colour, but I still think the Gamboge, Orange, Grass Green and Violet available in the set are best, and again, can be lightened or darkened to suite the project (although I did note that depending on colour ratios, the combination of Brilliant Yellow and Ultramarine produced a rather nice ‘teal’).

These Kuretake-Gansai Tambi Watercolour Sets are filled with traditional Japanese watercolours for professional artists and crafters alike. Established in Kyoto in 1970, KISSHO produces specialist art materials with the focus on creating products that are easy to use yet retain the highest level of quality, making it accessible for both beginners and experts to create nihonga. Japanese colours are inspired by nature, there is usually a large selection of blues and greens in gansai palettes. The YouTube demo mentioned above shows that some colors do mix well, though with 36 colors that won’t be too important. Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours have become quite popular among watercolourists and crafters so I was very curious to check myself what is going on with these watercolour sets.

Whether you already paint with traditional watercolours or not, we are sure that you will love using Akashiya Gansai. Some previous reviewers commented that they found the colours slighty thicker and with less ‘flow’, but having played around with various amounts of water, I found that I can get them to behave like western watercolours.

They are also often used for underpaintings, where you want lighter colors because you’ll mostly paint over them. The most impressive gansai paints for me by far were the metallic paints (gold and bronze- see the 2nd from the right on the 3rd and 4th rows).