I spent quite a bit of time at the Kuretake booth at the CHA show in January- and one of the products that caught my eye were the Gansai Tambi Watercolors. Made in Japan, these highly-pigmented watercolors are rich and vivid- and I couldn’t wait to buy a set and try them out!

Here’s some info from Amazon.com:

• Available in set of 12, 18, 24 and 36 Colors for Sketch, illustration, sumi-e and more
•  Box Cover provides color chart for you to paint, provides actual color in use representation
• Outstanding Japanese style presentation with professional storage box and tray
• Gansai pan may show cracking due to dryness, occasioanally Gansai pan may look rough due to tiny air bubbles. None of these affect the quality
• Nontoxic water-based pigment conforms to ASTM D 4236
• Gansai Tambi paints are traditional Japanese watercolors for professional artists and crafters. They are the perfect accent for scrapbooking, crafting, and artistic projects, including sketch, illustration, and ink wash painting. Gansai Tambi watercolors come in a variety of options, including a set of 12, a set of 18, 24 and a set of 36 unique colors. Create beautiful works of art, use with stamping and paper projects, and add details to scrapbooks and more with these paints. Paints work best on paper and use a water-based pigment.

The first thing you need to know is that the pans are individually wrapped and come out of the tray. I did notice some cracking, but it didn’t effect the quality of the paint.

These paints look so rich and creamy- almost like acrylics- so I wanted to test them on a variety of papers. I did make you a video, so you can see them all.

Now… let’s take a look at those swatches again.

Cardstock, black paper, patterned kraft paper.

I love the way they layered with my gelli prints!!! Can’t wait to doodle on these some more and put them into my journal.

And remember that sheet of watercolor paper?

I made a few cards straightaway.

Here are my takeaways from working with Ganzai Tambi watercolor paints:

• Lots of pigment- if you work out of the pan, the color will be almost opaque. Use a palette and mix with enough water to get a lighter, more traditional “watercolor” look.
• They look great with some mica powders or Perfect Pearls mixed in!
• A bit of an investment, but they do have good prices on Amazon.com. You’ll have to shop around locally to find them in brick-and-mortar stores. (Or contact Kuretake!)

What do you think? Do you love watercolors or are you intimidated by them? 

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About Jenny

Chief Craft Test Dummy, Craft Evangelist, Founder, Editor, bottle-washer, trouble-maker, and creative whirlwind.

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