These are the paints...

...I used in yesterday’s blip.

I had just ordered them on Amazon, and not used them before.

They were not terribly expensive. I wasn’t sure how good they would be, but other Japanese paints I have are pretty good, with vibrant colours, and a different range of colours to western watercolours. Whereas western watercolours are usually bound with gum arabic, modern Japanese gansai paints use glucose/beeswax/glue/starch etc as a binding agent and this results in a more vibrant finish (the Japanese paints I already have include Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints in a 48 colour set. And this was expensive when I bought it many years ago, and still is)

This set of paints in my Blip above are from Japan, but I cannot find any detailed information on the quality of them. However, they have an unusual presentation like a fan or a swatch card of paints. There are 42 colours in this set! I bought this set of paints together with some extra brush pens as an offer, and so consequently the 42 colours cost me £13.99.

I wasn’t expecting too much from them at that price, but I was interested in the relative small size of it and lightweightness of it along with portability. Just easy to carry around.

These colours are opaque, so they are not transparent watercolours.

You can see the fan shape as you open them up. At the bottom is a mixing tray, and there is another flat one under it. On the top appears to be a small sponge which I assume is for wiping your water brush pen between colours, but I use a piece of kitchen towel anyway for that. At the bottom of each strip of watercolours is a small colour chart which you can see in the extra when the fan is closed up.

So, you get one brush pen that comes with this set, and I have to say it is the best water brush pen I have ever used (and I have a lot!). I haven’t tried the other set of water brush pens yet, but they are the same make, so I am hopeful!

In the extra I hold this set of watercolour paints next to my cup of tea and you can see how small it is.

It appears you cannot replace the pans of watercolour if you use one up, and you would have to buy another set like this. But it is relatively inexpensive, so wouldn’t be a big deal. However, I think there is quite a lot of paint in each one for the price of this. The colour is quite intense and vibrant. In any case I could use a craft knife and slice a piece off the top of my Japanese Kuretake pans of colour and pop it in if I used up a whole pan of one colour.

By the way I have seen online for this same set going for more than £70+ !!! So, beware if you are interested.

I texted my friend who gave me the photocopy I worked from yesterday (she lent it me), and she is going to bring in the book she got it from for me next week. So I will be able to see what else is in her book!