GANSAI TAMBI "Opal Colors" 6 color set

These are beautiful, they go on like creamy dreamy happiness, they bring any project where you need to add that extra touch of flair to bring it to life.

My review is mostly in my pictures that I’ve posted. I’m absolutely in love with these watercolors and probably won’t purchase anything else going forward. They are extremely pigmented, very lush and blend like a dream. I tried to capture the pearlescent and iridescent qualities via the pics but they do not do these paints justice at all!There’s three sets of paint pods you receive in their respective colorways and properties. For my pictures, I did a sampling of each set individually on standard watercolor paper. I labeled each set according to the name and each color by the corresponding number or cooor name if given. Only one set had the names of each color in English but the other two don’t have it translated but there’s a number. You can see, in my pics, how each set blends together. The last pic I posted was actually just the watercolor paper I was using to wipe my brushes off on and it ended up creating a beautiful wash of colors from all three sets.I will definitely be ordering another set of these plus the other watercolors from this brand. I’m very impressed and I’ve worked with a lot of different brands and textures of watercolor paints, acrylics etc. these are now my favorite. They are certainly pricey but they are worth every penny spent. I’m in love! The only negative thing o can say is I know that I’ll be blowing thru these but a little bit does go along way as they are a hard pan watercolor. I used an eye dropper to drop water into the pans as needed. I found that’s the best way to limit the introduction of too much water, simply used my brush to pick up the colors, being careful not to mixed or muddy them up! I blended on a craft sheet or directly on my paper. I want more!!! These are great for brush calligraphy. I even used them in a coloring book and they were amazing! Can’t say enough about them. I’d recommend these for the avid crafter/painter.. I’m not that into watercolor painting yet but I can say these are not child’s play but I’m not sure if they are water color artist grade either. I’m not knowledgeable enough about this medium to know... but I know I love these!

These sumi colors are easy and interesting to use. As others have said, they are "moody" colors, dark and broody when applied with little water but transparent and muted when applied with more water. Either way, I find the colors intriguing. I use them for my nature journal/artwork. The colors are particularly suited to landscapes (stormy, clouded, late fall/winter; evening, pre-sunrise morning); insects, birds; reptiles; trees . . . the list goes on. I love the way these colors can be layered with watercolors and drawing inks. The pans are one inch wide by just shy of two inches long and are filled about 1/4 inch--lots of color and great quality for the price. I will buy again.

I added Kurtake Gambi watercolors to my collection of paint. They are different than standard professional watercolors but they are beautiful and fun to use. The paint in this palette are magical. When applied to wet paper they granulate and swirl into beautiful colors.

cool, but not real practical, and a bit more expensive than their worth.The orange is cool and fun...Pink, red and blue too similar to each other to be useful.Purple is mostly just purple.Orange is the only one that's a really fun contrast.

I have several sets of metallic watercolors, and this one is in a class all it's own. If I could only keep one, I wouldn't have a second thought about it: this would be it! Yes, I've got sets with quadruple the amount of color options, and sets with other special features this is missing...but the quality of these paints are the best I have tried to date.These paints handle well. They can lay down brighter and more opaque than generic paints. These are full pans!! Optionally removable to put into your dedicated palette if you roll like that. So they offer the kind of versatility that a serious artist needs. They don't have that chalky texture like cheapo paints. These are smooth and easy to use.I recommend, especially with metallic (but I actually do this with any pan water color) to keep a small mister spray bottle of water dedicated to your paint collection. Spray some water on the pans a couple minutes before you dip your brush in there. That activates the paint so that your brush is an immediate tool for painting, rather than trying to pull the double duty of delivering moisture to dried-solid paint before it becomes a tool for painting. Trust me, it just works better that way and you get better control. Plus, that has the net effect of being gentler on the brushes and might help your pans last longer.I have seen several dupe attempts at copying this set of paints. I did buy one from here on Amazon after I bought this...just because it has silver...and also I saw a dangerously close looking dupe as far as the packaging and presentation is concerned at the 'Lobby craft store yesterday (which also included a silver). I almost bought it, but nah, I figure there's honestly a good chance it would be the same manufacturer as the other dupe I bought (an all too common phenomenon in the world of store brand and generic brand crafting products--you buy the same thing several times over thinking it's a different product so best to just buy the name brand once).So my only honest complaint about this set is that it is just golds and whites...no good silver, and no coppers and bronzes etc. It doesn't have a full range of the expected, classic metallic pigments that one would desire--but what it does have are going to be the best rendition of metallic golds and whites!! So I think maybe it's best to have a limited palette, but have stellar delivery of what is offered than it would be to have what looks like a great range of colors...but only have a couple of them really perform well, and the rest be disappointing (which is often the case with store/generic brand stuff).I found this set through watching a YouTube video of a color along with an artist named Amy Cesari (she designs yearly planner coloring books). Just mentioning this in case you want to see a professional artist use this product. Often she will color one of her designs and then at the end she loads up a paintbrush with this exact paint, holds it over the completed page, and taps the brush with something (like a dry brush, or a pencil, whatever). So that creates an effect where fine splatters of the metallic paint rain down on the image. It's a beautiful effect.Bottom line: these are seriously good quality paints, and they're more expensive than some sets that look similar but those other sets are lacking in the qualities that these paints offer. Considering these are full pans, made in Japan, and perform so well, they're a great price! I would buy these again. I plan to purchase some of the other sets by this manufacturer, as a couple of them seem to be almost unique as far as the effects they offer. The fact that I saw a store brand obviously trying to copy the packaging for this very set when that store (or any other in my area) doesn't carry this brand of product might say it all. This is the one to get. This is a very special and delightful set of watercolors.