My pleasure, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the info! Very helpful!

They use fish glue, mingjiao, not found in most of (the NEWER) Kuretake anymore. We use it in our traditional Chinese paints also. Kuretake used it until a few years ago. Mingjiao or Hu Mingjiao, is derived from the bones of already dead fish (but still violates the “vegetarian” label). It’s similar to gum Arabic, binds the pigments and enables the paints to be easily used on our delicate xuan (or “rice paper”-it’s not made from rice btw. Also known as Sumie-e paper). My Chinese chips also contain peach sap gum, again, another binder. I believe Japanese paints use tragacanth gum in place of GA. Because of the deterioration of quality of traditional paints (long story I won’t go into except to say these old companies made the business decision to expand into other mediums. It’s a bit of a scandal among many traditional artists and I’ll just say, they are working on a solution); many artists are now using the Japanese paints, something that would have been a heresy a few years ago. Some artists have branched out trying to find other alternatives including making our own paints from traditional natural mineral and plant pigments…OR, one of my primary tutors put me to work last year trying to find ways we could use Professional Western paints on xuan paper. I have found only 2 brands that work really well with what I call “the brush water method”-basically dissolving mingjiao into warm distilled water and either putting a drop or two on top of (most, but not all) Rosa Gallery and some White Nights; OR just using it as my main, clean, brushwater. The fewer pigments or other ingredients, the better. The secret is the mingjiao water, but believe me, it gets expensive. Henry Li, a popular Chinese American Artist (and one of my teachers) is sticking mainly with Kuretake these days, but because he’s taking Masters Classes in Western style WC; he too is experimenting with other western paints. If you know anything about Asian painting, the 2 primary skills are brushstrokes/brushwork and #1 water/ink/liquid control on the delicate xuan paper. I mention that because watching some of my friends, including Henry, attempting to use QOR?! 😂. Prof Chen was live-streaming from China with some western paints I had sent him. When he used QOR “OMG, WHERE IS IT GOING? HOW DO I STOP IT! It is running away!” 😂 He was very excited about Primatek…until he put it through his..spectrograph? His machine. Then he looked at ones I sent him under the microscope. “But, this is an American company! They don’t lie!” 🤯 Oh Laoshi Chen 😔. So as not to get you in trouble; I’ll just say he confirmed that IG Acct..and then some. We’re primarily using our older chips and paints, then making our own from pigments as needed. In fact..I’m doing an experiment this afternoon with my mingjiao and peach sap gum. I got some PB33, PB35 and PR233 pigments and I’m going to TRY and play “mad scientist” as my best friend calls me..and see if I can make some traditional paints without dulling the brilliance of the manganese blue. I also want to compare a kind of light pink earth pigment I have from Xinjiang (there’s a name I can’t remember right now-it’s been used for thousands of years for skin-tones in paintings) to potters pink. I’ve had the mixed binders sitting overnight..but that mingjiao takes awhile to “Clear out”. Anyways..back to Kuretake and other Japanese paints, many still use mingjiao, mainly because it’s been used for literally a thousand years. I had one person tell me they still consider it vegetarian because it’s just very processed bones that would have been burned anyways..in other words, the fish weren’t killed in order to make the glue. In China, it’s a reciprocal relationship between fisheries, restaurants and glue makers. There are glue sticks you can buy that are pure mingjiao.

Thank you! Cheers!

Thank you! 😊

Thanks Julie! I think for me they are really the answer. Time will tell but for now I am loving using them as gouache. My one issue is the huge pans but I'm also on a journey to be more organized and so it's less of a problem now (to find the space to put them when I'm painting) than it used to be for me in my messier days. The formulation is perfection if this is the type of paint you're after. Hope that helps!

It's a beautiful color!

That is amazing news!

I mix watercolours and gouache no reason not too! Fun stuff thanks!

yup if it's working go for it!

Thank you! Hope it goes on sale soon!

I went for it as I cringed pressing the payment submit. But once it arrived I never looked back. They are so fun! If you can afford a splurge just do it

@@LCLand I love me a good enabler! :)

@@MsMoniqueWilson lol

I think so too!

Thank you! Coming soon!

@@iritlandgraf perfect!!

Good choice! Have fun!

Thanks for sharing! I got it yesterday and it's lovely!

Mix of brands, Windsor and newton, Holbein, a couple of Daniel smith

@@iritlandgraf Oh my, I totally typed that wrong. I meant what brand is your stay wet palette? The palette itself.

@@Miniblinilooks like meeden if you mean the one in the intro. I have one of those

Yes, it is Meeden 33 well palette. I have one for my gouache too:)

there's a link in the info section to the palette :)

Hi! Thanks for sharing Rina, as far as I know Gansai is the Japanese word for traditional Japanese watercolors, not a brand. I can't find any info regarding the sets on the CHoosing Keeping website, nor on the boxes... The Kuretake sets have the brand clearly marked on the stickers in the inside part of the box so I suspect the sets from Choosing Keepings are not Kuretake... Mystery indeed!

@@iritlandgraf you must be right Irit, I didn't know dat Gansai wasn't a brand ☺️ The colour range is beautiful and the large pans are so nice with large brushes. Have a nice weekend!💞

you too!

Oh no! Sorry that's been your experience! I actually haven't heard negative opinions on the paint quality but no brand is perfect always.... Such a shame!

oh no... thanks for sharing!

@@iritlandgraf I love the look of them, but I've been resisting them for years. I know that many other watercolors aren't vegan. I've tried to stop buying them.

@@iritlandgraf btw... did you know that there are actually vegan Birkenstocks now? I love mine!

I did!! I'm waiting to find a color that speaks to me ;) I've had a black pair for years and years before I stopped buying leather, they are still going strong but I'm so over them lol... Which ones did you get?

@@iritlandgraf I have 3 pairs, because when the company was sold I was afraid they would stop selling the vegan versions. I have black clogs (Boston), and two different black sandals. My favorites are the Vegan Boston clogs and the Gizeh Vegan. I would buy them both again, in a heartbeat. : ). And I find the Gizeh very comfortable, despite the piece between one's toes.