DIY Gansai Tambi Art Nouveau watercolour set
Sometimes when I really want something I have to stop and ask myself: do I really need this? The answer is always no, I do not, but that doesn't stop me. But I often wonder if I can make do with what I already have.
So before I caved and bought my own Kuretake Gansai Tambi Art Nouveau set, I had a go at mixing up my own set using watercolours I already had. By looking at the colour chart and pigment info available on their website, I made this set of twelve colours. Why twelve and not twenty-four? Well, twenty-four seemed a bit ambitious, so I chose to make the colours that appealed to me the most, but the main reason for only doing twelve is because twelve half-pans fit perfectly into one of my vintage cigarette tins.
As far as mixing the colours goes, it was mostly straightforward – I just guesstimated the amounts and adjusted until it looked right. However, one pigment had me stumped: 73263-37-3, which is Scarlet 215, some sort of mystery red that only seems to be used in Kuratake's colours. With no chance of getting that pigment, I used PR254 (Pyrrole Red) instead.
I was pretty happy with how my DIY set turned out, but that mystery red kept making me wonder, how close to the real thing did I get? In the end I couldn't help myself and purchased the Kuratake set, and spoiler alert: some of my DIY mixes came pretty close!
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