Gansai Tambi Watercolor Review, Set Up & How To

(10 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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UPDATED September 13, 2017

Hello Everyone! I’ve been excited to share this quick video post with you! I’ve finally gotten my 36 color set of Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese watercolors, all the way from Japan. It is a brand and product by Zig who so many of us own loved products by. I bought this set because I could not be left out of the fun any longer. Zig have no idea who I am and have not compensated me in any way to share about these. I am in love and just cannot allow myself to not share their amazing qualities with you guys. Have you heard of, or tried them? Let’s all talk in the comments about them!

I cannot say enough exciting things about them. They took several weeks to arrive but are WELL worth the investment and patience to receive them. The Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors are artist grade and will last a very long time in their extra big pans. They are highly pigmented and a little goes a very long way.

Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor review, set up and how to

As Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors are a bit of an investment, I wanted to share a quick video with you about them. I know many of you have asked for videos about supplies which require an investment. Since releasing this, the individual colors have become available and you can see them below and perhaps try just a color or two to see how you feel about them.

If you have not heard of the Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors, you’ll want to watch my video to learn a bit about them. If you do know about them, I hope you’ll enjoy hearing my thoughts on them. I guess you could call my video a review. Or perhaps an unboxing. Or even an introduction to Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor. Whatever the case, I hope my video is useful to you.

I have used these beautiful Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors in several videos.

English names for Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor

As I mentioned in the video, there are several people online claiming you cannot get the English names for these watercolors. Or, that they do not have any at all. But, I have them on the image below which I found after some major searching around. My packaging did not have this image on it. Apparently some do. If you have it, wonderful! If not, I hope you’ll appreciate being able to access their names in English.

You could just copy them while looking at this post. Or, you can hover your mouse over the image, right click and select the option to save the image to your computer and use your own savvy computer skills to get it printed and take it to a convenient location for reference.

The numbers will be on whatever set you buy and you can use this image to help you figure out what your colors are named. I really dislike pointing at a color and calling it something like, “that sort of ocean blue color here”. So, I am grateful to have the English names and be able to share them with you, so you can understand which colors I use in any future videos. I used my super fine lined, 005 black Micron pen to write the English names on the inside of my lid like you saw in the video.

Some thoughts about Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor

Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors are wildly popular and with good reason. They are particularly exciting to card makers and crafters these days. That being said, it is not a new product fad. Artists have loved this product a long time. The company has been producing quality art supplies for over 100 years and their reputation is important to them.

If you are new to watercolor, I’d suggest you try the smallest set first to see if you enjoy using them and will get your money’s worth over time. If you love them and end up buying the largest set later to get the fuller range of colors, you’ll be able to just use your first set as back up colors you run out of. Since the pans are easily removable, you could switch colors around between the sets, to use up what you’ve started and have extras waiting for you. Just a thought. 🙂

If watercolor is a favorite for you, be sure you have a set! Some colors just aren’t found in other collections and those metallics!?! 🙂

Cake and pan watercolors

Cake or pan watercolors are dry in a little pot area. You can re-hydrate them when you apply a wet brush to the surface. Generally speaking, this type of watercolor will offer less vibrant color than tubed watercolor, if you just dab a wet brush to the dry color and apply to your creative surface.

You can spray the surface of your cake or pan watercolors, with a good mist of water 30-60 minutes or so before you intend to paint. This re-hydrates the watercolor and makes the color you lift, more vibrant on your creative surface. The more re-hydrated, the more vibrant. It’s a way to get more vibrancy from your cheaper brands of watercolor cakes or pans. Use this cheat to get the most out of a cheap set if you just cannot afford a better quality set right now. 🙂

Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors are not like this. I have yet to bother with spraying them to get them re-hydrated. They lift onto a wet brush, just beautifully while still entirely dry. With most metallic and shimmery style watercolors in cake or pan form, like Twinkling H2O’s (which I do enjoy!), it is almost necessary to re-hydrate them before use. Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors on the other hand, have no need. The shimmer in comparison to re-hydrated Twinkling H2O’s versus non-hydrated Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors, is no contest in my mind. Kuretake Gansai Tambi is amazing.

Your thoughts and reviews

Need I say more? Probably not. I’m sure I’ve made my point. Kuretake Gansi Tambi watercolors are a favorite! You can ask questions in the comments below if you have any.

What about you? Have you already gotten some Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors? Can you share your experiences, thoughts or review down in the comments below, for other readers? We’d all love to hear from you!

Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor

As promised, here are the Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor sets and individual colors which I’ve featured here. I hope they help you find anything you may want to try out.

Links lead to my own sites, or my affiliate partners, DaySpring, Scrapbook.com, Amazon.com, Simon Says Stamp, Michaels, Amazon.co.uk and Joy Clair. I occasionally also link to other helpful sites whom I am not affiliated with. When you find products which I’ve recommended through my affiliate partners, this ministry is supported. This has no effect on you and helps impact lives through this ministry. You may view my disclosure for more info on how this works. Thank you. I so appreciate your support, which helps me support your creative journey with God!

Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor sets

Most of the time I try out a product in a smaller range to decide if I will like them, before purchasing a larger set. On this occasion, I knew I love all forms of watercolor, had watched nearly every review I could find and was settled that I would love them. I was right.

In the largest set with the metallic colors, the Gold (often referred to as bronze), Bluish Gold (often referred to as gold) and Silver (sometimes referred to as “that pearl color”), are just amazing. The vibrancy of the all the colors is wonderful. As with all of the Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors, they lift with little effort at all.

What do I mean by “lift”? Simply put, when you put a wet brush onto the surface of the watercolor, how much pigment gets lifted off the surface, onto your brush? Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors lift great. That means there is plenty of pigment on your brush with little effort to get it there. No scrubbing your brush on the surface trying to get extra pigment and no adding layer upon layer of color, just to get any joy out of the vibrancy your project has.

Check out all these individual colors. Beautiful!

Gansai Tambi pearl and starry watercolor

My favorite part of getting the largest set Kuretake offer, (the 36 colors), are those beautiful metallics. They only came in this biggest set which is why I chose to invest in the full set. But, since originally sharing this post, they have released two dedicated pearlescent gansai tambi watercolor sets with even more.

You are loved. x

*Links take you to my affiliate partners, DaySpring, Scrapbook.com, Amazon.com, Simon Says Stamp, Michaels, Amazon.co.uk and Joy Clair. And, occasionally to other shops whom I am not an affiliate of. When you find deals which I’ve recommended through my affiliate partners, I get supported. This has no effect on you and makes a real difference for me. You may view my affiliate and product disclosure for more info on how this works. Thank you, I so appreciate your support, which helps me support your creative journey with God!