@Nadia Bouhdili just reminded me that I meant to post about this here. Vaishali told us about Kuretake in class, and I found this set had some excellent gold watercolors (6 shades of gold!) at a very reasonable price at Amazon US. Great way to practice gold work before springing for shell gold: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H75AFHS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_-M0hFbR8VESJA
Heres how the gold looks on burnished paper:
Very helpful, thank you! I look forward to checking these colors out!
Thanks for sharing Nadia! And Kuretake are quite an old and respected brand in Japan I think. And they do flow quite well, like ink. You're right that it's also a good intermediary before taking the plunge into shell gold - or if you're on a budget and have a large area to cover.
I LOVE the Kuretake Starry golds! Someone gave me a palette and I though I wouldn’t use it so I gave it away... then I regretted so I bought some to try and my painting has never been the same! 🌟
ooh, show us some pics of your work!
@Nadia Madden Haha!! ♥️ my work doesn’t fit in the vein here — I’m just taking my first Persian miniature class this month —but I‘m a watercolor illustrator and teacher professionally. And I also have an egg tempera practice. Here is a link to a video I just made using LOTS of gold paint : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PZxb5hvt564
@Karima Cammell you're totally welcome to show your works in progress even if it's your very first ever miniature painting! Good support here and you are not the only total beginner... also... if you can do watercolour - which is hard - it is not unrelated. I believe in the cross fertilisation of painting techniques and the transferability of skills. Hope you're enjoying dipping your toes into the world of miniature painting!
I use a lot gold pigments and gold inks for my works, have found very very good the Daniel Smith watercolors, because in addition to a wide wide range of colors there is a very good number of 'metallic' colors, then very good for the metallic look the Pearlcolors watercolors pans by COLIRO.DE, from Germany. Have to try the Kuretake, the price is good , want to test the quality.
thank you Paola!
Nadia, are these bound with fish glue or gum Arabic, do you think? I ask, because I have a tall, skinny bottle of Kuretake gold paint that seems shinier and more water resistant when dry than the Finetec/Colirio due in part, I suspect, to possibly being bound with fish glue rather than gum.
Could be. I still enjoy using these, although I find them problematic when I use them to cover large areas, as there seems to be something slightly odd about the binder when diluting and coating a surface. But they are excellent for smaller pieces. I've also started using the Gold Lustre paints from Bristle and Brush, and they work very well for detail work as they are highly concentrated and really flow well off the brush.
@Nadia Madden Thanks! Bristle & Brush has some very nice paints. I’ve been wondering if a traditional gansai binder might work well for shell gold, too, to accentuate luster.