- Product Description A natural product that offers a wide variety of metallic shades from gold and silver to iridescent, pearl shining colors. Can be dissolved with water and applied with a brush. Ideal for creating special effects and highlighting.
- An opaque, water-soluable, highly pigmented paint with fast activation and a dazzling finish. A natural product that offers a wide variety of metallic shades from gold and silver to iridescent, pearl shining colors. Can be dissolved with water and applied with a brush. Ideal for creating special.
Finetec Artist Mica Warercolor Pearlescent Paint 12-Color Set (F1200) - (Amazon USA) Individual pans PEARLCOLORS: MICA WATERCOLOUR P. Finetec Pearlescent Watercolors are made of mica, a natural product that offers a wide variety of metallic shades from gold and silver to iridescent, pearl shining colors. Can be dissolved with water and applied with a brush. Ideal for creating special effects and highlighting. Kristina Werner creates a card using American Crafts Paper Fashion Watercolors and FineTec Watercolors. Blog Post: S U P P L I E S.
Pearlescent watercolors have been increasing in popularity in recent years. Research scientists have discovered our attraction to shiny things comes out of our inbuilt desire for water. We now have a better understanding why we thirst for all things that sparkle!
Todays post is a pearlescent watercolor comparison and tutorial using various pearlescent watercolor brands. Who doesn’t love shiny things?
Pearlescent Watercolor Comparison
Pearlescent watercolors range from inexpensive to pricey depending on the brand. All of them vary a bit in their ability to dissolve in water quickly, shimmer and opacity. It may surprise you on how my collection of pearlescent watercolors compared!
I evaluated my pearlescent watercolor collection using three qualities.
- Sparkliness
- Visibility on light or dark papers
- Granulating quality
Pearlescent Watercolor Brands
The brands I swatched are pan or cake watercolors. I plan to compare tube pearlescent watercolors in another post.
- Niji Pearlescent Watercolors 21 color set
- Prima Marketing Metallics 12 color set
- Kuretake Gansai Tambi Gems 6 color set
- Paul Rubens Pearlescent Set 12 color set
- Finetec Metallic and Interference watercolor 12 color set
All sets were swatched on black and white watercolor paper with equal amounts of water and activation time. The differences of pigment quality and shine were worth taking note of. They were all very nice and I don’t regret buying any of them.
Niji Pearlescent Watercolors
Niji Pearlescent watercolors come from China. They have twenty one colors in large round pans in a convenient hinged plastic case. These watercolors take a little more time to activate with water. They look smooth and bright on light and dark paper with little or no granulation. Niji Pearlescent watercolors have a soft pearlescent sheen on paper. They become creamy in texture with the addition of more water. A thicker consistency allows the watercolor to used with a stencil. It’s the best bargain in this collection at under ten dollars for twenty one colors!
Prima Metallic Set
The Prima Marketing metallic set made in China comes in a pretty sturdy plastic case with an assortment of twelve generous pans at sixteen dollars. The lid opens from the opposite side which is a bit strange. I removed the label and flipped it over which resolved the issue. Prima watercolors are more sparkly than Niji watercolors. They look great on light and dark paper and the colors dry nice and smooth on the paper with little granulation. I think the Prima Marketing Metallic set is wonderful if you are on a tight budget and want a more metallic effect.
Kuretake Gansai Tambi
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Gem set from Japan comes with six rectangular loose pans in a cardboard box. The box isn’t very convenient as the pans will fall out if the box top isn’t on. They are very expensive for a limited range of colors and are brilliant on light and dark papers. After drying I notice a bit of granulation which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Kuretake watercolors are formulated for use on rice paper.
Paul Rubens
Paul Rubens is a fairly new brand from China that caught my attention. It costs around thirty dollars for twelve unique colors.
This half pan set is packaged beautifully and comes in a cute pastel pink tin. The color may turn off some of you. The quality of the paints were excellent as it didn’t take much time to activate them with water. The color range and sparkliness were outstanding and they look wonderful on light and dark papers. They dry on the paper with no granulation. The only thing negative I can say about the Paul Rubens set is the small pan size. Larger brushes can’t be used easily with this set.
The Finetec Metallic Interference set is the most expensive for twelve colors at around thirty dollars. They are manufactured in Germany. The colors are generously poured into round pans which makes it very convenient to use with a variety of brushes. The colors activate quickly in water and boast a generous amount of sparkly pigment with no granulation. These watercolors look fantastic on dark paper and the most brilliant of the other sets I’ve tried.
The downside of this set is the interference colors hardly show at all on the white paper which makes it the least versatile out of the group.
Pearlescent Watercolor Tutorial
I’ve been practicing painting flowers with triangle brushes and thought it would be fun painting flowers on pearlescent watercolors on black card stock. The triangle brush allows us to create interesting petal like shapes. When used correctly, the flowers turn out beautifully. It takes some time to get used to it’s odd shape and I do love a challenge!
Supplies
- Niji Pearlescent watercolors and Paul Rubens Metallic Colors
- Rosemary and Co Triangle Brush or Silver Triangle Brush
- Small round watercolor brush
- Strathmore Coal Black Greeting Card
- Washi tape
Steps
Apply washi tape around all four edges of the card to make a border. Spritz water into the pans to activate colors.
Finetec Mica Watercolor
Dip the brush into the pan and gather as much color as possible all the way into the brush. Choose an entirely different color and pick it up with the tip of the brush.
Lay the brush onto it’s side on the black paper and move it slightly to create a flower petal. Load the brush again if needed and make a petal right next the first. Make five petals for each flower.
Paint several flowers all over the card in different sizes and directions. Some of the flowers can go off the edge of the border. I use the Niji and Paul Rubens pearlescent watercolors to make the flowers in this example.
Paint leaves, doodles and marks using a round brush. Let the paint dry completely and lift the tape off carefully.
Watch this pearlescent watercolor comparison and tutorial on my Youtube channel! Sometimes it’s easier to understand the process with a live demonstration.
I want to hear from you! Feel free to contact me and sign up for my newsletter for updates and more tutorials. Please share your thoughts and experiences using pearlescent watercolors by commenting on this post.
Read this interesting article on why we are attracted to shiny things!
Thank you for visiting and taking the time to read my watercolor comparison and tutorial!
Meet the finetec family of paints
Our colors are made with selected raw materials of the highest quality and craftsmanship in Emskirchen, Germany. We use only selected raw materials of the highest quality. The base is purified gum arabic and high-quality pearlescent pigments.
Because of their high lightfastness and high pigmentation, they are not only suitable for calligraphy and painting but also in the graphic area for coloring your sketches. There are no limits to your creativity. The colors can be mixed with each other as well as with other media and adhere to a variety of absorbent substrates - even on wood or stone.
Finetec Pearlescent Watercolors
Our opaque pearlescent colors unfold their full color brilliance and their unique color gloss on all surfaces. Our iridescent colors appear almost transparent on a light background and shimmer magically depending on the angle of view and the light. On dark, preferably on black backgrounds, it unfolds its enchanting color. A real eye-catcher.
The new color recipe was developed with artists and calligraphers. Great emphasis was placed on a very good solubility. The colors are suitable for use with brush , classic pen and glass pen. Add exceptional accents to your art with our latest generation of Finetec Pearlescent and Iridescent colors!