Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor No.302 VERMILLION

Vermillion – No. 302 from Kuretake's Gansai Tambi line – is a warm, luminous red with orange-red undertones, hand-pressed in Japan as a watercolour cake. The water-based pigment behaves differently from classical European watercolours: it applies with a creamy consistency, displays a subtle sheen after drying, and can be worked from transparent glazing to nearly opaque gouache-like quality depending on water content. The large format well in the traditional Gansai format provides ample working surface for brushes of any size.

Features

• Water-based pigment, hand-crafted: The creamy-soft consistency allows smooth application with a brush – even when the well is dry, the colour dissolves instantly with minimal water.
• Variable opacity: Little water produces rich, nearly opaque luminous vermillion; more water delivers transparent, glazing warm red veils – both finishes from the same well.
• Intense, lasting colour: The brilliance of the vermillion remains intact after drying; dried layers retain their luminosity and display a characteristic silky sheen.
• Large well (48 × 28 mm): The wide format provides ample surface for broad brushes, full-bellied watercolour brushes and even calligraphy brushes to load colour.
• Non-toxic and ACMI-certified: The water-based formula carries ACMI safety certification – suitable for teaching, studio work and creative practice at home.
• Available individually as a refill well: The well can be used in a Gansai Tambi palette as a replacement or expansion – simply place it in the corresponding slot.

Use & Tips

• Sketching and illustration: Vermillion works as a bold accent in botanical illustration, manga colouring and urban sketches – thinned for delicate areas, concentrated for outline work.
• Sumi-e and ink colouring: Traditionally, Gansai Tambi colours are used to colour ink drawings. The warm red harmonises with black sumi ink and adds depth to flower motifs or seal designs.
• Wet-on-wet: On well-dampened, absorbent paper (from 200 g/m² upwards) vermillion glazes flow softly; on smooth, less absorbent paper edges remain sharper – both effects can be used deliberately.
• Layering technique: Since the colour sits on the paper rather than soaking in deeply, work quickly when layering – wet underlayers reactivate and can be deliberately blended with the top layer.
• Calligraphy brush: Those working with a traditional calligraphy brush can load vermillion directly from the well and use it for decorative letterforms, seals or ornaments.
• Mixing: No. 302 mixes well with other Gansai Tambi shades – with yellow for warm vermillion-orange, with burgundy tones for deep carmine red.

For Watercolour Enthusiasts

Gansai Tambi colours work with a higher pigment content than many Western watercolours and traditionally contain a binder formula that gives the colour its characteristic creaminess and subtle surface sheen after drying – an effect transparent watercolours do not show. This technically places them in their own category between transparent watercolour and gouache, without being identical to either. For layering: since the colour soaks less into the paper fibres, the lower layer reactivates when wet colour is applied over it – a behaviour that can be deliberately used for soft transitions, but requires quick, decisive work when layering.

Technical Specifications