Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor No.902 RED GOLD

Red Gold No.902 is a single Gansai Tambi pan by Kuretake – a warm, red-gold shimmering watercolour made from mica pigment (MICA). The large-format pan comes as a compressed colour cake in a removable plastic well and dissolves instantly with a damp brush. Gansai Tambi stand in the Japanese colour painting tradition: they sit between classic watercolour and gouache in terms of opacity and colour saturation – a character that makes working with metallic tones particularly direct and controllable.

Features

• MICA pigment base: The mica pigment creates a warm, reddish-gold tone with a silky shimmer – not the dull leaf-gold yellow, but a deep, copper-toned luminescence that shifts depending on the light.
• Variable opacity: Applied thickly, Red Gold looks almost opaque and covers mid-tone paper completely. Heavily diluted with water, it creates a delicate metallic veil – useful as a glaze or highlight over already dried colour areas.
• Large pan format (approx. 48 × 28 mm): The broad surface of the colour cake accommodates large round brushes and flat watercolour brushes without the colour being scraped off at the sides.
• Light-fast with controlled water use: Gansai Tambi colours are pigment-based and show good light-fastness, as long as dilution remains moderate – with heavily diluted applications, light stability decreases.
• AP-certified: The colour carries the ACMI Approved Product seal (ASTM-certified) and is classified as non-toxic.
• Usable individually and as a refill: The pan can be used independently or inserted as a replacement in any Gansai Tambi case.

Use & Tips

• Illustration and brush lettering: Red Gold is perfect for accents, title lettering and decorative borders on light and dark paper – the opacity is sufficient to work on dark grey or black card.
• Sumi-e and calligraphy: On washi and rice paper, the metallic pan lends festive character to traditional lettering work; the quick dissolving without soaking time is an advantage over tube paints.
• Watercolour paper from 300 g/m²: For opaque layers, firm watercolour paper (at least 300 g/m²) is recommended; on lighter papers, the metallic layer is also durable, as long as no wet multi-layer applications are built up.
• As a shimmer glaze: Heavily diluted with plenty of water and drawn over a dried colour area, it creates a fine gold veil – a subtle highlight for landscapes, skies or hair in portraits.
• Mixing: Red Gold can be mixed with other Gansai Tambi colours on the palette; the metallic effect remains with moderate mixing proportions, but is weakened depending on the complementary colour.
• Storage: The removable pan frame allows insertion into custom-built pigment boxes or small travel palettes.

For Watercolour Enthusiasts

Red Gold No.902 belongs to the mica pigment range of the Gansai Tambi series and is characterised by MICA as the sole pigment – without any added organic dyes. This distinguishes it from classical Gansai Tambi shades, which often contain white pigment (PW6). MICA pigments reflect light from their plate-like structures and thus create the typical shimmer effect that changes depending on viewing angle and layer thickness. Kuretake's over 100 years of experience in sumi ink production flows into the binder technology of Gansai Tambi colours – the binder enables characteristic, soft bleeding that differs noticeably from Western watercolour binders. Important for mounting purposes (e.g. traditional Japanese picture mounting): When wet-pasting, the colour can bleed; Kuretake recommends using a calligraphy mounting spray or adding animal glue directly to the colour in such cases.

Technical Specifications