Hi Eve, just a thought for you and any other people who have this box and may be coming to the end of some colours and not sure how to refill because the wells are not really leakproof, the watercolours supplied are extruded rather than poured, go figure. Mandy van Goieje mentions in one of her videos some tiny pans, I took a look at her link, sorry I couldn't find it again, but they exactly fit in this set, I ordered them in and if you wanted to add some colours to extend the range of what you can carry in such a tiny box you now can do that as they will fit down the middle of the tin! They will also fit in the wells perfectly, so you could pour any colour you wanted and your box gets an extended life in which the colours don't leak everywhere. They were incredibly cheap from China in little packs of fifty and would be great for tiny samples too. Mandy's find, not mine so all thanks to her. .i think if you google .5x.5 pans you may be able to find them too.
Hi Lindy! Thank you for the tip!! :) I've had good luck changing some of the paints in this set with two things: 1) I had extra colors of W&N pro in half pans, so I popped the paint cake out and cut it with an x-acto knife. Half a paint cake fits nicely in the wells. 2) I use the watercolor sticks from Daniel Smith (I had a few) and cut slices from it to put in the wells. It would probably work just as well with W&N's watercolor sticks. One really has to be crafty to refill this set, so I'm glad you shared this nice option for tube paints!! :D
I had no idea it would be that tiny! I'm glad it is, but yeah. When I checked the dimensions, I figured it'd be a bit bigger in my mind, just because sets usually tend to be larger... And this one has 18 colors in it! It was really surprising.
Motor like background noise is good. :-) Also is it cold there Eve, because you have on a really warm looking sweater. Good to see you like these paints. I love the D&R aquafine. Lots of good single pigment colors in the set you demonstrated. I enjoyed watching you paint. ~Marty
It is cold here, the video doesn't show that I'm wearing two other shirts under that sweater, hehe! And a blanket under the cat, over my legs! We have a weird spring this year... I really love the Aquafine set I have as well, surprisingly good paints for a tiny price. Thank you for stopping by and for your kind words!
Hi Eve! I have this little set and just love it! Daler Rowney paints are one of my favorite companies - there's just something about their colors. When I use DR, my paintings always turn out so well! I love hearing your sweet kitty purring. Have a blessed day!
Oh my gosh, adorable co-host AND adorable tiny palette that's pretending to buy a big giant regular 48 pan tin when it grows up?!?! Don't get much better than this!
Hahaha, truly!! XD If this tiny tin can keep up, I can see myself using it for a looong time. It's a really good size and fairly easy to customize and refill. It's a lot of fun to hold, too.
Lovely compact set. You can get it from Cassart UK under their own name - Cass Art Professional Watercolour Quarter Pan & Brush in Travel Pouch for £29.95 currently.- a real steal.
This is also called a bijou box, and is the same one that I always keep in my handbag, along with a mechanical pencil and a water brush. I love it! I took the tiny brush out and used that area down the middle to add some blobs of sap green, perylene green, azo green and violet. I find that having a good selection of convenience greens really helps when doing quick sketches, especially as the mixing area is so tiny :). I top up the pans with tube paints of the same pigment (but sometimes different brands) before they have worn down all the way, to prevent the liquid paint squidging out the bottom, then I let the paint harden.
Same here but found something to make mini pans from. That was 3 or 4 years ago. Now you can get 1/4 pans on etsy. Ps. What i used before was mini ice cube silicone trays and cut them to fit and cut out every divider so that each one was 2 ice cube spaces. Also this palette is difficult to use with anything larger than a size 6 brush unless you have another mixing palette ...for 2 reasons #1 iss that the dividers dont control the water well and they run into each other if using to much water...and #2 the small space could ruin the tips/ points of your brush.
I got one of these from Jackson's Art UK. Love the cute tiny box and pigments are very intense. Just think that Yellow Ochre and Sienna are almost identicals, which could be replaced with another earth tone.
The cat was the purrrrrfect soundtrack! I have had my eye on a set like this for ages but keep stopping myself. Cass Art in the UK do one very similar (it might even be Rowney ones under their shop name). Seems a bit pricey for a small set but I am still so tempted!
Hehe, thanks! :D The CassArt set is super affordable and often on sale, and it comes with a lot of goodies. Seems to be exactly the same as the officially Daler-Rowney one :D
Nice review! I love Daler Rowney paints. It is a very old company and been around a long time... I loved hearing your cat purring in the background... A cat's purr is very soothing to me... ♥
I've been using an identical set from Cass Art and they claim it's their own paints. *shockers* It's a great little set and super easy to carry around.
I have had this cute little set for quite awhile and I love mine...it is so tiny and light I tend to keep it with my hiking/backpacking stuff for sketching while hiking. The quarter pans don't bother me at all. I agree w/you about the raw sienna color too, would have preferred a different green or blue...but I can't really complain I love my little set. Great review!
Thank you! :) This set is definitely not encumbering anyone who decides to bring it along! Do you use it with a waterbrush or with a regular brush and some water?
I didn't know either, but so far I don't see much of a difference with the Aquafine paints I've tried. The Aquafine Prussian Blue was much stronger. I looove the tiny tin though, it's perfect :D
They were the paint makers for Turner and I believe the first to produce watercolours (maybe only in UK....not sure) as Turner used to paint preliminary sketches in watercolour for his oil painting. ;-)
This is so tiny set! I was thinking to get this set long time ago as travel set, but I really don't need four reds. But nice that they used many single pigment colors and there isn't white included. I also like travel sets, that have many colors included, because it means I have to do less mixing at field. With tiny palettes mixing space is often limited.
Yes, space is definitely limited with this set XD I was able to switch out some paint cakes by slicing into regular halfpans, so you could probably switch one of the reds if you wanted to ;)
yes they are easy to get but not there pro range. dont ever set them in any shops I go in these days but the student paints and there large range of brushes are all other the shops, plus all the other thing they do to.
the watercolour on the paper looks great but the colour chart would be better if they can replace raw sienna with raw umber cause raw sienna and yellow ochre looks very similar
Eve, another great video! This set is adorable which means my wishlist keeps on growing and growing.... Your paintings are always beautiful and I did so enjoy your co-host! Plus, I gave snuggles to my own pets : ) Have a great day!
Eve Bolt - Bolt's Vault Hi, In the same post I also got a small box and 8 white nights. I took a gamble that the 6 pan box would actually take 12 pans, and it does! And it even takes another of those short brushes and a tiny W&N too! guess I will use bigger brushes though. It is nice to have several different types of colour, and I love learning about the different qualities and strengths different paints have. I have handpicked single pigment colours and your review was a great help in this so many thanks for helping me make up my mind!
You're welcome, I'm so glad it was helpful! White Nights paints give you your money's worth and they are lovely! I just completed my set with a few more pans and it cost me less than a coffee at Starbucks! The fun of exploring and discovering new paints is unmatched, I hope you'll have the best of time with your new, lovely tools! :D
Your cat purring was very relaxing! Enjoyed this review! I would think artists would put together sets and not include near duplicates, weak colors (this is supposed to get you to buy more) and black! Perhaps the black is intended for novice painters who think you need a black.
Thank you! :) Through "collecting" sets and paints, I really notice quite a few recurring things. For example, the weak Prussian blue is really common (which baffles me sooo much! It's a really strong color!!). If this tiny travel tin's paints had been in any other kind of easy-to-find box, I probably wouldn't have gotten it. I ended up popping out a few colors and switching them with other colors (or in the case of Prussian blue, with a much stronger version!!). It's a great set for traveling, due to it's suuuper compact size.
I am also thinking about getting this set just for the travel palette! Did the unwanted colors pop out easily or did you have to dig them out? Also, they are such small pans, have you seen the way Jane Blundell fills her pans on a slant so you can control the amount of water in your paint and prevent having to dig your delicate brushes into the center of your pan? I fill all my pans this way now.
If the paint cakes are dry, no problem popping them out. I carefully leveraged a tool between cake and tin and pressed until the bottom of the cake would unstick from the tin. Filling pans on a slant is a clever idea, I will keep that in mind! (Jane Blundell is an endless well of good ideas!!)
The cat purr in the background was so relaxing. I never knew there were quarter pans, haha...the set looks cute and handy. I had a wee look at Cassart, and looks like they've got theirs from Rowney, too. And I agree that raw sienna is a defo let down - why didn't they just use PBr7?(also for Burnt Sienna) Oh, and Eve - of all Prussian Blue I've tried so far, I love yours the best. Just sayin' ;)
Hehe, thanks! :D It's not like PBr7 is a pricey pigment, too. I gotta say, I love mine the best too (it's the darkest I've tried so far!). I really need to mix some more but it's also a bit of a pain in the butt to mix, so I gotta schedule more time for it!
What a cute little set! I don't need more paint, I don't need more water colors, Oh so cute! But I don't need more different brands... uff I don't neeeeed.... I think.... thanks Eve for an other interesting presentation:-) But I don't need it :-D .......
Yes, it is the Cassart offer. It arrived! And I love it already ! I have added an extra short synthetic 8 from Jacksons, they are lovely, if they still have them and very cheap (£2.50). They also can be used in a pencil holder which is nice.My set was very slightly defective in that the raw sienna seemed to have swollen and grown out of its space. But I can live with that. Now to swatch them out! I was going to buy a watercolour book anyway so this offer was my excuse to be super indulgent! The case is cute too.
Yay! :D My raw sienna was big and oddly stained on one side (but I removed it, hehe!) . I can't seem to find the brushes you mention, bummer! I'm glad travel brushes fit in it though, that's super practical :D
Hi, having swatched out my box the raw sienna is in fact quite different to the yellow ochre. The sienna is a very warm pale transparent colour, good for layering, and the ochre is very flat and opaque. I wonder if you got 2 ochres accidentally. Another difference to the box in your video is my prussian blue is very dark, deep and strong. Superficially the two earth yellow do look similar but behave very differently. Thanks again. xx
I am awaiting arrival of this box, sold under a different name, but exactly the same, definitely Daler. It comes in a great case with a watercolour hardback spiral notebook, on an unbelievably good offer, so absolutely an indulgence gift to myself! I have a studio box set of half pans that I love, they really do compare favourably with the best. I liked the look of the tin and have plans to change out the colours as they finish with tube colours, possiibly maimeri. Your video has made me ultra impatient for this little gem to arrive!
I have that set and love it. The sketchbook that came with it was very nice too. I got another two this weekend during that offer for some friends that don't live in the UK. I too had plans to change mine out as I used them but they are so highly pigmented that it is taking a long time!
Is it the Cassart set? I would've loved to get that one but yeah, impossible to order from outside of the UK :) This tiny little box is pretty awesome, really. I'm sure you'll have an awesome time with yours, and I hope that if arrives fast! :)
I admired this set for years being fond of bijou things! Then found Cass Art did the same set which I suspect is this set rebranded.( I have other DR professional sets too and these seem the same.) It's much cheaper especially in their frequent sales. Just a heads up for anyone wanting this set at a great price (Cass ship abroad). I actually prefer this set over the bujo W&N quarter pan sets as you can get a decent size travel brush in it. I'm actually looking forward to putting some of my favourite tube paints in when it runs out. If a paint really irks you you can usually gently lift it out and replace with something you prefer. I did this with a paynes grey which was so hard it wouldn't give out pigment in my W&N 1/4 pan set.
I don't think Cassarts ships outside of the UK though, or I would've definitely bought a ton of things from them! They have great sales! And yes, their set is possibly this one, rebranded, as they are identical :)
Maybe I should look into refilling these with the Daler Rowney artist paints when I'm through a color! (These are the artist paints so it should be a seamless transition!)
I've been using DR artists wc paints for years. I think they are as good as anything else on the market but not sure f they would be expensive where you are?
I've never seen them in shops locally, but I know Jackson's has them, and so does a Canadian store that I know I can order from them online. Never really had any urge to try them out though, maybe at some point! :)
When I started watercolour painting DR and W&N paints were the only ones I could get. Now with online shopping you can buy virtually anything. Incidentally, I use Jackson's own brand, they are very good and inexpensive.
wow these look good, ive been put off of daler rowney paints as I used their oil paints and disliked them, their waterolours however look really bright and vibrant.
Yeah! Their watercolors are surprising, to be honest. Even the Aquafine tin sets are good and straightforward (the 10 pans set also surprised me!). You can check out Cassart (since you're in the UK) for that exact same set (the 18 ¼pans one) but branded differently, at an excellent price with a lot of extra goods :D
I have that set! Mine was sold by another UK company with their branding but it is no doubt the same set with the same paint. Be careful with the quarter pans as they can murder a nice brush but other than that it is a great set. I had plans to swap out my colors as I used them up but the paint surprised me in quality overall and I have yet to use any of them up. I did get frustrated and removed the prussian blue, the raw sienna and the black and put in my own choices. Enjoy your little gem of a set. I take mine with me everywhere. I bought two more on sale for friends that don't live in the UK!
Thanks for the tip! Fortunately, I don't have that many nice brushes, mostly inexpensive synthetic ones. XD Is it the Cassart set? I wanted to get it but I'm in Canada, so nope. And I might not wait and switch some colors around, since I have a few watercolor sticks in my stuff. The Raw sienna is kind of ridiculous.
I filled the wells with tube paints and the only place where it was a little bit of a problem but not really was in the corner where it seeped out a tiny bit. Yes, I have the CassArt set. It was on offer this holiday weekend for a crazy low price. I hope it isn't getting discontinued as it is the closest thing I have found to the old style Bijou box.
Haha, when I read the title I was pretty sure I read it wrong, but they truly are 1/4 pans. °A° Are they the only ones that make them this size, because I swear I've never seen them before. Also, I couldn't tell if you were happy or unhappy with the discovery of the size of the palette. What is sure it that a mm more between the pans would have helped a lot, but it looks like a very good size to put in your bag.
Oh! I like the miniature tin a lot! I have short, small hands so that set is just the right size (truly pocket size). And oddly enough, I can work these pans easier than I can work the Koi ones, even if they are smaller and closer together. Old Holland offers a set of quarter pans too, but it's expensive (12 quarter pans - 110$ cad). I mean, I can just as well get watercolor sticks and cut small parts of it and there, quarterpans!! Seriously, art supplies are not proportionally priced to the income of most artists lol
Hehe, thanks! :) There are no plastic pans to hold the paint cakes, but the paint cakes are fairly easy to remove. I was able to pop 3 of them out to change the colors. They are held at the bottom of the tin by a drop of gum arabic :)
Thank you! :) My wallet might not agree with you all that much, but I'm mostly reviewing things that I have in my "vault" and that I haven't gotten around to reviewing yet (as opposed to purchasing everything). And I consider it in my favor that I'm only interested in watercolors! Hehe!
I didn't know quarter pans existed that's amazing!!! but I would only get this if i found it at my local shop which is highly unlikely since we don't get much variety in watercolors in my country
Wow, so they are half as big as halfpans? The set looks extremely cute. But it would have been nice to see a halfpan beside the set to compare the sizes. The painting at the end looks great :)
Ah, oops! Why didn't I think of that?! Bummer! I posted a pic on Instagram to compare the sizes : instagram.com/p/BTrJOisg8bG/ It's not exactly half the shape of a halfpan, but in quantity it's fairly similar to it. And thank you!
Oh Darn! That tiny 1/4 size pan set is 75.00$ on Jackson with the replacement pans being almost 6$. However, they are half pans. So will they even fir the palette?
Probably not! You can cut them in half, if they are the extruded type of pans. I've found that cutting off a bit of a Daniel Smith watercolor stick also fits in nicely :)
It's so funny because daler Rowney in the UK is so cheap to buy and not got a good reputation. They are sold mostly in craft shops, I've tried them and hated them and all their other products of there's they are know as cheap products for kids so this was very interesting and oh my gosh the cat purring!!!! I nearly went into a meditation state!!!!
Eve I bought the 12 colour 1/4 pan D &R travel kit on impulse to bring on a beach vacation a few months ago so I wouldn't get sand in my good one. It has a white plastic case rather than metal but still solid with good mixing space. It seems to have all the same paints minus one of your reds but I didn't catch the name. I do have the same issue with the Prussian Blue and it has a Burnt Sienna but not the Raw Sienna you had a problem with. The brush is included but, as you say, hard to manage because it is so short. The rest of the paints were quite nice for painting on the beach and at the price,
Oooh, that's a very good price! Where did you find it, if I may ask? I checked the set online and it looks very nice, a bit like the Cotman Pocket set in its setup.
This palette! Is Daler-Rowney the only company making 1/4 pans ? Cause it's my first time seeing it! I would have love a purple like and an orange instead of the raw sienna and the black. A phtalo blue and phtalo green instead of viridian and prussian. Thanks for the review!
I think Old Holland also has a quarter-pans set (but it's super pricey!!) That's a good side of having such small pans: it takes less time before we have to replace them so we can switch them out with colors we'd use more! :D And those would be good switches. Strong, vibrant colors! :D
Thank you! Though all the cute is 100% Pekoe (the cat). :D I was thinking I'd have a hard time refilling it but now that I remembered about watercolor sticks, I'm super eager to switch some colors out and add new ones in. And I might try and see if I can mold some quarter pans using my handmade paints (or any tube paint I guess.)
Just fill the sections directly. The only areas where that is a minor issue is the corners so what I do is stick some blue tac or a kneadabe eraser on in that area to block the leaks while the paint dries and then pull it out. Works great. No need to make teenie tiny pans.
I don't have any of the sticks! I have one by W&N that I got as a free sample but it's ultramarine and the ultramarine in this set is good. :) I really want to try your Prussian Blue Eve.
The yellow ochre and the raw sienna really look like the same color, I'm a bit puzzled as to why both were included in this set. The tin more than makes up for it, it's a keeper :D
By a curious coincidence I was looking about a week ago at antique/vintage watercolour boxes and found a box exactly like this but with a waterbottle attached. If I can find a photo I will post it, the design with the waterbottle is beautiful too. I forgot to save the link, but it is clear our little boxes are indeed classic in concept. I love mine, it currently holds two tiny brushes and as it is the Cassart version it also holds a pencil in the leather case. All fit into a little mobile phone pouch with a crossbody strap I have had for years and are ready to be worn when I am inspired to go out and paint.
That's really neat! Did you end up getting the vintage one? Your ready-to-art setup seems perfect and hassle-free! It's a truly great set to bring along for everything since it's well thought out and tiny :D
The weak Prussian Blue and Light Red as well as the identical Yellow Ochre and Raw Sienna (which is also a mix of the exact pigments on either side and is a total space waste) all make this set a fail for me. Black AND Oaymes grey both is just unnecessary and while true alizarin crimson is beautiful it’s not at all lightfast so that’s another fail. To bad because I really liked the palette tin how small and well made it is. I just can’t condone the purchase only for the palette sadly. Also no purple! That’s sad, yes it’s easily mixed but I adore dioxozine violet and that would have been a happy replacement from the raw sienna or the black.
No the dividers are metal and part of the palet itself. When mine are used I will put in daniel Smith as they are closer to right consistency etc .and I already have them. To daler rowny in drying and colors.
@@marjoriejohnson6535 You misunderstood my comment. Instead of half and full pans, a few places sell empty plastic quarter pans that look to be this size. One version is square and the other rectangular. The square version looks like it would fit, but you can only get those on eBay.