Today I am reviewing the newish set of 24 Gucai Classical Artist Tube watercolor paints. There is a sale on this product from June 6-12, 2022. These paints are traditional Chinese style paint, making them suitable for painting on rice paper and other unsized or softly sized paper. The opaque quality of some colors allows them to show up on black paper. These paints are slow-moving and resist blooms. the finish is matte but not chalky even in glazes. Check them out in today’s review.
Pros:
- Price
- Nice color selection (although lacking a cool yellow)
- Easy to paint with
- Rewets nicely Dried down well in a palette (subtle cracking but did not fall out, results might differ in an arid climate)
- Beautiful packaging
Cons:
- All info is written in Chinese so I could not read if there were color names or pigment/lightfast info on the tubes.
- No open stock
- Slight chemical order when freshly poured out from the tube.
- Slight binder separation on a couple of colors
You can find the Gucai tube paints here, also the large pan metallic set is back in stock with a watercolor sketchbook if you missed out on them earlier. Both of these currently have a 15% off coupon so be sure to click on that box if you are purchasing to save more. I hope you enjoyed this review and til next time happy crafting!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 
Hi Lindsay,
I just watched the cherry blossom video and was fascinated! Now I don’t have either masa paper nor gucai paints but I do have Gansai Tambi and some sumi-e paper on a block from Hahnemühle. Would that do? I don’t even know if Gansai Tambi would soak into paper without sizing.
I purchased and hoarded a stack of Arches paper ages ago … it was a sale (50% off, what could I have done?) … I never dared to use it knowing I wasn’t good enough for paper like that … and now I could tear into it but I can’t force myself to peek into one of those blocks …. I fear the sizing vanished into thin air! That would have mean my genius purchase turned into a stack of exquisite blotting paper and I don’t think I could face that (yet).
But do you think I could use it for Asian paints like gucai or Gansai Tambi? In that case I’d feel strong enough to brace myself to try out that Arches … I never knew paper could go bad …. what happens to a sheet of paper with paint on it? The paint is on the sizing, does it fall off eventually?!
I expect to run out of white paint in no time … could I use white gouache instead? Or is gouache something totally different?
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that paint will work fine on Atches or Hanhemuulhe but I wouldn’t crumple it, It is too thick and will be unweildly.
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