I opened up the granulating watercolors I purchased in Japan from both Harmonia (blue box set) and Holbein (limited edition full set of 2025 Japan-only colors, which took me two trips to obtain the complete collection as individual small tubes). I painted samples on both Arches paper (which pills too easily) and black watercolor paper (Clairefontaine and Legion), since traditional Japanese watercolors often contain opaque media for use on tinted surfaces. I used a lot of pigment AND a lot of water on the white paper, to see if they'll settle differently, since granulating paints have different weights of pigments that separate out visibly under certain conditions.
Both paint collections are lovely.
The Holbein colors are vivid on white paper and also show well on black paper, with the darker colors showing differences in tone that aren't as distinct on white paper. This gives me some ideas for using these paints on other tinted papers, as I've seen done with the Irodori line (which I purchased as watercolors unaware of their opacity; they have subsequently been re-released with much fanfare as gouache). Yes, this is an excuse for me to buy more tinted watercolor papers! There is only one real yellow, which I would fuss over, but yellow is for mixing (greens), and these paints aren't intended to be mixed.
The Harmonia colors are vastly more transparent, and the blendedd colors are pleasingly visible. I only bought one of the two available sets: the Plus (yellow-orange box) set includes one yellow, four pinks (with reds and orange), four blues (including a blue green - I remain fascinated that there wasn't traditionally a distinction between the cool colors), and three neutrals. If I put these to good use, that set might be a reward on my next trip.
Both sets show granulation, some colors are much more obvious about it. I drew some geometric shapes with a clear Grumbacher crayon to create paint-resistant lines, created broad washes over those, and then returned to the shapes once dry to apply more color selectively. The washes were smoother than expected, pleasantly so. I had to touch up some of the crayon lines with acrylic ink: the paints are heavily pigmented, and don't leave the wax entirely colorless.
Using the paints this way was satisfying. I learned a lot about how the paints handle, and have some new ideas for how I'd like to use them.
