Suckered in by another novelty watercolor palette…

…but really, can you blame me. I mean, it’s really cute! This bad boy will be out in the kayak with me as soon as the ice melts for sure! This palette is related to a lot of the novelty palettes that have been popping up all over the internet the past few years. I think they are all manufactured by the same white label company. I think they are made by Superior, in fact the Meeden fan palette I bought a few years ago said Superior right on it and I am pretty sure that company will brand these paint for any art supplier. The color numbers are the same on all of theses types of sets and they also look to visually match. I am just say this so you know what you are buying and if you have a similar product already you may or may not want this one:)

Today we are looking at this double fan pallet from Artsy. This product was sent to me for free to review and affiliate links are used in this post. It is about the size of a cell phone (but thicker) contains 56 colors, 3 water brushes and had 3 mixing areas, and a removable sponge for cleaning your water brushes in use. This set has pastel and metallic colors as well making it a versatile collection for crafters who may not wish to mix colors.

Pros:

• Price: Under $20 at time of review

• Compact Included everything you need except paper

• Nice color selection The basic colors are very vibrant and transparent like I would expect from quality watercolor, the metallic have good coverage. The pastels are semi-opaque as expected.

• The water brushes are decent quality

• The mixing surface is good, the color doesn’t bead up and I haven’t experienced much staining.

• Colors layer well and you can lift the non-staining ones as with other quality watercolors.

• Colors can be mixed without mud.

• The paint is very concentrated and will last a long time (judging from my original fan palette)

Cons:

• You want to let the pans dry before closing the palette (might be inconvenient if travel painting.)

• If you live in a very dry climate or high altitude the paints might dry and curl up in the pans if you go a long time without using them. I have not had this happen myself but a viewer did with an old fan palette.

• There are very small pans and there are no refills available, I would refill with Qor watercolors.

• When all of the pans are fanned out it is pretty big, best for holding the pallet and not for desktop use.

Bottom line, this is fun, the quality is good and I like it. This would make a lovely gift or palette to toss in your travel bag for painting on the go. I recommend it! You can check out this Artsy palette on Amazon. Happy crafting!