Gansai Tambi Vol II - 12 or 24 beautiful new colors.

Bringing you more happy watercolor inspiration!

Gansai Tambi traditional Japanese solid watercolors for professional artists and crafters. Characterized by quick dissolving, clean blending, bright colors. They are ideal for sketching, illustration, sumi-e, and more.

Gansai Tambi original colors available here

Non Toxic

Dimensions: 8.5 x 4 or 8.5 x 8 in.

Made in Japan

Gansai Tambi traditional Japanese solid watercolors for professional artists and crafters. Characterized by quick dissolving, clean blending, bright colors. They are ideal for sketching, illustration, sumi-e, and more.

Small set - 12 colors

Medium set - 18 colors

large set - 24 colors

Gansai Tambi II Colors available here

Non-toxic

Made in Japan

This traditional Japanese Watercolor Set contains 14 beautiful lightfast, non-toxic colors for painting on the go. They can be used as an opaque gouache or watered down for use as watercolor. Also included in the set are one Kuretake ZIG water brush and one Kuretake ZIG waterproof 0.1mm black Mangaka Outline Pen. The sturdy plastic case has a convenient mixing palette in the cover. Bring them with you and paint!

Dimensions: 3.5 x 6.5 in (when closed)

Made in Japan

A comprehensive guide to exploring plant-based dyeing techniques

By Heidi Iverson

We are so happy and excited to offer you this magickal new book by Heidi Iverson (our exceptional, multi-talented employee here at Good Gray!). All of our copies are signed by the author, of course!

Favorite quote: “My approach to creating color is to emphasize intent over perfection, and I hope after reading my book, your love and curiosity for the land and plants that surround you grows.”

From the publisher: Heidi explores two different approaches to natural dyeing; a traditional style and a more intuitive approach. Discover mindful dye practices, low-energy alternatives and water-conscious methods as well more traditional dye methods using raw dyestuff, whole plants and ground plants. There is also advice about foraging dye plants safely, ethical harvesting and growing your own dye plants.

Heidi teaches you to create your own color library using various mixing techniques and color theory and to create your own dye journal in order to track your progress.

Hardcover

7.6 x 9.7 inches

Pretty up your packages! Our favorite Drittofilo 100% cotton ribbon with metallic edges adds just the right touch of sparkle. Designed by Angela Ligouri and made in Italy exclusively for Studio Carta.

Six color combinations to choose from.

3/8” wide - 21 yards per spool

Spool size: 2” wide by 2” high

Made in Italy

This fun kit contains everything you need to make 36 delicate, patterned paper butterflies. 36 sheets of 6 x 6 inch assorted Cambridge Imprint patterned paper and a clearly illustrated booklet of instructions all come happily packaged in a beautiful patterned paper “wallet”. Simple and satisfying to make, the butterflies make pretty and unusual decorations, and once constructed can be kept forever. Attached to a pretty package, wired onto a branch of blossoms or strung as a garland, they make particularly beautiful and striking spring party decorations. A charming gift.

The butterfly is a reasonably simple origami, suitable for anyone over the age of 7 . The instruction booklet tells you everything you need to know and also includes a link to an instructional video.

**Please note** These kits now come packaged in a beautiful new envelope.

Dimensions: 6 × 6 in

Made in England

Made in a small factory near Milan, Italy, the Klizia 97 Stapler is bright and cheerful and fits comfortably in your hand. It uses famously small “Uni 76” staples, it is easy to fill, and it’s equipped with a patented anti-jamming design. On top of all that, It can staple up to 16 sheets with no trouble.

Available in glossy orange, aqua, or white.

Dimensions: Approximately 6” long, staples are 1/4”

Materials: Powder-coated steel

Made in Italy

SAI water-based brush pens in traditional Japanese colors!

For drawing, painting or calligraphy.

When drawing, by changing the pressure on the tip, you can create varying lines from broad to precise. When painting, the brush tip can be dipped in water to create gently spreading and shading effects or they can be used like watercolors on moistened paper. The lighter colors also make a great highlighters….

Approximately 6” long

Non-toxic

Made in Japan

A simple notebook that is optimized to make writing easy.

The ever-popular MD Notebooks are carefully constructed to enhance the pleasure of writing - from the movement of the pen on the paper, to the way the notebook feels and fits in your hand, to how it rests under your hand when you write. These beautiful notebooks are bound using traditional Japanese threaded binding techniques and an exposed mesh “super” on the spine which bends easily and allows them to open flat and evenly (to a full 180 degrees) for comfortable writing or sketching on any page. A heavier MD paper is used for the cover allowing you to decorate it as you wish and to make your notebook your own. All notebooks come wrapped in a removable glassine dust jacket (reminiscent of an old book) and include an attached ribbon to mark your place (each type of notebook has its own playful color) and optional index tab stickers either pre-printed with frequently used headings or blank to write your own. The beautiful cream color pages are meant to be easy on the eye. Aesthetically pleasing in every way!

The Paper Cover is made from light, strong Cordoba paper. With a natural texture and no-frills look, this cover is the perfect way to protect your MD Notebook while still enjoying the same comfort during use.

The Leather Cover is made of undyed, tanned goat leather sourced from the highlands in the Central Asian mountains. It is smooth and flexible, light and extremely robust, a single layer is used to fit your notebook snugly. A pen holder is attached to the inside of the cover, right at the edge so that it doesn’t create a bump when you write. Over time your leather cover will deepen in color from beige to a beautiful amber and become rich in character.

Available in:

Size A5 (5 7/8” x 8 1/4”) - Blank, Lined, 5mm Grid, or Journal

Size A6 (4 1/8” x 5 7/8”) - Blank, Lined, 5mm Grid

Size B6 Slim (4 1/8” x 7”) - Blank, Lined, 5mm Grid

PAPER COVERS are available in sizes A5, A6, and B6 Slim

LEATHER COVER available in size A5

Made in Japan

The backs of these beautifully designed letterpress watercolor postcards are printed by hand on a large cast iron flywheel press. The front is left blank for your watercolor creations. Made from 100% cotton watercolor paper. Explore your creativity and send your friend or loved one a precious work of art. Customer suggestion: When traveling, paint a simple scene on your Watercolor Postcard and leave as a nice token along with a tip.

Sennelier Aqua Mini Travel Watercolor Set available here.

Made from 100% cotton watercolor paper

Pack of 12

Dimensions: 4 x 6”

Made in Massachusetts

Wheel-thrown stoneware Artist’s Brush Cup with a notched rim for resting your tools. Perfect for all paintbrushes or calligraphy pens. Beautiful and practical in any creative setting. 

Materials: Stoneware, glaze

Dimensions: Approximately 3.5 in tall x 3 in wide

Handmade in United states

Handcrafted in Japan, Gansai Tambi watercolors are rich, intense colors that have a creamy smooth feel and can range in opacity depending on the amount of water used to dilute them. The colors blend easily and are highly lightfast making them great for your calligraphy, sumi-e, illustration or watercolor projects. They sparkle beautifully and are perfect for use on dark watercolor paper available here. This set includes six starry colors: no.901 Blue Gold, no.907 Red Gold, no.903 Yellow Gold, No.904 Champagne Gold, no.905 Light Gold, no.906 White Gold.

Dimensions:

Made in Japan

Simple bordered card for use as a postcard, note-card, label or place card. And an easy, colorful way to dress up a package!

Now available in 5 colors: Tomato, Magenta, Cupboard Pink, Bawden Green, Pea Green.

Made of FSC certified paper and printed with hand-mixed, environmentally friendly, vegetable oil based inks.

Pack of 10

Dimensions: 4 x 6 in.

Made in Cambridge, England

Gondola Pastels are the first pastels to be produced in Japan and have been handmade to the highest standards for over 100 years. Gondola makes their pastels in specifically chosen colors to “fully express the beautiful colors unique to Japan.” Wooden box holds 36 colors, each 2 cm long. Great for artists of any level, from amateur to professional.

Dimensions:

Made in Japan

The beautiful Lion Tail scissors are made from hard-tempered steel and a thin layer of 24-karat gold-plating is applied to the handle. Perfect for cutting textiles or paper.

The Paris Scissors are a reproduction of a 19th-century pair celebrating the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889. Expertly crafted in Italy from hard-tempered steel and covered with a thin layer of 24-karat gold, they easily cut through textiles, ribbon or paper. Perfect for both detailed and simple cutting.

Discovered in a notion shop in Rome, the Crane scissors have a lovely shape, with finely engraved details. They feature nickel-plated blades and a thin layer of 24 karat gold is applied to the scissors to make them shine! Extremely sharp - ideal for ribbon, embroidery and other detailed work.

The Scarlet Shears feature soft-touch, non-slip handles and precision sharpened, carbon steel blades ensuring both a smooth performance and long lasting comfort. Ideal for textiles or professional use.

Packaged in a letterpress paper label and clear bag.

Dimensions: Lion Tail: 5” - Paris: 4” - Crane: 3 3/4” - Shears: 6 1/4” - Small Scarlet: 3 1/4”

Made in Italy

By Kassia St. Clair

The unforgettable, unknown history of colors and the vivid stories behind them

Favorite quote: Chrome Yellow: When Vincent Van Gogh was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his hero, Paul Gauguin, he wrote to his brother Theo that he wanted everything to be perfect. He began working on a series of sunflower paintings, with which he planned to cover his whole studio. He told Theo he was painting them ‘with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse,’ and he hoped they would be a symphony of ‘harsh or broken yellows’ and blues, ‘from the palest Veronese to royal blue, framed with thin lathes painted in orange lead.’

From the publisher: The Secret Lives of Color tells the unusual stories of seventy-five fascinating shades, dyes, and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso’s blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green, and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright thread throughout history.

In this book, Kassia St. Clair has turned her lifelong obsession with colors and where they come from (whether Van Gogh’s chrome yellow sunflowers or punk’s fluorescent pink) into a unique study of human civilization. Across fashion and politics, art and war, the secret lives of color tell the vivid story of our culture.

Dimensions: 5.25 x 5.5 in / 320 pages

Hardcover

These pretty, versatile, powder-coated steel clips have a 3/8” hole in the back for convenient hanging. They come in three sizes and in three awesome colors. Very useful for organizing your papers, hanging artwork, or closing a bag of chips (if there’s any left!).

Dimensions: Small - 2” wide

Medium - 2 3/4” wide

Large - 3 5/8” wide

Made in a small factory in Italy

It’s indispensable!

The MD Memo Block is made with attention to every detail for a pleasant and comfortable writing experience. It features the famous, carefully considered, Midori MD Notebook paper which is compatible with multiple styles of pens and pencils and is a lovely ivory color, meant to be soothing to the eye. It is also the perfect compact size for your desk or counter, so easy to grab a page and jot down your notes (it has plenty of sheets - 500 to be exact!). And, I must mention the satisfying tear (IYKYK). Available with blank, lined (light gray lines) or grid (light blue grid) pages. We have one at our front desk and one at every table in our work room. Our customers love them!

Materials: paper, chipboard, glue

Dimensions: 3.9 in square x 1.9 in tall

Made in Japan

Midori MD Notebooks available here

Washi - Japanese paper - is traditionally made from three plants: Kozo (paper mulberry), mitzumata, or gampi. The process by which it is made produces a paper that is softly translucent and deceptively strong. Used for sumi-e, painting, calligraphy, origami, bookbinding, lamp shades and shoji screens.

Our favorite find this year! We love the wonderful illustrations on the folded paper package and the twine that ties it all together. Inside, it contains 400 small sheets of beautiful washi paper; 100 sheets each of   ◽️“Kinari” — for fountain pen or water based application.   ◽️“First Snow” — suitable for calligraphy. ◽️“Ginkgo Nut” — (untreated linen fiber) suitable for calligraphy.    ◽️“Fuji River” — (linen based, thick texture) suitable for letters, sketches, and calligraphy.

Perfect for quick, small notes, poems, or drawings; include one in a letter or dress up a package with your own creations!

Dimensions: 4.5 x 3.25 x 1.5

Made in Japan

A Watercolor Workbook

By Lisa Solomon

Favorite quote: “ I don’t know about you but I get inspired by the most random things that I look at throughout my day. Some seem more obvious than others….”

From the Publisher: Make a personal color wheel while exploring tints and shades. Experiment with color mixing while you make as many of one color as you can. Through playful prompts and artistic examples—with lots of room for painting—this inspiring workbook will change the way you relate to color. Using watercolors, gouache, or another water based medium you’ll find a lot of space prompts and shapes to help you paint directly on the page.

Dimensions: 7.5 x 9 in / 134 pages

Softcover

Arches’ new Watercolor Travel Journal!

100% cotton rag paper (140 lb cold-press), natural white, minimum 65% recycled content, 15 sheets. The high quality cover and backing board provide a rigid working surface.

Dimensions: 6 x 10 in

Made in France

Sweet porcelain paint palette for mixing your colors.

Materials: Porcelain clay

Dimensions:

Made in Japan

Aquarelle Extra-Fine French Artists’ Watercolors

Sennelier’s perfected watercolors are now optimized for travel and spur of the moment painting. The compact Aqua Mini offers eight half pans of vibrant colors and a portable brush crafted for every artist.

Colors include: Primary Yellow, French Vermillion, Cinerous Blue, French Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Light Green, Sap Green, Burnt Umber, Payne's Grey in a compact metal box. Perfect for painting on the go.

Dimensions: 6” x 2.5”

Made in France

More on Sennelier:

“Sennelier is celebrating 125 years of producing the finest artist materials with a new generation of watercolors. Sennelier continues with a bright and lively palette in the tradition of French Impressionists. Sennelier watercolors have been reformulated with increased honey content for enhanced brilliance and luminosity. The honey also acts as a preservative to extend longevity.”

A Daily Art Practice and Visual Diary

By local author Courtney Cerruti

Author Courtney dedicates this sketchbook to “anyone who wants to find more time for creativity, to practice mindfulness, to experiment with watercolor, and to capture one year in a unique way.”

From the publisher: This guided sketchbook provides inspiration and space to start a practice of painting one color every day for a year. Choose a daily color to represent your experiences, moods, observations, or moments of gratitude - or simply to experiment with your paints! Painting one color a day in this sketchbook will result in a visually stunning and deeply personal record of your year.

Hardcover

7.5 x 5.75 inches

Used like watercolor, you can create many beautiful shades of gray with ArtGrtaf watercolor graphite from deep charcoal black to the lightest transparent grey. Choose between the 20 gram tin or the square stick. You can use the stick to draw and then create a wash by going over your drawing with a wet brush or you can bring the wet brush to the graphite in the tin or the stick and paint with it like watercolor. Erasable. Cool side note… graphite sparkles in the sunlight! ✨✨

Non toxic

Dimensions: Tin in 2” square box. Stick is 3.25” long x .5” square

Made in Portugal

A longtime customer favorite, the Ohto GS01 Ballpoint Pen is a delight to use. The classy hexagonal aluminum body morphs into round at the tip making it comfortable to hold while the 0.7 mm needle-point tip writes like a charm. It uses black, waterproof ink which is, happily, refillable (refill cartridges available right here).

Dimensions: 5.4” long when retracted

Made in Japan

“The Golden Section—otherwise known as phi, the golden mean, or the golden ratio—is one of the most elegant and beautiful ratios in the universe. Defined as a line segment divided into two unequal parts...that pops up throughout nature—in water, DNA, the proportions of fish and butterflies, and the number of teeth we possess—as well as in art and architecture, music, philosophy, science, and mathematics. This is the most accessible and appealing guide to the subject ever assembled. Beautifully illustrated, The Golden Section tells the story of this remarkable construct and its wide-ranging influence on civilization and the natural world”

Scott Olsen is a Ph.D Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the College of Central Florida. His book, The Golden Section, achieved great appeal and renown from the public and reviewers and ultimately received first place for design from the Bookbinder’s Guild of New York.

Dimensions: 5.75 x 7 inches

64 pages, Hardcover

Made in the USA

Crafted from a single sheet of stainless steel, an exceptionally durable pair of scissors with a simple and sophisticated design. A rubber ring surrounds the interior handles for comfort and ease when cutting. Introduced in 1974 and an immediate recipient of the Japanese Good Design and Long Line Design awards. The perfect every-day scissor!

The all black pair has a thin non-stick Teflon coating to allow smooth cutting of sticky surfaces (e.g., tape). The green pair is for left-handers.

Dimensions: 6 1/2” long

Made in Japan

Designed by Tadahiro Baba

Materials: Iron

Dimensions: 6.5 inches tall x 3.75 inches wide

Made in Japan

These pigment rich, lightfast metallic watercolors are perfectly suited for calligraphy and painting. Opaque colors are made mainly from Mica pigments and gum arabic and they can be used on various surfaces such as paper, wood, or stone. Add beautiful metallic highlights to your paintings!

Tip: For perfect results, put a few drops of water on your color of choice and let it rest for a few minutes before using.

Set of 6 pans in a metal paint box with plastic window

Non-toxic but not tested for food safety

Free of animal ingredients

Dimensions: 4.5 x 4 in

Hand made in Bavaria, Germany using renewable energy