Selah Paint Co Watercolor Review Handmade Etsy Seller. Beautiful PB33 PG10 PB71 Rare Pigment Finds!

Selah Paint Co. is a Canadian small business run by Elizher Luz in Toronto, ON. He sells handmade watercolor paints on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/SelahPaintCo and you can find him on Instagram @selahpaintco

With all of the wonderful low cost options for coloring supplies out there, you may find yourself debating if paying a little more for a handmade product is worth it to you. In addition to wanting to support the idea of small business/creative artists/sole proprietors making a living doing what they love, I'm always on the lookout for certain unique items I just can't find anywhere else. Selah offers some rare and/or toxic pigments conveniently sold in watercolor pan form. I was able to purchase the rare PB33 Manganese Blue Genuine and PG10 Azo Green (both no longer made by any major manufacturer at this time). I also obtained the uncommon Zirconium Blue PB71 and Cobalt Aqua PG19 (it's a cooler version similar to DSmith's highly granulating one, but without the nasty binder yellowing problem - it's not the same as Schmincke's PG19 a darker grassy green). I was so happy that Elizher chose to offer these pigments, which helped me avoid hazardous dust and the mess involved in paint making had I tried to hunt down those rare pigment powders myself. I have not yet purchased the Cobalt Violet PV47 and Manganese Brown PBr8, but I've got my eye on those uncommon picks offered by just a few sources worldwide.

--cobalts image coming shortly-

There are some really nice versions of more common Cobalt and Cadmium colors in this shop. They are well worth checking out for their alternate pigment source, different granulation levels due to the way they are hand mixed or mulled with gum arabic, honey and glycerine perfectly balanced to just adhere your pigment to paper without glossy shine. All have an incredibly high pigment load that may impress you even if you own similar colors from major brands. I noticed he also carries Malachite PG39, but at the time (8-21) it included honey in the formula which can quicken the yellowing of that mineral. He mentioned he will be offering it without honey in the future, which in addition to Paul Rubens would be the only honey-free sources I've seen (Roman Szmal, Poems About You, Kremer, Oto Kano all used honey and artists have reported yellowing and hardening of the paint in their pans over the course of about a year).

Conclusion: High quality paints, easily re-wet (note that some difficult pigments like PG19 always require a little extra soak/scrub but the resulting color is strong and very worth the effort), superbly packaged with the most professional looking, cleanly folded, hand-swatched individual wrappings on the pans I've ever seen from a small shop. Best of all you may find unusually intense (strong/deep valued) versions of Cobalt Blues and Greens as well as rare pigments you'd have a hard time finding elsewhere. As a huge fan of granulation, I highly recommend PG19 Cobalt Aqua which blows the poorly made version by Daniel Smith out of the water. I appreciated the clear pans with waterproof sticker labels on the sides. These paints were worth every penny.

Swatch cards:

If you'd like to see how each of these colors compare to the same pigment from another brand, check out the pigment database here.