Aurora Yellow was a two-pigment (Cadmium zinc sulfide and Cadmium sulfide) just-warm-of-neutral opaque mid-yellow that Winsor and Newton discontinued in 1996. I have several tubes of it that I managed to obtain in a clearance not long ago. These are very rare and hard to come by, and I'm giving some of them away as follows:
* I will make as many spot-cards of 017 Aurora Yellow as people request it on this youtube video's comments.
* If you want a whole tube to yourself, just subscribe to my blog (box at the top of the right column) AND to my YouTube channel and then comment on this video by 2359h BST Sunday 31st July, saying why you want to win it. You must be over 13 years old to enter. Anyone under 18 will, if they win, need to nominate an over-18 to receive the paint as it contains two cadmium pigments. If you're not subscribed to both my blog AND my channel by the closing date, you're unfortunately not eligible to enter, sorry.
[Please note the tubes are from the 1980s - all the ones I've opened are totally fine inside, but obviously I cannot guarantee the contents - if they have separated from the binder, just stir before use]
Good luck!
Showing posts with label Discontinued. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Discontinued. Show all posts
Monday, 25 July 2016
Saturday, 9 April 2016
From The Vaults: More Winsor and Newton discontinued colours!
So, I went back to my local art shop today and asked if I could have the rest of those discontinued Winsor and Newton Professional Water Colours that I saw yesterday and, could I have them for £1.00 each, per the price they gave me yesterday. The lady on the till had to call the lady I dealt with yesterday, who is evidently more superior, and it was agreed I could have the 5 tubes of Winsor and Newton Professional Water Colour AND 3 tubes of Daler and Rowney Designers' Gouache for £1 each - that gave me a pretty good bargain if you look at current prices - I've marked all discontinued products with an asterisk (*). NB: one of them is another tube of 017 Aurora Yellow that I bought yesterday as I liked the colour and decided I wanted some more.
Daler and Rowney Designers' Gouache
(I've linked the ones I can find on Amazon.co.uk, but I know all 3 are still in circulation based on Daler and Rowney's colour charts)
351 Mint
, Series B = £6.31 ["normally permanent"]
533 Mars Red
, Series B = £6.31 ["moderately permanent"]
589 Vermilion Red, Series D = £8.31 ["moderately permanent"]
Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolours
(As some of these are in packaging that dates back to 1974, they could well be 42 years old...! As such, some information is missing from the packaging but I have contacted the company and ask them for their help to fill in the blanks)
017 Aurora Yellow*, Series 4 = £8.80 ["A"]
037 Prussian Green*, Series 1 = £5.90 [?]
006 Bright Red*, Series 1 = £5.90 [?]
054 Winsor Emerald, Series 1 = £5.90 [?]
331 Ivory Black, Series 1 = £5.90 ["AA"]
Total value: £53.33 [US$75.33, A$99.76, €66.07, C$97.86]
I paid: £8.00 [US$11.30, A$14.96, €9.91, C$14.68]
SAVING: £45.33 [US$64.03, A$84.79, €56.16, C$83.18]
Not bad huh? Even Lindsay The Frugal Crafter would be pushing it to get such a good bargain and she's amazing at bargains - I wish we had couponing in the UK in the same sense as in the USA - and she's a fantastic watercolourist who is incredibly generous with her time and is one of my favourite YouTube artists and crafters.
So, in terms of giving them a try! I've not touched the gouache yet, nor 017 Aurora Yellow as I did that yesterday so I've just kept the tube as stock. The other colours were interesting when I opened them!
037 Prussian Green, for wont of a better word, was kind of constipated! I could not squeeze anything out but the tube felt soft, not like it had hardened in the tube. I pushed a cocktail stick down the neck and after a lot of squeezing managed to get about 1/3 of the tube into my palette. A quick mist with water and I'm going to let it dry down overnight before I try and test it.
006 Bright Red, this one was actually fine - a little stiffer than is usual but the binder had not separated at all, even after what could have been 42 years sitting around in a tube!
054 Winsor Emerald was much like 017 Aurora Yellow was yesterday - texture was totally fine but there was some binder separation - a stir with a cocktail stick soon sorted that out.
331 Ivory Black felt fine but when I opened the tube there was a lot of gas! It didn't smell bad and there was no separation or setting, it just felt like an air-pocket in the tube to be honest. It had a perfectly good texture, if a little jelly-like and wobbly.
I've left all of them to set overnight before I test them for colour and mixing, as per.
To update the 017 Aurora Yellow I tested yesterday, I can confirm it has dried really well into the palette and the stuff I painted out yesterday has now dried and looks fantastic. I've added some extra pictures to the post from yesterday.
Daler and Rowney Designers' Gouache
(I've linked the ones I can find on Amazon.co.uk, but I know all 3 are still in circulation based on Daler and Rowney's colour charts)
351 Mint
, Series B = £6.31 ["normally permanent"]533 Mars Red
, Series B = £6.31 ["moderately permanent"]589 Vermilion Red, Series D = £8.31 ["moderately permanent"]
Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolours
(As some of these are in packaging that dates back to 1974, they could well be 42 years old...! As such, some information is missing from the packaging but I have contacted the company and ask them for their help to fill in the blanks)
017 Aurora Yellow*, Series 4 = £8.80 ["A"]
037 Prussian Green*, Series 1 = £5.90 [?]
006 Bright Red*, Series 1 = £5.90 [?]
054 Winsor Emerald, Series 1 = £5.90 [?]
331 Ivory Black, Series 1 = £5.90 ["AA"]
Total value: £53.33 [US$75.33, A$99.76, €66.07, C$97.86]
I paid: £8.00 [US$11.30, A$14.96, €9.91, C$14.68]
SAVING: £45.33 [US$64.03, A$84.79, €56.16, C$83.18]
Not bad huh? Even Lindsay The Frugal Crafter would be pushing it to get such a good bargain and she's amazing at bargains - I wish we had couponing in the UK in the same sense as in the USA - and she's a fantastic watercolourist who is incredibly generous with her time and is one of my favourite YouTube artists and crafters.
So, in terms of giving them a try! I've not touched the gouache yet, nor 017 Aurora Yellow as I did that yesterday so I've just kept the tube as stock. The other colours were interesting when I opened them!
037 Prussian Green, for wont of a better word, was kind of constipated! I could not squeeze anything out but the tube felt soft, not like it had hardened in the tube. I pushed a cocktail stick down the neck and after a lot of squeezing managed to get about 1/3 of the tube into my palette. A quick mist with water and I'm going to let it dry down overnight before I try and test it.
006 Bright Red, this one was actually fine - a little stiffer than is usual but the binder had not separated at all, even after what could have been 42 years sitting around in a tube!
054 Winsor Emerald was much like 017 Aurora Yellow was yesterday - texture was totally fine but there was some binder separation - a stir with a cocktail stick soon sorted that out.
331 Ivory Black felt fine but when I opened the tube there was a lot of gas! It didn't smell bad and there was no separation or setting, it just felt like an air-pocket in the tube to be honest. It had a perfectly good texture, if a little jelly-like and wobbly.
I've left all of them to set overnight before I test them for colour and mixing, as per.
To update the 017 Aurora Yellow I tested yesterday, I can confirm it has dried really well into the palette and the stuff I painted out yesterday has now dried and looks fantastic. I've added some extra pictures to the post from yesterday.
Friday, 8 April 2016
From The Vaults: Winsor and Newton Aurora Yellow
I do love a good deal and I also love discontinued items that have an intrinsic kind of value (not monetary) because of the fact that you're one of few people who has them. I love rare books, I love antique-yet-not-highly-valuable items and I love rare paints too!
I was in my local art shop earlier this week, picking up some Winsor and Newton Professional Water Colour in 637 Terre Verte, 554 Raw Umber, 447 Olive Green and 719 Winsor Green (Blue Shade), and I spotted a colour I'd not seen before - 017 Aurora Yellow. I check Winsor and Newton's website and, sure enough, they don't make it. I emailed them and was pretty shocked to find they stopped manufacturing it back in 1997 because it didn't sell well! Not often you can find 19 year old stock being sold at the same price as new stock - it has an RRP of £8.80 but the shop have 15% off this range so it's £7.48 per tube. I went in today to get some 321 Indanthrene Blue and 190 Cobalt Turquoise and decided to pick up a tube - upon getting to the counter I asked if it was going to be ok, given it was 20 years old. After a bit of bluster, it became a "mistake" that it was on those shelves (kicking myself for not spotting this sooner - I've several tubes in the same packaging that are clearly 15+ years old from the same shop!) and lo and behold it became a mere £1.00 at which point I grabbed the remaining tubes!
I could find out nothing about 017 Aurora Yellow online - the only thing I know for sure is that it is a cadmium-containing pigment as there is a warning label on the tube. Searching The Color of Art Pigment Database, I found it might contain PY35 Cadmium Yellow (Cadmium zinc sulfide) and PY37 Cadmium Yellow (Cadmium sulfide), which, once I got it out of the tube, made perfect sense. Winsor and Newton are kindly checking their database to find out what is in it for me.
I was in my local art shop earlier this week, picking up some Winsor and Newton Professional Water Colour in 637 Terre Verte, 554 Raw Umber, 447 Olive Green and 719 Winsor Green (Blue Shade), and I spotted a colour I'd not seen before - 017 Aurora Yellow. I check Winsor and Newton's website and, sure enough, they don't make it. I emailed them and was pretty shocked to find they stopped manufacturing it back in 1997 because it didn't sell well! Not often you can find 19 year old stock being sold at the same price as new stock - it has an RRP of £8.80 but the shop have 15% off this range so it's £7.48 per tube. I went in today to get some 321 Indanthrene Blue and 190 Cobalt Turquoise and decided to pick up a tube - upon getting to the counter I asked if it was going to be ok, given it was 20 years old. After a bit of bluster, it became a "mistake" that it was on those shelves (kicking myself for not spotting this sooner - I've several tubes in the same packaging that are clearly 15+ years old from the same shop!) and lo and behold it became a mere £1.00 at which point I grabbed the remaining tubes!
I could find out nothing about 017 Aurora Yellow online - the only thing I know for sure is that it is a cadmium-containing pigment as there is a warning label on the tube. Searching The Color of Art Pigment Database, I found it might contain PY35 Cadmium Yellow (Cadmium zinc sulfide) and PY37 Cadmium Yellow (Cadmium sulfide), which, once I got it out of the tube, made perfect sense. Winsor and Newton are kindly checking their database to find out what is in it for me.
The packaging - this is 3 designs ago, so say the folk at Winsor and Newton. It could have been manufactured any time from 1974 to 1995.
The cadmium hazard warning is the text in the box on the left.
So, here it is, squirted into my new Jakar 12 well palette
(I needed some more space but something small enough to stand on top of my studio palette until I can justify buying a second one of the latter). You can see the pigment has separated from the binder at some point in the last 20 years.
(I needed some more space but something small enough to stand on top of my studio palette until I can justify buying a second one of the latter). You can see the pigment has separated from the binder at some point in the last 20 years.
Here is a close-up of the above using the ×10 macro on my Olloclip 4-in-1 Lens
, where you can see the pigment hasn't discoloured, and it hasn't separated too much - nothing a cocktail stick shouldn't fix, right?
, where you can see the pigment hasn't discoloured, and it hasn't separated too much - nothing a cocktail stick shouldn't fix, right?
Yup, I was right. Looks fine doesn't it? I didn't add any glycerol but if it doesn't dry down well over the coming days, I'll add water and glycerol then try again. So, how does it look?
It's quite a cool yellow but has the opacity and intensity of a cadmium yellow - maybe a cadmium lemon overall? The yellows to the left of it are (top down) Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour in 016 Aureolin, 347 Lemon Yellow (Nickel Titanate), 108 Cadmium Yellow, 267 New Gamboge, and 319 Indian Yellow.
Obviously, this is viewed wet but I'll add some photos one it's dry. On the whole, a good fine to get a good, opaque cool yellow for £1 at professional grade!
You can hear a bit more over on my YouTube channel:
UPDATED 10th April 2016
The paint in the palette and on the paper are now both dry so I thought I would add them for comparison purposes:
The paint in the palette has dried perfectly well - it has a few minor "gaps" - they're not cracks per se, and I'm sure it will wet fine for use - I'm going to test this along with my other haul of discontinued watercolours later in the week.
And here it is painted out using a Number 4 Sable Round onto a scrap of Cotman Hot Press Watercolour Paper. You can get a good idea of the colour and how it looks as a wash. It's like a cooler Cadmium Yellow, in a way.
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