Rehydrating Himi Jelly Gouache
Himi jelly gouache is so affordable. One kilo of pretty good gouache for about half the price of a starting set of four, 15ml, mid-grade tubes. It's a bit vibrant for me, but a great starting place.
However, each colour comes in an individual cup and we peal off the lid (like jelly snacks from china town). Eventually, it gets neglected, usually with at least 3/4 of the paint left in the case. It either goes mouldy or dries out.
With mine, I knew it was time to move on so I sprayed it with clove essential oil and water (about 10ml water per drop of clove oil) and put it in the cool basement. It kept the mould away just fine, but yep, a couple of years later, it's bone dry.
But it's gouache. We can bring it back.
This is a great video with one way to rehydrate gelly gouache.
And I started following it by filling my gouache cups with warm water to the level of the paint and letting them sit for a day. Stir them up, and on cup 6 (yellow ochre), my arthritis says stop.
My observations so far.
- florescent colours rehydrate without any effort from me
- earth colours like yellow ochre are rock hard and difficult
- pastels are even worse
- I hadn't expected this much work and should only have revived the colours needed for this project
Life is messy.
About 5 days later, things are different.
Earth colours are all stiff but paintable. No stirring needed, the water worked it's way in. Just needed a bit more water.
Regular colours were also ready to paint.
Only the pastels and colours with a lot of white refuse to rehydrate witout effort. The water sat on top and even with stirring, it's pretty gritty.
My conclusion is that it's easier to rehydrate jelly gouache with time than effort. Except for pastels, which don't want to rehydrate at all.
It's another week until my project, so I'm spraying the gouache with more clove essential oil mix and putting the lid back on.
an insomniac misanthrope who enjoys cooking, textile arts, farming and eating delicious food.
