We created a Etsy store to specifically provide Daniel Smith Half Pans to Artists -

Why?

Simply put, Daniel Smith have some of the best watercolor paints in the world, but they do not provide them in a half pan size. Additionally, extruded half pans, which is what most manufacturers make, handle differently than hand poured half pans from a tube. These paints reconstitute beautifully, and are of a wonderful consistency for travel, unlike the poured half pans with honey or sugar in them. Yuck! Talk about a sticky mess.

Consider this, it can take quite a while for you to go through a tube of paint, and while it sits on the shelf, it ages in the tube. Additionally, many of Daniel Smith's paints are quite expensive, making it hard for an artist who love to experiment with color, like I do, to experience all their different offerings Daniel Smith has (at last count 238 of them). By providing half pans, you can experiment and find your favorites. Just found out you don't like Pyrrol Red? Thank goodness you didn't buy a whole tube of it for $15. (But seriously.. Who doesn't love Pyrrol Red?)

Each pan is meticulously poured and dried. I over fill the pans so that when they dry you can have the fullest pan possible. Midway through the drying cycle they are gently pressed to release any air, and to try to give as much paint as possible. I try to only pour on demand, keeping them as fresh as possible.

All the paints contract when they dry, some more than others. Those dry out in a way that they shrink in size by half. If you are lucky enough to buy one those special babies, they go through a two stage process, where after they dry the first time, I add more paint to them and redry. Giving you sometimes twice as much dehydrated paint, ready for your palette, as there was initially wet.