How to Fill Watercolor Pans

For some people, choosing between pans or tubes can be a bit confusing. But you can save more money if you fill your own watercolor pans! as an example, Schmincke Horadam half pan retails at £6.00 and 5 ml tube for £6.30. With 5 ml tube you can fill the half pan twice or maybe a bit more. For Sennelier series 3, half pan is at £5.20 while 10ml tube retails at £6.00!!! With 10 ml tube you can fill five half pan, that's crazy!

One thing to note is pan sizes can be different depending on the manufacturer. Half pan holds as much as 1,5 ml up to 2 ml. Standard full pan holds only 1,5 times the amount of half pan (only 2,8 ml) so make sure not to be misled, eventhough I've found some full pans from different manufacturer that literally hold twice as much as half pan.

Watercolor - full pan and half pan comparison

For reference, here I am digging out my new Sennelier cake out from its pan.
on the bottom is a full pan of Sennelier olive green, top right is a half pan of Sennelier Phthalo green light, and top left is Winsor & Newton green gold. You can see that the full pan watercolor cake is actually not twice as big as the one from half pan.

Before you start, here are some things to prepare:
- Tiny stick, you can use bented paper clip, tooth pick, needle, or small pointy brush.
- Tissue
- Palette, to hold residual paint
- Half pans or full pans
- Watercolor tubes

Sennelier - Neutral Tint half pan, poured twice

How to fill your watercolor pans:

There are several ways to do it but I prefer the traditional way in which the pan is poured two to three times in liquid state. This will give you the optimal, non-cracking, and less messy result. It works well even with honey based watercolor like Sennelier.

Start with opening the tube carefully and have the pans stay near to the tube. Gas might accumulate inside the tube overtime so sometimes the paint might get pushed out the first time you open it. Squeeze the tube gently and fill the corner of the pan first. If you see some transparent liquid separating from the color, that's gum arabic (binder), stir and mix well using needle or toothpick. Fill to as much as half of the pan.

At this point, make sure that there's no bubbling or space between corners. Some paints can have more creamy consistency and is less liquidy, for a paint like this, use toothpick or small stick to even it out. Pop any big bubbles that might have formed during the pouring session and leave it at room temperature for a few days.

Next, we already have our pans filled halfway. Here are some of my red pans in the making. on the bottom left is original half pan of Schmincke horadam sap green. Schmincke has same formulation for both of their pan and tube version.

After three days, it's time to pour the second layer.

Repeat the same process for the second layer. Fill the pan → Pop bubbles or stir well if you notice the binder is separating → even out the surface → tap it to palm several times to flatten the texture. Just like this...

This is Schmincke horadam quinacridone red light. It's common for the color to darken a bit after it dries on the pan, don't worry because it won't affect the quality of the paint.

Here's the finished result. I use different brands for my red collection. Schmincke, Holbein, and Old Graham dries out beautifully on the pan. Daniel Smith quin. coral has a toothpaste like consistency so I need to stir it with a small brush for a smooth surface. One thing though, after you stir it, put the residual paint on your palette and you can use it later on. For a thicker paint like this, be sure not to let any gap between the corners of the pan as it will cause the paint to crack on the pan after it dries. Some colors from Sennelier will shrink just a bit when it dries but there's nothing to worry, Sennelier still dries out into a soft beautiful watercolor cake. If you buy Sennelier in a pan you will notice that it's not as hard as other brands because of the honey in it. The cake is a bit soft and not rock-hard.

Sorry for photo spamming, more pictures for more references. One important thing to do after you fill the pans is to put it inside a palette or any container and close it to avoid dust. I usually just cover it with one of the hinged flap. Also make sure it has a bit of ventilation to let the air out.

Things to consider when filling pans with watercolor paint:

Some paints will crack or shrink when it dries. To overcome this, you can add one drop of glycerine and mix it well before you let it dry.

Some colours rewet, activate, better than others. Depending on the brand, again, to overcome this, use a bit of honey or glycerine mixture.

You can fully fill the pan in one go but this will increase the risk of cracking and shrinking. on the worst case, it can shrink so bad causing it to fall out from the pan.

Also bear in mind that after you pour the tube watercolour into a pan, the volume of the paint will reduce after it dries (liquid evaporation!) Layering the liquid two to three times gives optimal result, less shrinkage.

If your paint pops out from the pan, fill the plastic pan with one or two drops of water and press the paint back into place.

It can take up to a week or even more until the paint totally dries out. It's all depend on the humidity in your area. For example, in  summer the humidity in Sweden is at 33%, the paint dried out just after 3 to 4 days. Now in fall, the humidity is at the highest, 93% and I need to wait more than a week until it's set (Sennelier takes longer to set).

According to some artists, brands like M. Graham that incorporates honey tends to be harder to work with. But, if it's really because of the honey, Sennelier also use honey and Sennelier dries out just okay! and... most of handmade watercolors use honey in their formula too.

Empty pan is widely available everywhere online. Just google it :) I got mine from Jackson art.

If you have questions drop me a message on a comment box and I will get back to you ASAP, thanks for reading!