The exceptional color strength of QoR Artist Watercolors is achieved through the use of a unique binder called Aquazol®. This unique binder first caught our attention through ongoing dialogue with professionals in the field of fine art conservation. Conservators have been using Aquazol since the early 1990's as an adhesive, consolidant, and inpainting medium. The properties that make it ideal for use in conservation also make it a great binder for watercolor paint. It is highly soluble in water and remains resoluble over time. It remains stable after accelerated light aging tests with no significant change in color, and it is very safe to work with.
A new binder wasn't enough for us to justify introducing an entirely new product line. If we were going to create a new watercolor, we needed something exceptional. What really got us excited was the discovery that Aquazol could hold much greater amounts of pigment than the same amount of gum Arabic, while retaining a strong and flexible paint film. After we dialed in our formulations to ensure the new binder would retain the blending, glazing, and lifting properties so important to a quality watercolor, we knew we had something very special and could not wait to get it in the hands of artists.
Click here for an explanation of our color label information, and for even more detail this article on QoR labels from Just Paint.
For a more comprehensive explanation, read Mark Golden's article about the Science Behind QoR.
In 2016 we made the decision to replace Hansa Yellow Medium with Benzimidazolone Yellow. This was as a result of extensive lightfastness testing on QoR and competitive watercolors. You can read about our tests and results in Sarah Sand's article in Just Paint.