Introducing Four New DANIEL SMITH Watercolor Cadmium Hues
Why replace Cadmiums with Cadmium Hues?
We wanted to make better, safer alternative colors for Artists. We have made our New DANIEL SMITH Watercolor Cadmium Hues better than the Cadmiums, with increased opacity and greater vibrancy, with out the potential toxicity concerns associated with Cadmiums.
Cadmium paint colors, were developed in the early 19th & 20th centuries to replace earlier, impermanent (fugitive) yellows, oranges and reds, and improving Artists’ palette of colors. Now after development, beginning in 2000, we have produced some more great alternatives and improvements to Cadmium watercolor paints – our Cadmium Hues. We wanted to make sure they met our high standards, and we had them perfect for our Artists!
Here at DANIEL SMITH, we are all about making the Best Watercolors for Artists so we are constantly developing new colors and improving others (if needed) for our Artists.
We now have 4 new Cadmium Hues:
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Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue - Blog post with Video
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Cadmium Orange Hue - Blog post with Video
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Cadmium Red Scarlet Hue - Blog post with Video
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Cadmium Red Medium Hue - Blog post with Video
We earlier introduced our Cadmium Yellow Light Hue (Reference Catalog 2007-08) and Cadmium Yellow Med Hue (Reference Catalog 2006-07). These are called Cadmium “Hues” because they are not made with Cadmium metal compounds. Instead they are new, alternative pigments substituting for the Cadmium pigments.
These 4 new Cadmium Hues are special because they are more opaque, dense and even more important, more vibrant than the original Cadmiums. They are more vibrant because they have brighter chroma than Cadmiums, and you can see that by their location further out on the peripheral on our DANIEL SMITH Colormap. Three of our new Cadmium Hues are essentially identical to their Cadmium counterparts, and the 4th, Cadmium Red Medium Hue, is just slightly different since it is naturally a little brownish, and we did not want to replicate that muddiness.
Slide show of our 4 new Hues:
Because of the way these pigments are manufactured, a process called co-precipitation, they are essentially single pigments, even though on the label they are listed with what looks like more than one pigment. In this case, it is not true that 1+1+1= 3, but rather 1+1+1= 1, essentially a “single” pigment due to the co-precipitation manufacturing process. This is one reason why the New Cadmium Hues have brighter chroma and increased opacity, than the regular Cadmiums paints have.
You can see on our Colormap, that the colors further out on the peripheral of the Colormap sphere are more vibrant (higher chroma) than those closer towards the center. You can see for yourself where some of the Cadmiums are and, where our New Cadmium Hues are on the Colormap. Put your mouse on the number (the number in ( ) when you are at the Colormap) to see the name of the color and notice its’ location on the Colormap. I have listed the number of each Cadmium and Cadmium Hue color below in ( ) so you can more easily find them.
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Cadmium Yellow Light (no location on Colormap)
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Cadmium Yellow Light Hue, #16 (ref-cat 2007-08)
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Cadmium Yellow Med (discontinued)
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Cadmium Yellow Med Hue, #30 (Ref-Cat 2006-07)
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Cadmium Yellow Deep, #37
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Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue, #180 (NEW)
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Cadmium Orange, #44 (discontinued)
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Cadmium Orange Hue , #177 (NEW)
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Cadmium Red Scarlet, #52
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Cadmium Red Scarlet Hue, #179 (NEW)
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Cadmium Red Med, #53 (discontinued)
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Cadmium Red Med Hue, #178 (NEW)
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Cadmium Red Deep, #93 (discontinued)
We have worked hard to manufacture better Cadmium Colors for our Artists by developing our New Cadmium Hues. We know that once you have tried them for yourself, you will see that these are an improvement on the Cadmium watercolors!
Every Day, Express Yourself with ART….
~Deborah Burns
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How does the lightfastness of each cadmium hue compare to its original counterpart?
Hi Glen,
Our Cadmium Hues have the same “Excellent” Lightfast rating that our traditional Cadmiums Watercolor had, so you use them with confidence!