A while back I bought the Daniel Smith ‘Dot Cards’ of the full range of their watercolours. There is a small blob of each paint dried onto watercolour paper, so that you can try before you buy. This is a great idea, as there are 238 colours to choose from. Many of which have very subtle differences.
The dots do not always indicate how the paint will actually look. Each dot is labelled with symbols for ‘light fastness’, ‘staining’, ‘granulation’, ‘transparency’, and my favourite, whether it is made from authentic minerals. Even so, you cannot tell just how transparent or how granular until you add some water! I decided to make some reference charts and had lots of fun.
There aren’t all 238 paints here. I didn’t make swatches of the iridescent paints. I will probably make a separate chart for them at some point, but I’m not working with them at the moment.
I learned a lot about the various colours from this simple activity. Which were strong pigments, which were surprisingly pale and transparent, which were granular and which might split. I haven’t made a list of additions to my palette yet, but I know there are several I’d like to explore more.
crobbles 
This is a work of art in itself! Cannot wait to see it IRL.
Thanks Lynn 😀