The reason why we Don't use harmful Chemical Additives 

The emulsifier in solid yogurt will keep its soft, creamy state for a long time while the yogurt containing no emulsifier will have clear liquid floating on top.  However, the one without an emulsifier is better for your health. 

Likewise, a paint containing no chemical additives may not look good, but it produces a better outcome than those with chemical additives.

As mentioned above, we, Mijello, Do Not Add thickeners, dispersing agents, and emulsifiers in the manufacturing process. 

In general, thickeners, dispersants, and emulsifiers are added to manufacture paints. When the paint with such chemical additives is added to a palette, the viscosity will increase, the medium (vehicle) separation will not occur, nor there will be cracks. However, those chemicals will lower the purity of the colors when painting and degrades the preservation of the artworks.

Widely used by professional watercolor artists around the world, Mijello MISSON Gold focuses on the preservation of the artists' works and their health and wellbeing.  Mission watercolors are manufactured by physical (mechanical) methods rather than chemical methods.

Stains on Palette 

Staining is an inevitable problem in using a palette.

For metal palettes, the oil based surface coating might stain, prone to chipping and scratching, and hard to fix the surface once the surface layer is chipped or scratched.

Mijello palettes are made of a white raw material (resin), which doesn't require a surface coating.  Therefore, mixing watercolors is easier compared to palettes with an oil based surface coating, because the separation of surface tension is reduced.

Wipe it frequently with the included Magic Cleaner, which is made of melamine resin or using Mijello's Absorbent Cleaning Pad will make it easy to clean a palette.

Regular cleaning with the Magic Cleaner or Mijello's Absorbent Cleaning Pad is recommended for the whiter palette and prolongs the life of the palette.

When paint tube is dried up and hardened, is this mean this paint is old? 

Each pigment has its distinct property, and the pigments with low water content harden relatively quickly.  

It is possible that you left the cap loose, but in many cases, probably the problem with the tubes.  

If the paint doesn’t come out of a tube because the whole tube is hardened, it is obvious that the paint is defective. 

However, if the head of the tube is dry, there is a possibility that the lid was loose. In this case, the absence of air, the paints undergo a curing period in a tube; some colors will have a better color formation than the newly produced paints over time.

A hardened paint doesn’t mean that the paint is old.  Paint's shelf life is usually at least 4~5 years.  

No Cadmium Pigment in MISSION Watercolors 

Until 2009, cadmium is one of the heavy metals that was so popular that about 10% of the world's production was used for pigments. 

Cadmium, which is excellent in heat resistance, resistant to acids and bases and easy to process due to its good spreading properties (malleability), is one of the main components used to create bright and intense pigments in Red (Cadmium Selenide), Yellow (Cadmium Sulfide) hues.  However, cadmium is a toxic heavy metal and classified as a Class 1 carcinogen.  Once cadmium is accumulated in the liver and kidneys, it is rarely released causing a pollution-related disease, known as Itai-Itai disease.  Cadmium can enter the painter's body by penetrating the skin or if the painter inhales them.  And as a result of artists rinsing their brushes in the sink, cadmium, heavy metal, is spreading over agricultural land via sewage sludge. 

No MISSION products contain cadmium pigments.   

The colors of MISSION Gold, Permanent Red Deep (PR254), Permanent Yellow Light (PY154), and Red Orange (PO73) can be used instead of those made from cadmium pigments. 

These three-color pigments have much better Chroma, and clarity than cadmium pigments and harmless to human body and have excellent lightfastness. 

However, the price is higher than cadmium pigment, which is a disadvantage for the manufacturer.

Preservatives Used in MISSON 

Preservatives are chemicals added to prevent the growth and decay of organic matter.  In the process of making paints, adding preservatives is essential.  Because watercolors are not products that don't come in direct contact with the human body as industrial products, industrial grade preservatives, including a large amount of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen are usually added.

MISSION also adds a small amount of preservatives in the production process.  However, MISSION uses cosmetic grade preservatives to minimize harmful effects on human.

MISSION’s development team is well aware that paint often comes in contact with hands when working with paints. Therefore, only a small amount of safe cosmetic grade preservatives is added to protect user's health and the environment.  

MISSION Gold Class and MISSION White Class

MISSION Gold Class Watercolors was developed for professional watercolor artists, and are widely used by professional artists worldwide. For those watercolor artists, lightfastness is a highly crucial factor. One of the important aspects of developing the MISSION Gold Class Watercolors is excellent lightfast paint rating. Some pigments such as Yellow Light, Orange, and Van Dyke Brown tend to have lower Chroma when their lightfastness is high.   MISSION opts to choose pigments with high lightfastness in preference over Chroma in developing Gold Class watercolors. 

When the binder and pigments separate 

Chemical properties and particle sizes differ from each pigment because they are made of different ingredients. Furthermore, the binder in watercolor paint is water-soluble while pigments are insoluble.  An emulsifier is added to pigments and the binder to stop the separation.

Mijello doesn’t use an emulsifier, which is a chemical additive that degrades both the purity and the preservability of watercolors.

The pigments with light particles and high water content are not easily separated, but the pigments with larger and heavier particles and the pigments for White, Ultramarine, Indian Red, Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Blue No.2, and Gray can be easily separated.  

Depending on which pigments were used, the binder and pigments can be separated more easily some time after they are manufactured.  However, since the watercolors undergo a curing period in a tube, some colors will have a better color formation than the newly produced watercolors. If you notice the separation after squeezing paint out of a tube, you can mix them with a palette knife. It will not have any adverse effect on the color; rather, you will see a better color formation.

About the Formation of Colors

Compared to those manufactured by other companies, the watercolors of MISSION have a high color formation. It is easy to lower color formation but extremely hard to enhance it in the manufacturing process, which requires a high level of technology. Some mineral pigments due to their unique properties are even tougher to strengthening the color formation.

Mijello MISSION Watercolors has set its color formation level high for the following reasons.

First, we are committed to providing our customers with the best-quality watercolors.

Second, we set our standards high, making sure our products can achieve high Chroma level in your work.

The strong color formation levels surprised many of those who used MISSION Watercolors for the first time. Artist would feel very frustrated if they cannot create the vibrant, strong colors they want for their artwork. Adding water to make colors thin is easy while the opposite is impossible. The Mission’s development team staff is either art majors or had hands-on experience in painting, was able to think from the same perspective of users.

The high color formation of MISSION Watercolors provides a broader spectrum of colors for those who wish to express vibrant and various colors.

Are air bubbles in the paint defective?

Air bubbles form in the process of mixing the materials and generated by the pressure of the machine when filling the tubes and pans. Using chemical additive defoamer or an anti-foaming agent will be a simple solution, but it will adversely affect both the color purity and the preservability of paints.

Mijello does not use any anti-foaming agent in Mission Watercolors. Mijello uses vacuum defoamer machine to get rid of air bubbles physically, but it is still difficult to get rid of all the air bubbles.   

Are the Pan Watercolors with dimples defective? Why do some of them have dimples?​ 

Pan Watercolors are manufactured in two ways, compressed extrusion and poured.

 Most manufacturers prefer the dry, compressed extrusion process that the pigments are placed into a machine to extrude as a long stick and broken or sawed into segments. Compressed method’s drying time is short, and work process is simple, and there’s no dimple in the middle of the pan watercolor. However, the color formation is poor, and the paint will come off from the pan easily during use.

 All of the Mission’s Pan Watercolors are created by pouring pigments into the pans and dried in a temperature and humidity controlled drying room for 20 days, repeating filling and drying 2~3 times. The whole process takes about two months. The work process is complicated but the color formation is excellent, and the paint does not come off the pan.

The surface of these pan watercolors created by pouring process will be different from each other because of the particle size, and the weight of each pigment are distinct from each other.