Still made in England

My mother was a careful shopper. That is to say, she was careful with her money and was loath to spend it on something that she thought was not of the appropriate quality. I remember shopping expeditions with her at a tender age and recall how she used to check seams on clothing for signs of poor finishing, and also look at the label to see where it was made. In those days, Made in England was usually an indication that the item would stand up to reasonable wear and tear.

Go forward at least four decades, and mass-consumer items proclaiming that they are made in the UK -- especially clothing -- are not as common as they used to be. But perhaps we have been conditioned to think and expect that all the things we can still buy in the shops are mostly produced overseas? (Except food, I hope!)

Recently, I convinced myself that a tube of Buff Titanium acrylic paint would be a useful acquisition, and decided that I would try the repackaged Daler-Rowney System 3 range. I knew that Broad Canvas in Oxford stocked the System 3 range, and I was able to drop by one day and buy a tube. When I had a chance to examine the packaging more closely, I was a little surprised to see that it said Made in England.

Like Winsor and Newton and many other brands, I had assumed that the pressure to off-shore manufacturing was irresistible and a sign of the times, and the revised System 3 packaging was a consequence of that. So it was unexpected to find that Daler-Rowney acrylic paint is still made in the UK, and my assumption is false that only expensive bespoke or luxury items carry British branding.

The tube itself shows that some thought has gone into its production. The old metal tube has been replaced by a clear plastic squeezable tube. This means that you can see how much paint is in the tube, and what colour it is. The cap is screw-on as before, but has been redesigned to have a flip top. This should make it easier to squeeze out small amounts of paint and avoid clogging up the screw threads with paint! The only slightly negative point is that the quantity has been reduced from a more generous 75 ml to the standard 59 ml (US 2 fl. oz.) format that other brands use.

Labelling is clear and a transparent wrapper around the top of the tube shows the colour name, colour number, lightfastness, opacity, and pigment composition. Plus the usual bar code, and a product code?

I have not had much opportunity yet to compare and test the paint. It happily mixed with Winsor and Newton Galeria Green Gold as expected and produced no surprises. The consistency of the paint seems to be the same as it was in the metal tubes, which is a medium viscosity. (Ideal for dry-brushing, but too liquid for impasto work and too thick for air-brushing straight out of the tube.)

The Daler-Rowney System 3 acrylic range comes in 60 colours -- including metallics and fluorescents -- so it appears to be an alternative to the W&N Galeria line of acrylic paints, and is similarly priced. Furthermore, a limited selection of colours is available through Ryman's the office suppliers. (Where I got the Raw Umber also shown above from.) I like the convenience of the flip top cap, so I suspect that I may be buying additional paints from this range in future if there are other colours that I can use.