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Quick answer
Daniel Smith Dot Cards are sheets of paper dotted with dried paint, one dot per color, that you wet to try a color before buying the tube. The full set (1900485) holds all 266 Extra Fine watercolors plus the 22 Extra Fine gouache colors on five letter-size cards. A smaller 66-dot card covers about a quarter of the range.
On this page10 sections
The five dot cards, letter size (1 mm = 0.8 px).
Product facts
Product
Daniel Smith 266 Watercolor + 22 Gouache Dot Cards (1900485)
Dried Extra Fine watercolor and gouache paint on watercolor paper (Daniel Smith)
Price range
$$$$20–75 per item
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Notes on these facts
Made by Daniel Smith (Seattle, Washington). Made in United States: Amazon US's listing for the 266 + 22 dot card set says "Handmade in the USA" (read October 23, 2026), and Blick says the Extra Fine Watercolors on the cards are handmade in the USA. Daniel Smith's own product page was behind a bot check when we tried to read it. Source. Price: example listing.
Price bands are typical US retail, checked October 2026.
Key takeaways
The full set (1900485) has 288 dots: all 266 Daniel Smith Extra Fine watercolors and all 22 Extra Fine gouache colors.
St. Louis Art Supply describes the set as five letter-size cards, 8.5 × 11 in (216 × 279 mm).
Each dot is printed with the color name and pigment information, so the cards double as a swatch library.
The 66-dot Try-It card (1900501) holds 24 PrimaTek, 12 quinacridone, 6 cadmium hue, 18 Luminescent and 6 other colors.
Daniel Smith is based in Seattle, and Amazon's listing says the cards are handmade in the USA.
What are Daniel Smith Dot Cards?
They are cards of watercolor paper printed with labels and dotted with real, dried paint, one dot per color, so you can try every Daniel Smith color for the price of a few tubes. Wet a dot and it turns back into paint.
Daniel Smith, a Seattle paint maker, puts all 266 of its Extra Fine watercolors on the full set, including the PrimaTek mineral colors and the Luminescent shimmer colors. It also adds a dot of each of its 22 Extra Fine gouache colors, so you can try that medium too.
What’s on the 266 + 22 dot card set?
288 dots on five letter-size cards, each printed with the color name and pigment details. Art Supplies UK lists the name, series number, code number and color information next to each dot.
Spec
Daniel Smith 266 + 22 dot cards
Model
1900485 (SKU 001900485, GTIN 743162036134)
Watercolor dots
266, every Extra Fine watercolor
Gouache dots
22, every Extra Fine gouache
Cards
5, letter size, 8.5 × 11 in (216 × 279 mm)
Labels
Color name and pigment information
Made in
USA (Amazon listing)
Card count and size come from St. Louis Art Supply; a UK retailer lists the sheets as 28 × 22 cm, close to letter size.
One card is letter size, a little more than twice the area of an A5 page.
How do you use a dot card?
Touch a wet brush to a dot, let it soften, and paint a swatch. Daniel Smith says each dot is big enough to add plenty of color to a painting, so the cards work as a travel palette as well as a test sheet.
Daniel Smith suggests three uses:
Build your own palette. Compare colors and pigments side by side before you buy tubes.
Keep a swatch library. Paint every dot once and label the swatches.
Paint on the go. The cards are light and the dots rewet well, Daniel Smith says.
When a dot runs out, Daniel Smith’s advice is simple: you loved that color enough to buy the tube.
For ideas on which colors to put together, Sanzo Wada’s A Dictionary of Color Combinations is a pocket book of 348 two- to four-color sets you can try matching from the dots.
Which dot card should you buy?
Buy the full 266 + 22 set to explore the whole range, or the 66-dot card for a cheaper sample of the best-known colors. Daniel Smith also mentions two small boxed mini sets.
Card
Model
Dots
What’s on it
266 + 22 dot cards
1900485
288
Every Extra Fine watercolor and gouache
66-dot Try-It card
1900501
66
24 PrimaTek, 12 quinacridones, 6 cadmium hues, 18 Luminescent, 6 Extra Fine colors
The 66-dot card’s contents come from its Amazon listing, which says it covers more than a quarter of the watercolor range.
The full set sits in our $$$ band ($20–75); the 66-dot card is in the $$ band ($5–20). Prices vary by retailer, so check a few.
On October 23, 2026, Amazon’s listing for the full set showed 4.7 stars from 112 ratings and 100+ bought in the past month. The 66-dot card showed 4.7 stars from 914 ratings and 200+ bought in the past month.
Where are Daniel Smith dot cards made?
In the United States: Amazon’s listing says the cards are handmade in the USA, and Daniel Smith is based in Seattle. Blick also says the Extra Fine Watercolors themselves are handmade in the USA.
Frequently asked questions
How do you use a watercolor dot card?
Wet a dot with a damp brush or a drop of water, let it soften, then paint a swatch on watercolor paper. St. Louis Art Supply suggests letting a couple of drops settle into the paint before you pick it up.
How many dots are on the Daniel Smith dot cards?
The full set has 288: one for each of the 266 Extra Fine watercolors and one for each of the 22 Extra Fine gouache colors. The smaller Try-It card has 66.
Can you paint a whole picture with dot cards?
Small ones, yes. Daniel Smith says each dot is big enough to add plenty of color, and suggests the cards for plein-air painting and travel journals; for larger work, buy tubes of the colors you like.
Do the dot cards include gouache?
The full 266-color set does: Daniel Smith added dots of all 22 of its Extra Fine gouache colors. The 66-dot card is watercolor only.
Are Daniel Smith dot cards worth it?
They cost far less than buying even a handful of tubes, so they're a cheap way to test granulating, shimmer and mineral colors before you commit. They won't replace a palette for regular painting.
Is Daniel Smith an American brand?
Yes. Daniel Smith is a paint maker based in Seattle, Washington, and its Extra Fine Watercolors are made in the USA.
What paper should I swatch dot cards on?
Use real watercolor paper, such as a 300 g/m² cotton block, so the swatch shows granulation and staining as it will in a painting.
