Monday, September 10, 2012

How to Buy Cheap Art Supplies


Sometimes it is positively terrifying to walk into an art supply store. The prices are enough to give anyone a minor heart attack. What can you do though? You need pastels and paints, sketchbooks and brushes and an assortment of other things. Well, over the years I 've discovered different ways of finding cheap art supplies. First it was out of necessity because I was an art student, but even now I ca n't stomach the idea of spending 100 dollars on a box of pastels. 

The best place to find cheap paint is at your local ironmonger or paint store. Ask the clerk if they have any "mistints" or "oops" paint. These are approximately 9.00 per gallon and the pint size is around 3.00-4 .00 per pint. Sometimes they also have discontinued colors that are on sale. Chinese ink is another very inexpensive product which you can find in art supplies stores. Not all of the products are expensive!. 


It's not always fun, however a great place to find art supplies and craft supplies is in your local Salvation Army or the corner thrift store and even at garage sales. Depending on what kinda an artist you are, whether you are a painter or sculptor, you can find great hand me down craft supplies, someone else's old thread and wool collections, costume jewelry and bead collections, nails, vintage buttons and the list goes on! You can get these collections for a few dollars! If you go regularly you get even better deals because the store clerk becomes familiar with you. 


I enjoy working on paper rather than canvas. Many years ago I was always cringing as I went to the art supply store to buy a sketchbook. I finally realized that I could buy great paper from any office supply store. However the sizes were limited. Then a friend told me about a Paper Warehouse, this is where all the printers in the city get their paper from. The one I go to has a cash and carry office where they sell discontinued papers altogether different sizes!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

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