What brands of art supplies are best?

[susancollins]

I am doing Artistic Pursuits and Discovering Great Artists. Where do I buy art supplies what brands are good. At the NCHE homeschool convention they had a paper company( they go to all the homeschool conference) that sold art supplies at a great price does anyone remember that company? I know you can get the art kit from Artistic Pursuits by it is seems pricey for what you get. Thanks Susan

[dirty ethel rackham]

Are you thinking of Miller Pads and Paper? I usually see them at conferences. However, they carry a mix of art supplies of varying quality. I wouldn't say everything is high quality. I am not an expert at art supplies (as I am not an expert at art:).) However, I swear by my Prismacolor pencils. I had to buy these for a caligraphy class a couple decades ago and I could not believe the difference in color quality and intensity. Do you have a local art store where you can get advice? I sometimes pop in at Dick Blick's to ask what I should get.

[Moxie]

Sad to say, but I usually judge by price. If something is cheap then it is probably junk. I also try to buy at real art stores like Blick Art Supplies. I hope someone has a better answer for you!

[Satori]

Places to buy art supplies?

 

www.Dickblick.com

www.Misterart.com

www.Discountschoolsupply.com (I just discovered this place, haven't ordered yet, but I plan to get a bunch of paper this week from here.)

 

What are quality brands? We use colored pencils and markers a lot, and the brands we love are Prismacolor, Derwent, as well as Lyra. Our Prismacolor pencils (we bought a set of 120) seem to break easily, so we got turned on to Lyra. Nw we use a combination of all three - in regular colored pencils, watercolor pencils, pastels, and markers.

[JenneinCA]

Dick Blick and Mister Art both sell good quality art supplies. I just bought the materials for doing our Artistic Pursuits from one of them. I checked both for prices and picked the lowest overall price.

 

http://www.dickblick.com/ This is Dick Blick.

 

http://www.misterart.com/ This is Mister Art.

[Stellalarella]

We are currently using Artistic Pursuits K-3, book 1. In the opening pages, the author gives a materials list and explains whether the teacher should buy a good quality item or if a cheaper one will suffice. I took her recommendations and bought good quality brushes. I got the kind that is recommended for the ARtistic Pursuits curriculum in the Rainbow Resource catalog. We very much like the Staedtler watercolor crayons we purchased from Michaels and the Crayola oil pastels work great for us. Michaels also carries a junior artist line of watercolor paper, chalk pastels, etc. that is affordable--you can find it on an end cap. It is called Artist's Loft Fundamentals.

By the way, we've done 3 lessons with the book for my kids (ages 2-12) and I really, really enjoy teaching and "doing" from this book. The kids have enjoyed it as well.

Her (the author's) suggestion to make a tray of the art supplies for that lesson and give the kids access to it for any time during the day is a great idea for us. It freed me up from thinking we all had to sit down and do the art lesson at the same time. I spend 10 minutes on the picture study and talking about the concept and then I show them where the materials will be.

Hope you enjoy it as well

[Night Elf]

Our Prismacolor pencils (we bought a set of 120) seem to break easily, so we got turned on to Lyra.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I was so excited when I bought my Prismacolors and although they are better quality in color, they are less reliable than my cheapy Rose Art brand! I don't even use the Prismacolor pencils anymore but I spent too much on them to throw them out. :tongue_smilie:

[Satori]

Yeah, it makes me sick as I was so excited to make the Prismacolor investment, only to have them break so often. We tried using a quality hand-held eraser, but nothing we did worked. Our Lyra colored pencils have never broken once.

 

We get alot of our stuff at Michaels, now that we know what we're looking for. Be sure to take advantage of their new Internet coupon campaign! I've been shopping there every week now, they've certainly won over a faithful new customer. I use them in their artist's section, they carry high quality art supplies.

 

Here's the coupons, they should change every week:

http://dealspl.us/michaels-coupons

 

If a sales clerk doesn't accept them, just make the person realize this is a new thing, and a call to a manager should clarify it all up. I've used these coupons at 5 different stores in Wisconsin and Colorado.

[kwickimom]

Yeah, it makes me sick as I was so excited to make the Prismacolor investment, only to have them break so often. We tried using a quality hand-held eraser, but nothing we did worked. Our Lyra colored pencils have never broken once.

 

We get alot of our stuff at Michaels, now that we know what we're looking for. Be sure to take advantage of their new Internet coupon campaign! I've been shopping there every week now, they've certainly won over a faithful new customer. I use them in their artist's section, they carry high quality art supplies.

 

Here's the coupons, they should change every week:

http://dealspl.us/michaels-coupons

 

If a sales clerk doesn't accept them, just make the person realize this is a new thing, and a call to a manager should clarify it all up. I've used these coupons at 5 different stores in Wisconsin and Colorado.

 

I live in Illinois and almost every Michaels flyer we get from our Sunday paper also has a 40% regular price item coupon!

Edited August 12, 2010 by kwickimom
typo

[Blossom'sGirl]

As far as watercolor paint for kids, I found the Prang to be best for the price. In fact today my 7yo was really upset because he wanted to paint with some cheap watercolors we were given and the color barely showed up on the paper. He is used to the vivid colors from Prang and we ended up throwing the cheap set out.

 

I get a lot of art supplies from Michael's using their coupons. They usually put out some really good ones around Christmas time.

 

I also just bought some Prismacolor pencils off ebay. I have been hesitant to get them because of people complaining of breakage but we are using ARTistic Pursuits 4-6 Book 2 this year and it is all about color.

[DianeW88]

I ordered the Artistic Pursuits package from Dick Blick and it's fabulous. Very easy, shipped by FedEx and the shipping was MUCH cheaper than Miller Pads and Paper.

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

[kalanamak]

Thanks for the recommendation. I was so excited when I bought my Prismacolors and although they are better quality in color, they are less reliable than my cheapy Rose Art brand! I don't even use the Prismacolor pencils anymore but I spent too much on them to throw them out. :tongue_smilie:

 

I've had good luck with Blick's store brand (called Blick's). You can get all the things you need for AP at Blick's for less than AP's kit. I think there are links at the AP website (there were a year ago).

 

If you order all at once, you can probably get some money off and free shipping. Look at the code letters upper right hand corner at Blick's site.

[kalanamak]

Dick Blick and Mister Art both sell good quality art supplies.

 

 

You can also try Jerry's Art a Rama

 

http://www.jerrysartarama.com/

[HSMom2One]

I've shared these recommendations in other threads, but it's been awhile. My list is based on extensive use in the classroom and my own personal use. (I currently teach elementary and secondary art at a private classical Christian school, and also have private students. My background and education is in the fine arts with a concentration in painting, so I LOVE to talk art and art supplies!!)

 

Oil pastels - This is an excellent medium for students in elementary through middle school! You can achieve the look of painting without the mess and chemicals. (Note there will be some residue "crumbs" that will need special care, but it can be kept contained and controlled.) I would recommend Sakura brand, which is affordable and good quality. We use these at the school where I teach.

 

Tempera Paints - I do not have a favorite brand or recommendation for these, as I have found most to be acceptable, except for the washable kind which behaves very strangely and I really hate. (What point is it to the child if it is washable but the paint performs poorly?) We use tempera mostly for primary grades to teach basic painting skills and color mixing, or perhaps for theater backgrounds. If you use them for color mixing, be sure to choose "pure" primary colors that are, for instance, a true red, a true blue and a pure yellow. If you are not careful about this, the colors will not mix well and you will end up with strange versions of secondary and tertiary colors. If choosing tempera paints for these purposes, you can actually save money by purchasing red, blue, yellow, black and white and mixing them to achieve the colors and shades you desire.

 

Water Color Paint - Watercolor is a great medium for middle schoolers and primary grades as well. I can't recommend Yarka watercolor paints enough! We use them at school and they are excellent. They are a stickier, moist pan paint. These sets come with a little paintbrush, however, that is simply worthless. Throw away the brush and replace it with a nice round brush, a one-inch flat brush and a thin liner brush. My second choice for primary students would be Crayola brand watercolors.

 

Brushes and Paper for Watercolor: There are so many types of paint brushes to choose from that I have a hard time narrowing it down for a recommendation. Just try to stay away from brushes that have loose hairs and are cheaply made. It is not fun to use a brush that leaves hairs behind when making brushstrokes! As much as I like Crayola brand supplies, they do NOT make good paint brushes. Synthetic hair is absolutely fine for students, so don't feel that sable or kolinsky brushes are required. The best thing to do is choose brushes in person and get some assistance from a store clerk if possible. Otherwise, I really like Da Vinci Junior synthetic brushes. Any of these would work well for at least a couple of school years - maybe even longer if it is taken care of - for a student that is, say, 12 years old and up.

 

You will also need to have watercolor paper for this medium, and I would recommend Strathmore. A 9" x 12" pad is a really good size. You may want to order a couple of pads at a time because they only contain 12 sheets per pad.

 

Chalk/Pastels - There are pastels and there are pastels. I am very choosy about these materials, probably because I used them a lot in college. (I even did my senior thesis in pastels.) I do not encourage students to use what is referred to as "chalk", or even what most stores carry that is labled "pastels". Most of these versions of pastels have mostly chalk filler and little to no color pigment at all. If your dc would like to explore the amazing, colorful world of pastel painting, then I would recommend another Yarka product: Yarka soft pastels. These sets are affordable and although I have not used them myself, I plan to purchase them this fall for my students based on the quality of Yarka watercolor paints. My suggestion would be to purchase an set of 12 or 24 of the assorted colors -- not the portrait or landscape sets.

 

Pastel and Oil Pastel Papers - Canson Mi Teintes papers are the standard "toothy" paper used for these mediums. They are meant to hold in the color and keep it there longer than smooth papers. You might consider buying one pad of this larger size, then cut the sheets into quarters. We use the fine art color assortment for students and they seem to really enjoy that selection.

 

Drawing Papers - I use this line of Strathmore paper for my students and it is very good. We have a standard size for all papers and that is 9" x 12", and these pads come in that size. You might also buy some of the Bristol paper we brought up in another thread (very smooth surface in a nice, heavy weight) in the same size. And I always like to have newsprint on hand for drawing, sketching or simply as a "placemat" under painting projects. I like to get this in a bigger size such as 11" x 17" for that reason.

 

Markers - Color markers are really more for the primary grades, unless you are into cartooning. If you want to give your dc more of a fine arts education, forgo the use of color markers. If you do purchase markers for little ones, Crayola brand is the very best around.

 

Every art supply cabinet should contain thin and medium tipped Sharpie pens in black. They are great drawing tools and come in handy for many projects.

 

Pencils - In my humble opinion, you don't need to get fancy sets of pencils for children. If anything, you might consider buying a couple of these Turquoise pencils - but most young students only need a couple of the 2B's and a couple of 6B's for the whole year. If you want to save money, just use #2 school pencils with the eraser cut off (don't ever use pink erasers for drawing) and then purchase the 6B's or what we call ebony pencils. These are very soft leaded pencils that work wonderfully for filling in dark, dark areas in a drawing and also for tracing and transferring.

 

NOTE: Also purchase a white plastic eraser for drawing use only. Never use caramel or pink erasers for art!

 

Colored Pencils - This is a very good medium for primary and secondary grades. I would recommend Prisma Color pencils or even Crayola brand water color colored pencils, which can also be used with water and a paint brush. (Just be sure to use paper that will support water if you add water with a brush.) I've also used Lyra brand colored pencils, as well as Koh-I-Noor Woodless Colored Pencil and like them too.

 

BTW… Anytime colored pencils break, it is caused by being dropped in shipping, rolling off desks to the floor or by being sharpened in electric rather than manual pencil sharpeners. So you can see, you can be as careful as possible, but still have bad luck if they were broken before you even got them.

 

Have I forgotten anything?

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

Edited August 14, 2010 by HSMom2One
update on brushes link

[Kareni]

Putting in another vote for Lyra colored pencils.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[chrissymama]

I love Mercurious, Stockmar, and Lyra brands.

[4besitos]

JoAnns also carries art supplies...they put out a weekly coupon, plus will mail you extras and you can use your Teacher Discount card. JoAnns and Michaels accept each others coupons. I get my paper, our Prismas (haven't had the breaking problem), calligraphy, etc.

 

JoAnns also has a a line of art supplies for little children (by the craft supplies, not in the art section) that has triangle colored pencils, smaller art kits, etc.

[Corraleno]

Our Prismacolor pencils (we bought a set of 120) seem to break easily, so we got turned on to Lyra.

 

The Prismacolor pencils we had were worthless, they were almost all broken inside. Not only are the Lyra pencils much less prone to breakage, they write like silk. They just glide over the paper and are such a pleasure to use. I have this set of Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor pencils, and I love love love them! :001_wub:

 

Jackie

[Satori]

I will have to try the Lyra Rembrandts! Our Lyra Ferbys we love so much, the Rembrandts may be a step up. We've had a lot of success with Derwent pencils as well, none has broken and we have several different styles.

 

Michaels is moving to Internet-only coupons, or so they keep telling me. That makes it so much more convenient for me, we try to reduce paper mail to our house. I use Jo-Ann coupons too, but Michaels (in our area anyway) seem to have a larger selection of high quality art supplies.

 

I have become an art-supply addict. We just got Prismacolor Col-Erase (erasable) colored pencils yesterday. They are obviously not as good as their regular colored pencils, but we can use them in workbooks and erase them. That was my intention. They are not supposed to break as easily as their regular pencils, and so far, I've sharpened them all without any breakage. Both Prismacolor Col-Erase and Verithin don't have the breakage problems that the soft-lead normal pencils do.

 

Our Koh-I-Noor woodless pencils don't have breakable leads, but they're so heavy, that they are easily dropped, and the pencil will break in half itself! Per pencil price though, they are a super great deal (compared to Lyra/Prisma/Derwent), and they look so cool and they draw nice as well.

 

If you do have regular Prismacolors, here's a good article on where to purchase them and how to avoid breakage. And another that has a tip to microwave (non-metallic) Prismacolors for a few seconds to fuse the leads together. (I should try this before linking to that article, hehe.) And another article on "how to sharpen"... And after Googling, it looks like there's already an extensive 5-page thread on WTM about Prismacolor breakage.

[cottonmama]

I straddle between Classical, Charlotte Mason, and Waldorf... and the Waldorf folks are always recommending Stockmar. They're pretty serious about art so I'd trust that recommendation. (Although I admit I haven't tried them yet.)

[Satori]

I love to drool over the expensive waldorf art supply sites. We have Stockmar crayons, but rarely use them, as we mostly use colored pencils... They are nice though!

[Kareni]

I will have to try the Lyra Rembrandts! Our Lyra Ferbys we love so much, the Rembrandts may be a step up.

 

My college student took her Lyra Ferby pencils to college (and brought them home again for the summer). Often you can buy one Lyra pencil at a time at a good art supply store; you might try a Rembrandt to see if you like it.

 

I straddle between Classical, Charlotte Mason, and Waldorf... and the Waldorf folks are always recommending Stockmar. They're pretty serious about art so I'd trust that recommendation. (Although I admit I haven't tried them yet.)

 

Stockmar makes some good products. Our favorite is the candle decorating wax which you can see here. Scroll down to 'Stockmar Decorating Wax' to see two examples of decorated candles. Young children can simply apply randomly cut out shapes while older children, teens, and adults can get quite creative.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I've tagged this thread 'art supplies'. If you click on the tag below, you might find other threads of interest.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[HSMom2One]

I just noticed that I missed adding a link on the section with brush recommendations in my previous (much longer) post. If you are interested in a good quality, but not too expensive paintbrush series, take another look at it.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda