As children, our art supplies were simple and cheap: crayons, finger paints, construction paper, salt dough and sometimes mud. As our skills progressed, we wanted better materials, thinking that would improve our finished product. And with the better materials comes the sticker shock when walking the aisles of an art store--the stuff is expensive! But don't loose hope or think that your finances will relegate you to refining your crayon techniques--there are ways to cut costs out there--you just have to know where to look.
Instructions
1. Shop sales whenever possible. When you're strapped for cash and your supplies are OK, even a sale isn't going to tempt you out to the store. But how often do you run out of something you use all the time between the sales? Make sure to at least pick up a tube of your favorite paint or an extra sketchbook when they are on sale; it's not like you aren't going to use them.
2. Sign up for store newsletters by mail or email to keep on top of sales, close-outs and new products. Sometimes these include extra coupons for subscribers, so are worth a bit of junk mail or space in your inbox. Also sign up for any rewards cards they may offer, especially if membership is free. Some work by accruing points towards a future discount, while others offer continual discounts.
3. Go online for the best deals. As much as I support local shops whenever possible, Internet stores often have lower overhead and can pass those savings on to the customer. Shipping rates may come into play, though, so try and find the free shipping promotions whenever possible.
4. Watch your local freecycle group for materials or items that can be repurposed for your kind of art. Also worth checking out are websites like Craigslist where people post all kinds of items for free, sale or trade.
5. Stretch and prep your own canvases by buying the canvas in bulk rolls and creating the frames as needed. Speaking of the frames, check your local construction sites and home improvement shops for leftover ends of lumber. You may get them for free, but even if you do have to pay, it will be a fraction of the usual cost.
6. Check your local colleges and universities at the end of each semester. Studio art students take a variety of classes to increase skills and fulfill the degree requirements. It stands to reason that some of them will never use the tools again and may want to sell them once the course is completed and they have the required pieces for their portfolios.
7. Attend estate sales, garage, yard and tag sales and be on the lookout for families getting rid of unused supplies. Treat opened tubes of paint or blocks of clay with some suspicion as you cannot be sure of how they were stored, but this is a good way to find the non-perishable tools of our trade.
8. Look for supplies outside the fine arts aisles. Go back to the children's aisles and look at what they have available--the tools may be brightly colored or plastic instead of steel, but may work just as well at a substantially lowered cost.
9. Participate in group buys of bulk items to share discounts these larger quantity purchases afford. When the items arrive, simply divvy them up according to how much each person chipped in. You can even set up your own network of artists, local or widespread, that regularly do this sort of thing and also offer up surplus materials of their own to those who want to trade or buy their extras.
