Art Making With School Supplies - Art On a Shoe String!

 

Back around 2014 I started a series of posts I called Art on a Shoe String. Ways to make art without spending a fortune on supplies. Each year I posted when school supplies came out. I haven't done that in the past couple years and it is time for that to change. 

At our home, we home schooled for 12 years. School supply shopping was a never ending venture with so many educational items on the market. Eventually our home school career came to an end and I started looking at school supplies in a whole new light. 

This picture of the Frankles was taken during one of my AOSS photo trips in 2017. She was my helper that day and even gave me some ideas of her own. Love me some Frankles!

That was then, this is now so let's jump right in! 

I did my shopping trip at our local Walmart. Most people on my side of the globe have access to a Walmart. All the photos in this post are from there. 

School supplies and items from other areas of the store can be used to make art. For sure! So, let's talk art. On YouTube you can find several videos showing the use of hand sanitizer with gel plate art. The bottles in the top two rows will be more than enough for your needs and at $1.98 it is cost efficient as well. If you are serious about gelli plate art you might consider the larger bottle at $3.97.

I divided my photos into categories to make this post more fluid. Hahahaha! Something I am not always good about but let's give it a stab anyway. 

What a great set! I was surprised to find this at such a great price of $5.27! For that you get charcoal, artist grade pencils, a sharpener, two different types of erasers and a 75 page sketchbook. Sure, you could use this for sketching but you could also use this set for tangling, shading and creating highlights by using those erasers. 

As a tangler I may have used these Z-Grip pens from Zebra Pen a time or a couple hundred. Yes, they are a ballpoint pen but they lay down some beautiful black ink that dries quickly which prevents smears. You get 20 pens in this pack. At this price they come out to 34 cents each. Way affordable! 

What? You would rather work in color? No problem. You will see several suggestions of color in this post. Specifically for tangling I would recommend this set from Pen+ Gear at just $2.80 for a set of 12 permanent fine tip pens. 

Here in Georgia - when it isn't so hot your skin melts - I like to sit outside and tangle. Either on the patio under a ceiling fan or next to the pool sitting on my dragon bench. Portability is important for outdoor tangling. (I'll have to ask Sandra if that is considered 'plein air' tangling. Hahaha!) Outside means wind which can cause some issue when you are drawing details. That is where this smaller size clipboard can come in handy. It is about 5" x 7", so it isn't big and unwieldy. And the best part - it is only $1.53. You could use it at night sitting on the sofa, too! 

You need a pencil to mark your strings before you tangle and for shading. Or to make notes on the back telling which patterns you used. I don't know that you need 24 but that is now many you get in this pack for  just 97 cents. Heck, you could even share with your kids so they could actually be a school supply pencil. Hahahaha! 

These pens are a little more expensive than most items you see in this post but they are definitely worth the price. This set of three disposable fountain pens from Zebra Pen are just $2.20 apiece. I love using these for tangling! Grab a wet paintbrush and spread those lines of your tangling. These pens work somewhat like watercolor when you use a wet brush to go over the lines. 

Are you participating with ICAD this year? Index card a day. Making art daily on a 4" x6" index card. With this set of 100 you will be set to continue the practice, or to participate next year. Just $1.46! 

Many zentangle people will tell you there are no rulers in zentangle. Hahaha! I am  a CZT and I will tell you when I went to class to be certified we had a ruler that we passed up and down our table. Gee! I wonder who was responsible for that ruler! You can bet when I am making art for one of my books I use a ruler. This was the least expensive ruler I found. Twelve inches and shatterproof. 

This is the least expensive compass and protractor set I have ever seen! Just 50 cents for the set. Many people (not me) use these to set up their beautiful mandalas. I say not me because I so stink at math! You wouldn't believe how badly! These would work for any circular elements you want in your art, just don't ask me for help. Hahahaha! 

And might I point out I got some pretty crazy stares in Walmart as I took photos of all these items, but didn't buy anything. Hahahaha! A couple of times I had to work around the employees who were stocking the shelves. I kept expecting to be asked what I was doing, but no one ever asked. 

Need a way to store your tangle step outs? The step by step instructions for drawing the various patterns? My preference is graph paper. This grid composition book used to go for half a dollar. I was shocked to see it at $2.00 but it was still cheaper than most of the other books on that aisle. This is the bound composition book. But maybe you like a spiral where the book opens and lays completely flat? 

Well here is the same book - just in a spiral format. Same price. Same number of pages. Perfect for keeping all those tangles, their directions, samples of your art using them and the name of the designer. Cause you know how I am about that. Hahahaha! 

I get asked all the time how to organize all those tangles we learn every week in Tangle All Around. There are literally thousands of patterns out there lurking around. How to save the ones you like best? There are many ways including the index cards and grid notebooks I already mentioned. One simple way is notebook paper and an affordable binder. Notebook paper is crazy cheap right now at Walmart. But what about a binder? Those can get pretty pricey. 

It may not look like much but you can get this binder all day long for the price of just one dollar. That makes a notebook binder system of storing all the tangles you can step out cost a measly $1.35. Art on a shoe string right there! 

Maybe you just want a good ol' spiral notebook. If you get the yellow one it just costs 35 cents. If you get the red one it costs 50 cents. Don't ask me why cause I just don't know. Maybe they have a ton of yellow ones to sell. Hahahaha! 

For a few cents more than the yellow spiral, you can get a bound Composition Book for a mere fifty cents. Interesting fact. Back in 2017 which might have been the last time I did school supplies for art on a shoe string - this same composition book cost 67 cents. More than it does today. That doesn't happen often.  

In case black and white boring isn't your thing, you can also get this Composition Book in various colors for the same price. 

But what about storing all those pens and pencils and markers and brushes and paints and tiles and  . . . well, you get it. What to do about those? This little plastic box (sturdy) will take care of a lot of that.  If you want to separate your pens and pencils and markers and other stuff just grab several of them for just 97 cents each. The exact same box and the exact same price back in 2017. 

Maybe you have bottles of craft paint. Maybe you have sponges, glue sticks, washi tape, painter's tape or any number of other supplies - this handled caddy may be the way to go. Decent size, nice sturdy convenience and the price is not bad at all. Plus there are several colors to pick from. 

In fact, there are a lot of sizes and shapes to hold all your supplies. And guess what. They all cost the exact same price. Weird. 

And for the random reminder note you probably can't find cheaper than this. Walmart stocks these year round and I use about three a year. 

But what if you do other types of art? Not just tangling. 

I wandered over to housewares to find a few things for you painters out there. I like to watercolor on occasion. I have several cups and jars for water but I have thought for awhile that I need a better system. Here is an idea courtesy of the Pioneer Woman. Sold as a veggie dip bowl I thought it could work wonderfully as a dirty water/ clean water vessel for painting. Designate one side to be your clean water and the other side for cleaning your brush when changing colors. 

Sorry for the blurriness on this one. It was right next to the veggie dip bowl on the shelf, some kind of bowl. You could use for paint water. Or to hold your jelly bellies while you make art. 

What about an affordable holder for your watercolors? I use a lot of tube watercolors and you could totally squeeze some color into these ice cubes slots, let it dry and harden, then paint straight from the ice tray when you feel like it. Strange idea but I think it could work. You could wrap Saran Wrap over it or put it in a ziplock baggie when you aren't using it. To keep it clean. 

What about a place to mix those watercolors? These plastic trays in the wedding section of the store could be perfect. Thinking outside the box here. 

Need another idea for paint water? Well, this cup might be too cute for that but it would work for sure. I'm thinking some sweet iced tea while you work. It costs a little more but it sure is pretty! I have one in my kitchen as we speak. 

I keep a spray bottle of water on my desk. I never know when I might need it for watercolors or markers or inks. I got two new ones today for $3.98 and I thought that was a good price. In the craft section. 

This is an affordable way to start working with acrylics. I use mine primarily with my gelli plates. And on occasion I use them to paint a flower here or there. If you are trying to see if you might like acrylics this is a good, affordable way to start. 

And I apologize for this way blurry photo but it is the only one I took. Don't think you can't get good results with a kid's watercolor set because you can. 

Thinking about adding some affordable color to your art repertoire? Here is a ten piece marker set for a mere 97 cents. You are never going to beat that. Anywhere. They sold this same box of 10 in this same design box in 2017 for 50 cents. 

See that "super washable markers?" I wonder if these could work almost like a watercolor where you put the color down first, then move it around with a wet brush? Hmm. I know they would work with my dab and stab technique! I may need to go back and buy a box for myself to play with. I'll have to get back to you on this one. 

Maybe colored pencils have interested you but you are put off by the big dollars they can cost. Try out this box of twelve for less than a dollar and see if the idea appeals to you. Yes, you can shade with just 12 pencils. You do not need a huge crazy box of colors unless you feel you need to. 

Here is a set of highlighters for a mere $1.40. Try these on some photo paper or Yupo paper and spray them with alcohol. Or put some rubbing alcohol in a water brush and push the color around. I've gotten some wonderful results using these pens like alcohol ink. Not as intense in color but still very beautiful. 

Want to tangle in color? This 12 piece gel pen set works great and costs less than four dollars. A mere 33 cents per pen. 

Here is another option for colored pencils. A total of 24 pencils for just half a dollar. Unreal. That comes out to - I stink at math - about 2 cents a pencil? And there are plenty of options for shading and highlights in this set. 

If you want to try a little nicer pencil, this set of 12 Staedtler pencils costs about five dollars. This is by far this nicest set of pencils I've shown you. 

Are you an art journaler? Use this little stapler to add ribbon to tags, to attach elements to your page, to hold anything in place. I have this exact same stapler and use it all the time. I have a huge stapler, too, this one is just much more convenient and it staples great. 

You need a sharpener for all those pencils! Yes, you probably will want to eventually buy a nicer sharpener. BUT this little sharpener works great with the pencils I've shown you. If the day comes you want to purchase some high quality expensive pencils - you will want to purchase a sharpener made specifically for those pencils. In the meanwhile this is a great choice.

Lastly, let's talk stamping. There are lots of YouTube videos showing how to take these erasers and turn them into stamps. Basically you cut the stamp design you want into the eraser and use it to stamp directly onto your art pages. I have lots of these erasers waiting, I just haven't gotten around to trying this technique. Yet. But I have definitely tried this next one . . . 

. . . using foam sheets to make stamps. I made a post a couple years ago showing how to make stamps with foam. You can read all about it by clicking here. This set has 40 sheets of foam. You can make a ton of stamps for under $6 and use them over and over again. I have a couple daily journal pages to show what you can do with the stamps you make.

The tag on the left was done using four different stamps I made from the foam sheets. 

On this page I used a strip of paper I had stamped some flower images on. The flowers were done using a stamp I made from the foam sheets. 

And that is a wrap for today. Art on a Shoe String? But of course! I hope you found this post helpful, and most of all - affordable! Happy arting!