Belle & Bea's top 12 art supplies

& why we gave up on craft kits

Bea has horse camp this week, so she’s been a little too tired to work on posts! We are switching things up with an art supply roundup today and a project on Friday.

A few weeks ago, I wrote that we were trying to limit our consumption of plastic, especially through toys, which are more often than not made of plastic. In toy stores, we used to go for craft kits, which look really great—an easy way make jewelry or a figurine or a keychain. But you can make all that stuff without buying a craft kit, which is usually expensive, overly packaged, and also full of plastic pieces that wind up in every corner of the house. You can also make your own kits to give as gifts.

It does help to have supplies on hand, and we have some favorite ones listed here. My best advice about art supplies, which I learned a long time ago as a teacher—get the nicest supplies you can, the kind of materials you like to use. This will make it more likely that you will participate (which is good for you too) and more likely that your child will want to use them. Nicer art supplies also last longer.

I did consult with Bea in the car this morning on the way to camp, and put her top recommendations in the list. These aren’t affiliated links, just things we like.

1. Good watercolors. Before the pandemic, I read a recommendation about Japanese Gansai Tambi watercolors, and that’s what we use exclusively now. These are highly pigmented, with great colors, and so opaque they even work on brown cardboard (good for making board games). They also last a long time—we use them a lot, but have had the same two sets for a year and a half now. (We use two because Harriet is more into mixing her colors.) We keep tempera paint on hand too but way more often reach for these watercolors.

(You should see Harriet’s set!)

2. Watercolor paper and a paper cutter. We usually use 140 lb paper, whatever kind is cheapest, and I have a portable Fiskars paper cutter. The paper cutter obviously needs to be used with adult supervision/care, but it’s not the finger-chopping kind—just a smooth, small slider that makes a nice finished edge—good for making bookmarks, or sizing paper for cards, origami, and paper airplanes. I’ve had this a long time too. Since before the kids.

3. Long-handled paintbrushes. Longer-handled paintbrushes are strangely easier to use, and we have jars of them all over the house. Most of ours are hand-me-downs from Mamie.

4. Good drawing pencils with different graphite strengths. Great for sketching.

5. Really pigmented crayons. I can remember in first grade, it was all the rage to color all softly, with an outline. One morning I was coloring some triangles like that when I noticed my friend Jenny coloring hard, so the triangle was like a solid block of wax. I was impressed. Bea and I like using this method to do wax-relief paintings. That is much more satisfying if you have good, thick, beeswax crayons.

6. Good black pens, with different widths. Outlining in a nice black line makes any drawing look intentional. An artist I worked with at NC State recommended these for cartooning. Super long-lasting.

7. Embroidery floss. Great for needlework and friendship bracelets, which Bea and I loved making last year and need to get back into.

(Belle’s favorite jean skirt detail, embroidered by Mamie.)

8. Simple sewing kit with larger-sized needles. Good for sewing books. (Tip: kids, with their sharp eyesight, are really much better at threading needles. At least Bea is better than I am.)

9. Beads can be nice to have but those kids’ bead kits have too many beads! Better to have fewer, precious beads (in my opinion, anyway). Try a thrift store to find old bead necklaces that you can repurpose, or visit a bead shop for a few glass beads. Also, just say no to glitter, which is a microplastic.

10. Recycled materials, like cereal boxes, magazines, paper towel or toilet paper tubes, and plain old cardboard. This is a fun sea creature mobile project with paper tubes.

11. Also, to make something really finished and gorgeous, Mod Podge! (or “modge podge” as the kids say). Mod Podge is the best for making things shiny and long-lasting.

12. Natural collections! Free from the yard or the park! We will show you two craft projects on Friday using a shoe box (kid-sized is great) plus shells and a shoe box plus leaves, acorns, and twigs. If you have a glue gun, that would be helpful, but you can also use school glue.

What are your favorite art supplies? We’d love to hear.

P.S.

Bea made up this joke for you on the way to camp this morning:

Knock-knock

Who’s there?

Dwayne.

Dwayne who?

Dwayne made the wiver weally high!