Art Stores - Does Anyone Else Do This?

Once upon a time I would have pleaded guilty, but I ended up with so much over time a lot of it became presents..I had the oil paint crayons, the huge box of pastels, the calligraphy pens, the special papers - all because the art shop was only a block from where I lived. Sometimes I do searches to see of they still make some of the stuff, I had a great range of metallic paint additives that I'm not sure what happened to

She who dies with the most art stuff wins. Also yarn, fabric and precious gems.

You gave me a good laugh to start my morning, Georgiana! My DH brings me home flowers and they end up in the studio for yet another "study". And I also agree with Susan. I have tiny "rooms" within my small Carolina room that has been converted into my studio. I've grown from just having acrylics to now having the painting side that holds acrylics, oils, water colors, too many brushes, too many palettes, too many frames, papers, etc., to adding gems , broken watches, etc for jewelry, a sewing machine, 2 drafting tables, a floor and table easel, and enough fabric to make quilts for practically every person living in North Carolina! Am I a hoarder?! And, yes, I'm waiting on another package of stuff from Jerry's Artarama! I had no idea how out of control this can get!

People I know refuse to set foot into an art store with me. I won't buy mounting tape until I look at and touch ALL the options. I can spend 30 minutes deciding on the 'right' white mat, or x-acto knife blade, or cardstock, or pencils . . .

I'm also a DIY enthusiast living in a 95-year-old house. A man who knows how exciting a rechargeable drill, or ergonomic caulking gun, or shimmery glass tiles can be, is on his way to racking up major points! :-)

Don't even get me started on fabric stores! My favorite local store has closed now -- but they used to hold back 'exciting' pieces and bolts, just in case I visited.

I think most creative people can lose themselves in stores selling supplies and equipment. Being surrounded by tools of the trade is one of the great joys of life!

Zeana I can so relate. Some woman collect shoes, I collect brushes. I do not like shopping, but can never bypass an art store and once in the store hours can pass by. An artist can never have enough art supplies :D

At least, itīs better to spend your money in art stores, than in shoe shops... 😎

This applies to camera stores for photographers BTW.

Takes me an hour to get lens paper.

"This applies to camera stores for photographers BTW."

Yes!

I am actually that way with food and kitchen items....Gourmet stores.....farmers markets.....In another life I was a professional chef!

i do garage sales and junk piles. i try not to spend too much money in stores overall. while it looks like a lot, and well it is, i need to have at least 7 of everything (not a lucky number just a random number). i get the best deals at g-sales. but its random. i was able to get i think, 8 large spools of velcro. like 50c a roll, if that. got it a nice tote box. each spool i think has 50-100 ft on it, seems large. and i have a lot now. anything that catches my eye. one sale i took home about 300 pounds of stainless steel hardware. it was a great price, but there was so much of it, it took most of the winter to sort them all out. kind of wish i took more, he had a whole garage full of it. but i got quite a bit at that sale. that was a good one.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

*raises hand in the air* Me, me, me.

And yes to the yard sales. I once found some amazing brushes at one years ago. I still have a few left. Cameras are another great fine at them. What's the risk at cheap prices?

I have a great relationship with the art store near my studio, last month I went there looking for a mailing tube to ship one of my watercolor but they don't have the type I wanted. My friendly staff went to the storage and found me a used one and gave it to me free of charge. Before I left she gave me a $10 coupon for my next purchase. I joked I would come back on my birthday to spend it.
Last week on my birthday, I remember what I told her, went into the store brought some watercolors used my coupon and told her I kept my promise.( she gave me another $10 off coupon). Can't have that kind of fun shopping online.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE art, craft, fabric, etc. stores. I call them 'candy' stores. 😊

"Stuff": (yes, there's some cussing in it. It's George Carlin) :)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac

LOL...technically I need nothing from an art store anymore...most everything I do now is digital... but they are like black holes for me.

Yes, Mike, junk stores, garage sales and Goodwill! I once got 5 aluminum easels for ten bucks at a garage sale.

And of course Georgiana, art supply stores. Also office supplies, and hardware stores!

I've even found stuff I could use beside the road.

Not opposed to dumpster diving in my younger days. I think that may be illegal now though.

I also find great stuff to make found art projects from the beach or the woods or... beside the road.

The one thing I found out eventually is collecting too much actually inhibits production. I think, especially with new artists, they enjoy collecting supplies more than doing art. By the time they get to making art, they have no room to do it in...

:D I can SO relate to this! I'm like a kid in a sweet shop when I go into an art shop... go in to get something specific and a few hours later come out with a bunch of stuff that I never knew existed, with the reason that 'ooh, this looks interesting/colourful, I wonder how I can work this into my paintings'... same with beads and glittery stuff! I tuck them safely away and am still discovering things I bought years ago which I forgot I had... or I go and buy them again forgetting that I already have them, only because they STILL looked interesting/colourful the second time around... :)

i almost got fired for going through the dumpster at work. thing is they tossed many usable things out. over the years i was there i collected like 10 office chairs, a flame proof cabinet, about 5 microscopes, soldering stuff, a ton of thin copper wire, tubing, just all sorts of stuff. they used to keep it outside for people to just take. but someone got hurt and sued the company. now they just toss it out. they once tossed a $160,000 prototyping machine (the type that prints plastic, but an early version), it was a year old, and they got a better one. they could have donated that to a school, but nope, toss it. filled a whole dumpster. i have no idea how they got it in there though.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Caroline... that is the way it goes for me too.

Yeah Mike, I think we waste too much! I'd like to see less go to the dumps!

I used to be like that, but now I'm much more selective though I do occasionally make the mistake of buying something I end up not using. Thing is I've accumulated so much art supplies that I've had to put some of it in storage in boxes in the basement, what good does that do me? So now I try not to go to any art/craft stores unless I really do need something and then only buy the thing I need. I used to go to yard sales a lot too but while I've found some worthwhile things at yard sales usually I end up just burning a lot of gas and time and not finding anything worthwhile, I've learned to be very picky. I do haunt the antique malls but again, I'm very picky about what I'll buy, I have a growing antique toy car/truck/tractor collection but I've got enough now that again I've reached the stage of being very picky and want to improve the quality of the collection rather than just grow it, however I do occasionally find other items such as books and stuff related to my other hobby, but still trying to be picky. I was in an antique mall Saturday for an hour and didn't spend one dime. There were some items I wanted but the prices were silly stupid, like nearly double what they are worth, the sellers made it easy to resist. There were a couple items I was tempted to buy that were cheap but they were only tangentially related to my hobbies so I decided to pass and not accumulate more junk.

I am self contained, no art stores.....no need....

Money in...less and less money out.....

Dave

TOTALLY guilty here. I can spend just as many hours in the art store as I can in the library. NO ONE ever wants to go to either place with me. lol

I used to be that way with camera stores before digital images, and now the camera store is few and far between. I am that way, though, with the ALDI food store ... I like their business model of one Brand for each item, and I'm always finding and learning new food combinations to put on the grill ... I am always a student from the Weber Grill Cooking School here in Chicago.

My first love, art supply stores!
It's the only place I can get lost in for hours.
I wasn't born with the shopping gene for anything else.
And the best part is that I never have to rationalize my expenditures....all business write offs.
It takes money to make money and oh, what fun to spend the money on art supplies!!!

I get giddy every time I take a trip to the art store, you never know what you will find and what goodies will come home. I sometimes have to give myself a little talk that I can only spend x amount of time there and spend x amount of money. My husband knows better than to come along as I get lost in looking from aisle to aisle, he does NOT enjoy a trip to the art store.

We have a Blick's literally within walking distance, and the selection of paper and pens....omg, I cannot bring a credit card in there ever again :)

For me it's like being in a candy store. I may need a tube if raw umber but will walk out with s plethora of stuff. Canvas, papers, always a new brush or two. You name it! My average trip is a minimum of about $50 - $100.

Loretta said 'plethora'....my favorite word!!
I just spent an hour online looking at handmade papers.....thanks for putting the bug in my ear. Georgiana!

Our house has a 6 foot wide closet in the hall way, it is supposed to be a linen closet. I just stuff towels under the sink, save 12 inches of shelf space for spare sheets, about 12" enough space for the vacuum and the rest houses art supplies in nice bins so you can pull them out - one for watercolor paints, one for acrylics, one for china paints, one for brushes, one for markers, one for colored pencils, one for inks, one for cutting objects, one for adhesives, one for bobbles & do-dads (yes, that is how I labeled one box), one for pallets, one for... well you get the picture.

My hand is up! Loved the thread!