Cheapest places to buy art supplies

[yoyita_yoyita]

I have had a great response with this one
Rex art (http://www.rexart.com) They have free shipping in orders over $100.00

Perhaps we could build a list.

[Alan Cross]

The prices do seem pretty good but not many brands.....none I use...
Alan :)

[just dave]

A lot of stuff I can get at the local Michael's and/or AC Moore craft stores, and they both have regular 40% coupons and sometimes even 50%.

For the stuff I have to get from an artists store I will stop by Pearl Art, Utrecht, Pla-za, or The Art Store when I am heading down to the DC area for artistic or educational endeavors on a weekend.

For things they don't stock or if there is a good sale I get most of the remaining things I need from Jerry's Art-a-rama or Dick Blick. I have gotten a few things from Daniel Smith and other places; but, for online purchases, I mostly use Jerrys'!

[Alan Cross]

Michael's has never being a good place for me....but a few of the on line places work very good Dick Black and cheap joes are both goood..
Alan :)

[yoyita_yoyita]

I just had a bad experience.

I used to have Dick Blick in high standars, until my latest order, I wanted to try the Russian pastels, and ordered a set, they came out broken, and packed badly. I called them and they said, yes they will replace them, but I should expect some broken because they were coming from Russia. When I asked how many were "some" more than 10? less than 10? they couldn't answer.

You will think that now a days shipping has improved enough to do not get broken items, mostly when they are shipped with careless packing.

I understand some things get broken, but the lack of care makes you think to spend your money somewhere else.

[Mkent41616]

you must have been ordering the Yarka pastels. In all difference to Dickblick. They don't have much control over how a company ships them the pastels and from my own experience the Yarka pastels are packed badly in a wooden box.

now i do apload dickblick offering to replace them but please realise that pastels especially soft pastels break fairly eeasily.

[Alan Cross]

I have heard the Yarka pastels often come broken but they are quite cheap so you get what you pay for...
Alan :)

[yoyita_yoyita]

My concern wasn't just the yarka pastels broken, it was they were improperly packed by Dick Blick and the carelessness of the company.

It could have been any other item. Hey I guess I have a good collection of pastels in different brands, Unison, Sennelier, Rembrandt etc.

I don't think that the selling company should package inferiorly the Yarka. The second box arrived well, better packed of course, fewer broken.

The Yarka come in a wooden box, with no sponge between the sticks, but if properly packed they will arrive well, like any other item.

[Alan Cross]

Originally posted by yoyita_yoyita
My concern wasn't just the yarka pastels broken, it was they were improperly packed by Dick Blick and the carelessness of the company.

It could have been any other item. Hey I guess I have a good collection of pastels in different brands, Unison, Sennelier, Rembrandt etc.

I don't think that the selling company should package inferiorly the Yarka. The second box arrived well, better packed of course, fewer broken.

The Yarka come in a wooden box, with no sponge between the sticks, but if properly packed they will arrive well, like any other item.

Yes I have seen there box...not much room to move funny they break....oh well at least you are happy now eh?
Alan :)

[Alan Cross]

I have checked the prices here and it seems to be pretty good ...
Curry's http://currys.com/ and they also have free shiping...
Alan :)

[pampe]

CHEAP JOES also has free shipping over $250

ASWexpress.com has excellent prices

DickBlick has been known for poor shipping practices

For pastels...DAKOTA PASTELS is always the best....but not the cheapest

You can often get GOOD quality pastels and paint and paper on EBAY...I got most of my pastels that way

[KachinaBlue]

Jerry's Artarama, hands down. Nobody is cheaper, including Cheap Joe's. I've been buying art supplies for a quarter of a century and nobody beats Jerry's for almost everything. Utrecht is good for canvas, especially linen, but their paint is just so so. Cheap though if you use it up right away. Some colors have hardened in the tubes for me. Novacolor is the best for paint in jars and very, very reasonable. Dick Blick has tons of stuff, but definitely not the cheapest place to buy art supplies. Pearl is good, but not especially cheap. Same with Daniel Smith. Forget Michael's and any local art supply stores. They are way too high! Clark

P.S. Forgot to say Novacolor is acrylic paint only.

[kittyart]

:clap: RE: Cheap Supplie (FREE, actually)
Columbus, OH has recycled items donated from companies, & individuals.
Artists, students & teachers have access. Yearly membership ($35 student)
entitles access. It's thru partnership once called REart, but also with Rumpke. Located West side of city, Fisher Road. Interesting stuff.

[jerry lucey]

Cheap Joe is my man. I like the way they do business. My introduction to Joe is a story in itself. About 12 years ago I met Joe fishing on a stream that ran out of the Smoky Mts National Park, my cabin was on the stream and I liked to sit out there and paint. And one day along came Joe rod in hand....Cheap Joe the fisherman.

have a good one...jerry

[Rose Queen]

Rats! I get an arts and crafts supply catalog annually from a company that caters to teachers, but I can't think of the name...I'll post again if I do, but I found a lot of places while Googling "teacher's art supply," and my personal favorite for a truly eccentric and constantly changing selection of stuff is American Science and Surplus (http://www.sciplus.com/), who have one of the funniest mail order catalogs you're likely to ever see...

[Paintbrush74]

Rats! I get an arts and crafts supply catalog annually from a company that caters to teachers, but I can't think of the name...I'll post again if I do,[...]

Might that company be Sax?

[Rose Queen]

Might that company be Sax?
No, and I still haven't come up with it, either...:mad:

[Howard Metzenberg]

KachinaBlue

This thread began in October 2003, and had been inactive for nearly four years (since October 31, 2003) when you responded to it a few weeks ago:

Some of the information in the thread was already very outdated even when the thread you were responding to was first posted. For example, Pampe had stated that "DickBlick has been known for poor shipping practices." Although I feel that we had already been using best practices for several years as of October 2003, I acknowledge that it takes many years to earn a reputation, and that in 2003 it was still fair say this.

I personally started to work at Dick Blick in the summer of 1997, and much of my first year dealt with the adoption of new software to replace our aging computer systems, so that we would be able to open the new e-commerce site I was then planning. Our transition to new software and a new warehouse took place in the period 1999-2001, and even after 2001 it was a gradual process to get all of our employees used to new procedures and standards. The Internet site itself opened for business in 1999, and was a radical change for our employees.

In the late summer of 2001, we (Blick Art Materials) opened a new warehouse distribution center on the outskirts of Galesburg, Illinois, which has been our hometown since 1911. This automated warehouse has now been operating for more than six years, and we have steadily improved the technology we use at the facility. Let me give just a few examples:

1. Orders are moved about the warehouse on conveyors today. A computer program automatically decides which orders should be rechecked by quality control, and they are diverted from the conveyor for this purpose.

2. Using the software that we use to manage our warehouse, we can identify which employee picked and handled each item in your order, and who packed the box itself. Since we pack and ship several million boxes each year, it is impossible for every single box to be perfect, but when you bring an issue to us, we are immediately able to figure how who handled the order at every phase in our warehouse. Thus, we can quickly respond to quality problems and keep them at a minimum.

3. To give an example of how we use this software, if a new employee is hired, the quality control department inspects a much higher percentage of the boxes they pack, and of the orders they pick, until they have established their reliability.

Our ability to manage and track a large amount of information has helped us create a corporate culture where warehouse employees know they are personally responsible for the customers who depend on them. We can identify and retrain employees who have problems, while rewarding those who are exceptional. We can identify the manufacturers whose products cause problems and identify those products for special handling. In some cases, we have stopped carrying products that cause problems, or changed the way that we market them and distribute them.

We also implement hundreds of ideas each year from our employees themselves. They are involved in the improvement process, and all new ideas are recorded and discussed. Employees are often the best source of information there is about how to manage the warehouse, pack different kinds of products, and so forth.

The technology of packing has itself changed dramatically. In the 1990s we used those hated styrofoam peanuts. Today we use the inflated airpacks, which cushion orders in a bubble of air. It was a system pioneered by Amazon.com about two years before we adopted it in 2001, and it has become the standard used by most Internet companies.

The Yarka Pastels that were mentioned at the beginning of the thread are imported into the United States from Russia by the Richeson Company. They are still available. They were first introduced in the USA in the early 1990s, and at the time, their lure was that they were a premium Russian artist product at a very discount price. But those who sold them in the USA quickly discovered that, while they could have the brightness and pigmentation of a professional pastel, every aspect of their manufacturing and packaging was inconsistent. They eventually settled into the U.S. market as a student grade product. We sell them because people want them, of course, but there is a reason why they sell for about a quarter of what a comparable product from Rembrandt or Sennelier costs. As one who traveled behind the Iron Curtain before the collapse of Communism, I know firsthand how many products from the old eastern bloc were bargains, yet still missed the mark on various quality issues. For Blick Art Materials, these pastels are still a big seller, but we don't offer them in open stock because the segment of the market that buys open stock pastels doesn't buy this kind of product, and they are in any case, too cheap to handle individually in open stock.

The use of the Internet in particular, and technology in general, has dramatically changed the U.S. economy and the art materials industry in particular. The technological changes in this industry have been so dramatic over the last 10 years, that any information that is a few years old is outdated. Blick Art Materials has assumed leadership in this industry because we have consistently adopted and used the best technology.

The information about pricing and shipping in the 2003 thread is also very dated. Our use of technology has allowed us to become a most competitive supplier on price as well as service.

Howard Metzenberg
Blick Art Materials
Highland Park, IL

PS: Many forums on the internet automatically close a thread when it has become inactive for a given period of time, usually one year. I'm going to suggest that to the administrators here at Wet Canvas.

[Paintbrush74]

I may as well weigh in with my recent experiences with Blick Art Materials. Several weeks ago, I ordered about $230 in canvases, paints, and a few other items. The order came quickly, within a week. I checked everything and all was intact and as ordered. Oh, and the airpacks were there, too. :)

About a month ago, I made another order--this one was about $200--for my place of employment. This one also came quickly and accurately, except for one double item that is on backorder. My only problem was that I needed a proper invoice (with amounts) for reimbursement from my workplace. I called the company and talked to a nice lady, whose name I cannot remember. I explained my situation; she obtained my email address, and sent me exactly what I needed. The back ordered item is still not in, but the expected date is in early December. So I have no complaints, and all is well. As soon as the back ordered item comes in, I'm off to our bookkeeper for reimbursement.

So that's my experience. I have no qualms whatsoever about ordering from Blick Art Materials.

[Liz4264]

I receive several catalogs but have found Jerry's and Art Supply Warehouse to be the most reasonable. I compare prices and sometimes ASWexpress is the best and sometimes Jerry's. I have generally been satisfied but there are times an order is messed up but they will pay for return shipping if it is their fault.

[fineartist65622]

Dick Blick generally is more expensive than most other art suppliers, Nasco and Triarco are more reasonable and they will usually give you a twenty percent discount on most items, and free shipping on everything except paper, furniture, clay, and plaster, but you have to call them and negotiate your order.

I've found that for things like crayons, scissors, erasers, pencils, you just can't beat Wal-mart with a stick. Even though I'd like to beat someone for the wages they pay the poor folks who work there...but that's another thread. Seriously though, a sixty four box of crayons in a supply catalog usually costs around double what it cost at Wal-mart.

[Clive Green]

In NZ there is a company called School Supplies which provides a catalogue for phone orders. Good stuff in a range of sizes but aimed at the school market. For anything more than the basics I drive for a couple of hours to an art supply shop in Wellington, they don't ship out but will order in.