Environmentally Friendly Art Supplies
April 9th, 2008 | by Art Supplies |
Art supplies such as paints, oil paints, solvents, thinners etc can harm the environment even the artists may suffer from occupational diseases. So, be careful while choosing a new paint for your home, office, a thinner or a solvent for preparing a mixture. Some art supplies may fume in the atmosphere, within surroundings and may cause some diseases. Some of the art supplies may pollute the atmosphere during their use or when you want to dispose of them after their use.
Why not pick biodegradable, environmentally friendly art supplies that safeguard your body and surroundings around you. Most of these art supplies are affordable and superior in quality. Otherwise you can find replacements for these products, some of these product websites offer raw material at much cheaper cost and methods to manufacture these products. You can design your own home based formula for painting walls, murals and household furniture.
Eco friendly paints and art supplies are extracted from their natural sources. Some of the sources are quite rare still you can enjoy their splendor in your office and home at much lower costs. If you want to use the same old paint, traditional art supplies; you can. But you can avoid using that harmful oil based paints, pastels, chalks, aerosol sprays and replace them with water paints, and natural dyes.
Some of the art supplies that are quite environmentally friendly are listed as under:
1. Aquabee Tree-Free Hemp Sketch Pad
This environmentally friendly sketchpad is made up of 100% recycled material. No new trees are used. The pad is made up of 25% hemp and 75% recycled. It is low in lignin, acid free and comes with a natural brightness. This product is recommended for use with dry mediums and wet mediums.
2. Bamboo Easel
This bamboo easel is a perfect compliment to an environmentally friendly studio for work or display. It is made of Vietnamese bamboo. It has a weight limit of 15lbs for canvas and is 62” in height. It comes in one color, which is natural.
Earthen & Mineral Pigments are environmentally friendly and made up of micronized powders useful in wax or oil mural paintings. These pigments are made up of non toxic chemicals likewise oxides, silicate along with some earthen pigments.
4. Canson Biggie 100% Recycled Rough Newsprint
This product is the ultimate in environmentally friendly paper. One hundred percent of this paper is made from post consumer waste. Perfect for Pencils, pastels, charcoal with a rough surface for texture work and this pad is chlorine-free. It comes in 50 and 125 sheet tape bound pads with a 30lb weight.
5. Ecos – paints and varnishes
ECOs offer a range of organic paints and varnishes which are free from harmful chemicals causing irritation while applying. ECOs paints and varnishes are environmentally friendly and are manufactured using natural plant extracts and from organic sources. ECOs paints don’t need solvent and are available in several varieties, for example ECOs air purifying paint can be applied on walls for absorbing polluted air from room by absorption of pollutants.
Gerstaecker brush cleaners are environmentally friendly brush cleaners and are biodegradable and doesn’t spoil environment and quite useful in cleaning oil and acrylic brushes. Gerstaecker brush cleaners are also friendly with palette knives.
7. Bamboo Reed Pens
These shafts are perfect for creating the sculptured elegant lines of calligraphy or doing ink work. Highly durable each set of three pens include sizes 8.5, 7 and 6 with dual ends allowing for heavy or fine work.
Traditional oils are some of the best paints to use for art. Walnut oil cracks and yellows less than the traditional linseed oil and is significantly easier to use. Use this oil paint with no additional solvents while offering high pigmentation and no worries this oil is an environmentally alternative to rapid drying alkyd mediums. It resembles the old more traditional oils used through history.
9. Taskboard
This task board is made from biodegradable, sustainable forestry wood. It is perfect for creating models, is designed to cut easily, glue easily, and makes for the perfect solution for invisible joints.
10. Natural Orange Terpene Solvent
Natural Orange Terpene Solvent is another environmentally friendly solvent. This solvent is environment friendly and suitable for those artists who love oil painting
11. Real Milk Paints
Real milk paints are environmentally friendly paints for painting murals, furniture, wood, bricks, stones etc. Real milk paints are available in many colors but can’t be applied on oily surface or already painted surfaces. Real milk paints are environmentally friendly and non toxic.
This permanent black ink is non-toxic and made of vegetable oil soot. This ink is perfect for sumi painting, calligraphy work, makes a great complement for bamboo pens, and this ink comes conveniently in a liquid form.
13. Playbox Wheat Paste
Non-toxic, non-staining and easy mixing sets this paste apart. It is perfect for any paper-based project. Use it for paper Mache, or as part of the art supplies of any classroom for any project needing past. It comes in 1lb and 3lb powder buckets.
This is more a glue than an actual paste; Works well on collages, egg craft, and scrap booking. It can also help you to adhere paper to surfaces like glass, plastic and metal. It is easy to apply, dries slowly to allow repositioning, and will not stain paper. It is perfect for kids art projects because it washes off easily. This is an acid free product.
15. World Win Crafty creation paper
This paper specifically designed for creating greeting cards that are environmentally friendly and can be used in scrap booking. They are 100% recycled paper and are perfect for printing as well. They are 65lb card stock.
