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JennGM
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I know I see the images on all the blogs and elsewhere: cute little containers with flavorful colored pencils and markers and pencils and pens all standing at attention.
It's attractive and inviting. And yet, I've never used that kind of system.
I keep my art supplies so they are "lying down" in containers like cookie tins, diaper wipe boxes, zip-top pencil bags. I really haven't had the horizontal space to keep the tools out in a cup or upright position.
When it's time to work, we take out the tools. But there's all sorts of rummaging to find the colors, and then we spread it all out on the table so we don't have to dig again.
Now it's going to change. This week I was working on a calligraphy project. I was using all different types of markers and colored pencils, instead of paints and fountain pens, which made this adventure a little different.
My container was full of markers, but I was putting them standing instead of lying down. And I was also including my scissors and all my other tools.
I was able to easily grab and go, and put back.
I'm such a slow dumb bird. It worked so wonderfully. Of course it did, you are saying!
But now I'm long-winded to ask what are your favorite containers that aren't easily toppled to hold such apparatus?
Even if I store them flat, I'm going to put them in an upright position when we go to take off with projects. This worked way too well.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Jan 31 2012 at 7:11pm | IP Logged
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I like wide-mouth pint size Mason Jars. Bottoms are as wide as the tops on wide mouth jars which makes them very stable. And they're clear so you can see if something gets to the bottom, and very inexpensive found used at the thrift store.
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Jen Mackintosh
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JennGM
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Mackfam wrote:
| I like wide-mouth pint size Mason Jars. Bottoms are as wide as the tops on wide mouth jars which makes them very stable. And they're clear so you can see if something gets to the bottom, and very inexpensive found used at the thrift store. |
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That's exactly what I was thinking. I have some of those, but I just checked and they are all in use with pysanky dyes. 
Thanks for not making fun of me. It's just a silly aha moment for me. The cups aren't just visual, but VERY practical. And if you know me, practical wins all the time.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Erin
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I'm even more practical, I used tin cans. Washed out and labels removed.
btw we don't have Mason jars here, but I've always wondered, aren't you worried children will drop and smash them?
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Erin
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lapazfarm
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I use little metal buckets. I picked up a bunch in the dollar bin at Target a few years ago and they are so handy to have around.
I used to keep all of our "stick-shaped" art supplies in them all the time...markers, pencils, etc...lots of little buckets. But recently I decided they took up too much counter space like that. Now I keep them all in one of those hanging shoe pocket dividers (I found the little buckets fit perfectly in the pockets), and then when we want to use them we just grab a bucket to use at the table.
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Theresa
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MaryM
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| Posted: Jan 31 2012 at 10:32pm | IP Logged
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I use painted tin cans as well - but mason jars would be prettier.
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Mary M. in Denver
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Jan 31 2012 at 11:08pm | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
| btw we don't have Mason jars here, but I've always wondered, aren't you worried children will drop and smash them? |
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Mason jars are actually a fairly thick glass - not as prone to breakage as say a dinner glass might be, and quite balanced because the sides are straight rather than flared. Of course, they certainly can break, but I don't worry about them breaking any more than I do glasses at the table for dinner. The children have dropped them before and the Mason jars haven't broken, but our floors are oak (throughout most of the house anyway), and the wooden floors are a bit more forgiving than the tile floors in our kitchen.
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Jen Mackintosh
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JodieLyn
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I got a picnic silverware and napkin holder at the grocery store this summer it's some sort of grass type stuff woven on a metal frame. It could work real well for something like this and being a wider square would not tip easily and looks nice too.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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SuzanneG
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We use mostly glass too....canning jars, salsa & jam jars from grocery store food, etc.
We have hardwood floors and linoleum, and have never broken a jar used for supplies.
We also use something similar to this kitchen turnabout for markers.
And, have used a kitchen utensil holder sort of like this one too.
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Suzanne in ID
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CrunchyMom
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I use some small white ceramic pots from the garden section of Ikea. I've had them for years and have repurposed them a lot.
Though, as for how "practical" it is, the jury is still out. My boys will still dump whatever they are using in a big pile  , so I then have to have them pick them up to go back in when they are finished. I really wish they would share your epiphany.
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Lindsay
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Angi
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We use empty jars here too, but soon I am going to line them with strips of fabric glued to the insides (as seen on pintrest  ).
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Becky Parker
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I've had the same thoughts, off and on, Jennifer. My dd, now in 7th grade, does a lot of art work in her bedroom so she has some of the little buckets that Theresa mentioned at her desk. I need a better system for my sons though. They love to draw and we go through reams of paper and lots of crayons, markers and colored pencils. Right now they are stored in drawers in a china hutch but this is not a good system.
(I read, I think here, that one of the reasons that it is so hard to sharpen a colored pencil without the lead breaking is that the lead breaks inside the pencil when they are handled roughly. Keeping them in some kind of holder would probably help.)
I have another problem to add to this mix though. I have "art utensil thieves" around here. It seems, if I leave the art materials out, they get used a lot (which is good) but they get taken to bedrooms, the family room, the kitchen table ... and then end up being lost. I don't want to restrict and tell them they can only use the art materials on Friday afternoons when we do "art" as a family. But maybe that is something I have to consider. Our school room is the best place to store them if I'm going to use jars or some kind of caddy, but it is in the basement and the kids don't usually want to go down there when they are by themselves. But, it's usually when they are in a quiet mood, by themselves, that they want to draw/color/etc. I hate to restrict them to doing art down there because I'm afraid they would choose something different to do.
(Sorry this is disjointed. I don't have my glasses on AND my 1 yo is climbing all over me this morning!)
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Becky
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Mackfam
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How about two art supply stations, Becky? You can keep your set up in the basement, but perhaps there is a smallish table or shelf in a common area of the living spaces that could hold some color pencils, paper, etc. When the children want to draw they can get some supplies from this area and then once a week, when you'd normally have the kids doing their room cleaning chores, all the art supplies must be brought back to the common area shelf/table.
OR....you could just stock each child's room with color pencils. That's what I do. My kids are always drawing/sketching/creating so it became obvious early on that they needed tools and space to create in their rooms. And it made more sense to provide some room rules than always having supplies going back and forth because they were always going back and never coming forth! Now, I have older children and littles that share rooms, so the color pencils have to stay on a shelf up high in the rooms, and the little kids know the rules. I can't say we've ever had many problems with art supplies being in rooms; it's just always been that way. But if it were a new thing in your home you'd probably have to carefully consider your children, some rules for useage, storing and putting away, care with the littles, etc.
In the kids rooms: In addition to color pencils, my dd has oil pastels, markers, watercolors, glues of all kinds, and beading materials. My older son has watercolor pencils, glues, and model paints in his room, and we did have a problem with that once, though it wasn't from his mis-use as much as lack of care in putting away.....it was the toddler who found the model paints that he left down low.  He spent some time scrubbing and washing and we came up with some new rules for the model paints.
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Jen Mackintosh
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: Feb 06 2012 at 11:13am | IP Logged
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We use jam and peanut butters (I only buy glass containers of peanut butter) -- but we have some of those buckets from Target too (but they're all rusted from my son doing all sorts of everything with them ;) ).
At one school I worked, on a tight budget, they used jam jars as well for the colored pencils, paintbrushes, etc. - one for each color or item ---- and tied a colored ribbon around the top to indicate the color it should contain. It was quite pretty!
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Angi
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Here is the link for the fabric lined jars. They use them as votives, I want to use them as pencil holders. We put all of the reddish colored pencils together, so they would be in a reddish jar 
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MicheleQ
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Glass jars are what we use but I like using square or rectangular tins too. Old Bay tins, Earl Gray tea tins.
I repurposed a picnic utensil basket into an art center a few months back and that has been the best yet for storage and ease of use. I love that Ii can grab it all at once and take it to wherever we are currently working (sometimes dining room table sometimes family room table sometimes picnic table).
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Michele Quigley
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4Real Forums : The Arts in the Everyday
Topic: My Little Epiphany: Art Supplies
