Chest of Colors forum

Hi folks!

I was speaking to someone from an art supply company this morning, and when I mentioned what I'm using stuff for (miniature painting) they got interested in hearing more. I told them I was somewhat surprised that I hadn't seen much of an effort from larger art supply companies to advertise or otherwise engage the miniature painters (of all types - historical, gaming, etc.) since there is so much potential business to be had. Something as simple as grouping potentially useful products under a sub-heading on their Web site could be useful to mini painters and fairly low cost for the company to do.

The person I was speaking with thought this was a great idea, and would like an email with some potential ideas of products to include in the list.

I know the obvious stuff (brushes, inks, acrylic paint mediums and such, brush carriers/cases), but there's probably other stuff that people have found on their own that I may not have thought about.

Do you have anything that you get from an art supply company that I could list as a potential idea? Please post here if so. Thanks!

for example,
- the sculpting tools and the green stuff or the like.
- the flexible wooden human body for posing.
- artwork book for reference
- puddy

actually, a lot of the stuffs I buy from modelling store, I will not find them in the art store. I think the linkage between art and modelling is tight, but just seem to me that these 2 kinds of store seem to seperate from each other....haha

I normally buy in art stores the stuff you listed. Lately I bought a brush cleaner soap as well, and I'm very satisfied with it and happy that I bought it. I can only recommend buying one if you haven't already had one.

Acrylic paint additives is also something I bought from an art store, Golden Acrylic Flow Release and Golden Acrylic Retarder.

That's all I can remember at the moment .

i ussually shop lots of stuff in art stores but lets just keep hobby related...

fimo paste, clay paste, clay shapper brushes, plasticard, balsa wood, architecture terrain and accessories, acrylic sprays... etc

hope it helps.

oh yeah, i can add plaster to the color shapers i mentioned yesterday....

Thanks for the ideas, folks. Keep them coming. I'm going to try to put this together later this week to send the company.


If you're curious, its Cheap Joe's Art Stuff that I've spoken with. I've bought stuff from them before, and they are amazingly helpful and friendly. I go to a local store when I can, but they tend to be out-of-stock on random things every time I go there. Plus, they don't keep really small, really good brushes in stock very well. Cheap Joe's is my alternative. I know this probably doesn't do the folks outside of the US much good (since you've got plenty of great places, I'm certain), but maybe it'll help out some US painters.

I've been trying to get some colour shapers from the local artshop for sculpting with GS. Also i've bought Talens matt spray and some tiny brushes there in the past...

Brush soap? What's that then...?

I use some called The Masters' Brush Cleaner and Preserver. Its a cake of stuff in a plastic container. You dip your brush in water, then brush it along this stuff, then back to water until all the stuff is out of your brush. I mostly use it when I've been using darker colors or inks. Takes stuff right out of my brushes!

There's lots of different kinds on the market, though.

Aha, to clean your brushes... Never do that, never really had to either. But if it improves on quality I might give it a shot sometime.

Skrit wrote:Also i've bought Talens matt spray...

oh yeah I also buy my matt-finish spray at an art store, it's called "Dupli Color Aqua Acryl" but I dont know if that's even available in the US. I've heard from US residents that they use "Testors Dull Coat" maybe an option...