Question of the Month--Where do you shop?

Our question this month is "Where are your favorite places to buy art supplies, either in person or online?

Robin:

I try to actually use some of my stash instead of buying new stuff these days, but I still enjoy a great hunt for fabrics now and then.

Goodwill Bins--I love the unknown of shopping here. Sometimes you find nothing, sometimes you find exactly what you were looking for, and often there's a perfect oddity that you didn't know you needed. I especially like digging through the linen sections to find a vintage tablecloth, bits of crochet, or other pieces that I can dye. I also like finding odd ethnic flavored clothes that can be cut up.

Dharma Trading Co.(online)--best source for dyes and fabrics to dye. They also have wonderful resource and tutorial pages.

Since I often work with small scraps of fabrics, I am really happy that some of the quilting stores have started selling remnants by the pound or by the bag. Pine Needle Quilt Shop in Lake Oswego and A Common Thread have especially nice leftovers.

And I always love the selection of fabrics at Fibers in Motion in Multnomah Village. They often have little bags of mixed batiks that I covet.

Sue:

My favorite places to shop are: Peddler's Pack, Michael's, Joanne's, Aaron Brothers and garage/estate sales.

Lenall:

One of my favorite places to find art supplies is at estate sales. Inevitably, a lot of older people or people who have been ill do art for therapy. I have hit paydirt many times finding brand new supplies. I am always excited when I wander into an estate sale of an artist. I am a proponent of you can never have too much. :0)

I like to shop local, so I tend to go to Art Media and to I've Been Framed. Outside of Portland, I have purchased a lot of supplies from Daniel Smith, in Seattle. I also like Cheap Joes.

Suzanne:

Locally, I can meet most fabric/fiber needs at Fabric Depot in Portland or Jo-Ann Fabrics. As for beads and jewelry supplies, the shows that are in town such as Bead Faire and the Portland Bead Society Bead Bazaar are good resources. Love to browse local antique malls for vintage items. My overall favorite online resource for just about any art/craft supply is etsy.com. where there is an amazing array of vendors.

Cynthia:

MUSE on Hawthorne is a favorite, as well as I've Been Framed and SCRAP.

Lorraine:

Favorite place to get art supplies: standard supplies- Art Media

Favorite place for unusual and disparate items that I don't know what I am going to do with but I just know I must bring them home? The give-away table at our PAC meetings or our "trunk sales" at Menucha!!!

Jan:

The first place I head to is Collage on Alberta St in Portland. What Maria doesn't have she will cheerfully order for you. I also shop at Art Media for their great sales and "frequent flier" discounts, as well as their wide selection of art supplies. For online orders I head to Dick Blick. They have a huge inventory where I can usually find even the most unusual supplies in their online store.

Marilyn:

I love to shop at the Antique Fair at the Expo. It's 3 times a year,

Oct, Mar, and Jul with Jul being the largest. I love it. So much

stuff, I never have gotten all the way around..Three buildings and

outside in Jul. Nice vendors. It's like going to a museum.

And I've learned so much. For example, how to clean up my

grandfather's cast iron bank that I would have ruined by using steel

wool and all it needed was--you guessed it, WD40.

Tammy:

How can we stop at one when asking for a favorite place to shop. Finally I have narrowed it down to an international store that sells both on line, and in retail outlets. A foreign sounding name, it's "Fdygmnca-Dbccevw's". I think that may be an acronym for

Fabric Depot Yarn Garden Michaels Nine Yards Columbia Art Dick Blicks Convention Center Event Vendors and Wendy's.

OK - so my favorite place is the Fabric Depot, but only by a thread!!

Dayna:

I love shopping for art supplies and always in person as much as possible. I have a few online sources, but that is mainly for bulk items I might be using in my classes. For traditional art supplies, I love Art Media. Even if I don't think I need anything, I can spend an hour just browsing. For a lot of my art I use old rusty bits, so I love shopping for architectural salvage at places like the ReBuilding Center. Finally, a great place for all kinds of art supplies, fabric, magazines, and who knows what else, is SCRAP in northeast Portland