The Frugal Way in Art

I'm always on the look out for a cheaper way to either make my own materials, or get around the more expensive brands when it comes to art. If I knew the reciepes for making my own oil or acrylic paints, I'd try it, really.

But today I have a reciepe for Gesso. You know, that big jar you buy to prime a canvas. It's suggested you put another layer down of Gesso before you paint on any canvas, because usually the cheaper the canvas the less Gesso they put on it--and the cheaper the material, but we'll get to that another day.

I took a look at both Hobby Lobby and Micheals stores to see just how much it is. A 16 oz jar of Gesso at Hobby Lobby is about $25. At Micheals it's about $10. But if you don't need that much Gesso, or, by golly, you don't feel like going into town to get it, and if you have the ingredients on hand, why not make your own?

Here's what you need:
1/4 cup corn starch or baking soda
1 T. white (or any color) acrylic paint
1 T. Glue--can be Tacky, Elmer's, any kind you may have
1-3 T. of water to mix to consistancy you want. 

I used a large cup (seen in background of photo above), and a plastic spoon for mixing, and a Tablespoom measure of some sort. Just know these will all need to be cleaned off right away after you get this done. Also, if you have a canvase handy that could use a coat of Gesso, I'd have it close by and a paint brush to swipe out whatever is left over in your mixing cup/bowl. 

You can easily double or triple the ingredience in order to make more, too. If you go on You Tube, you'll find a dozen videos on how to do it, but there's nothing to it, no mystery. If you can mix a batch of cookies, you can certainly make this up in about 10 minutes.

All I know is that these materials are usually on hand, I used the craft glue, and craft acrylic paints I bought in a craft store, or at Walmart. The paints are the 2 fluid ounce size, so if you wanted to add more cornstarch and glue to make a larger batch it wouldn't be hard to do that.

Anyway, it's a lot cheaper than buying it already made up, that's for sure!