There’s an idea among painters that DIY saves money. Stretch your own canvases. Build your own frames. Cut your own panels. Control the art materials cost and keep more profit.
But is that actually cheaper? Sometimes. Often, no. Art supplies are expensive, but so is wasted studio time.
How to save money on art supplies without sacrificing quality
Standard painting sizes save money. When you work in standard canvas sizes, you benefit from mass production. Manufacturers stock them. Frame companies produce moulding for them. Art supply sales frequently discount them.
Odd sizes reduce options and increase cost. Custom framing and mats become inevitable. Shipping costs rise. That quietly erodes your profit margin.
I knew a watercolorist who stocked only one size painting. She moved them in crates that she packed in a fraction of the time I was wasting wrapping each work separately. The crates stacked easily in her van. She only had to order one size frame and one size paper. And her booth always looked effortlessly elegant.
For professional painters, standardization isn’t dull—it’s smart business. It improves studio efficiency and reduces friction from easel to sale.
Are DIY canvases and frames cheaper?
Raw materials and tools aren’t cheap. Quality canvas, linen, boards, stretcher bars, hardwood moulding, corner clamps, biscuit joiners or v-nailers, miter saws—these all add up fast.
Woodworking is its own art form. After investing $1,500 or more in tools, you will almost certainly be bad at it, at least at first. Miters won’t close. Corners don’t stay glued. You’ll be off by a 16th of an inch. Finish will run. And stretching canvas to the right tension is a skill.
Meanwhile, you’re not painting. Is this the best use of your creative energy?
Oil painting medium is a great example. I learned how to make my own using damar varnish, turpentine, linseed oil and cobalt drier, but if you look at mid-century paintings done with that combination you’ll see cracking and crazing. The cost of the materials will set you back more than many jars of better, modern mediums.
Buying art supplies on sale changes the math
Art supply sales are not trivial. They can run twenty to forty percent off frames, panels or canvases. When you buy professional art materials at those discounts, the gap between DIY and retail shrinks dramatically.
“I walked into Jerry’s one day and saw this ridiculous sale—40% off—on square wood frames that my buyers seem to love,” my student told me. “I bought a bunch but will always regret not buying every single one. They were so cheap and look so good, and I only have a couple left!”
That’s art business cost control.
Be a cheapskate buyer of quality materials. Watch for sales. Stock up on standard sizes. Plan ahead. Buying canvases and frames during art supply sales is more cost-effective than DIY.
Professional vs. student-grade: don’t cut the wrong corners
A workshop student asked me why I recommend professional grade painting boards. For an absolute beginner they don’t matter. But once you get past that, cheap boards sabotage your results. And cheap paint is never a bargain.
The goal is economical framing options and efficient supply purchasing without compromising your work. Use professional-grade materials, but buy them intelligently.
One reason artists love to DIY
Sometimes DIY isn’t about economics, it’s about avoidance.
Researching moulding profiles feels productive. Building stretchers feels industrious. But they don’t answer the harder question: what are you going to put on that blank canvas? If your mission is to grow as a painter, sell more work, and build a sustainable art practice, then focus on the thing that matters. Paint.
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Good thoughts about where to put one’s energy. On the other hand, I think it’s useful for artists to know their materials, and prepping your own canvases or panels goes a long way to understanding absorbency, etc. On the OTHER other hand, I would stop at trying to grind my own pigments. 🙂
If you did that, Michael, I’d request an intervention.
❤️
Your florals are stunning!
Thank you!
I used to think that stretching my own canvas would be more authentic. The pre-made stretchers+fabric can be expensive and I really no longer have the hand strength to stretch canvas. I’m grateful that I have access to good professional art supplies and hurray for sales! Thank you interweb.
No one in my life would appreciate an attempt to make my own chemical mixtures. I’d be surrounded by siblings with Haz Mat gear and a straight jacket!
Great post!
Hah!
As primarily a watercolorist, I will fight to the death for professional grade watercolor paint. Student grade is awful and frustrating for anyone trying to paint.
Unless you’re maybe 5 years old.
PS – The lack of ads is very pleasant. I never got the truly weird or gross ones, but thanks!
Although I know that ads are generated by the reader’s content, some of the ones I get really baffle me.
Thank you for this post…having learned from a prophetic test result back in dark age high school that I had only a 40% mechanical aptitude, I long ago turned to the ready-made. Although I sometimes feel like an art supply Luddite, it makes art life much cheaper, quicker, and less stressful. I’ve even had framer professionals compliment my framing efforts (of course they didn’t look at the back, lol).
That made me smile, Robin.
If you’re serious about painting, take what you would have spent on woodworking supplies and put that money into workshops. You’ll get better, then you can raise your prices to offset the cost of frames!
Well said, my friend!
I was a woodworker with a fully-equipped shop before I took up painting, so I couldn’t not make frames. After selecting, buying, and milling the wood to make simple moldings, mitering and adding splines in the corners, sanding, and painting, and then figuring a modest $20/hour if I were to charge myself (not to mention overhead for the space and electricity, and depreciation costs on the equipment), I walk into a Hobby Lobby frame sale and get a solid, good-looking 16×20 frame for about $16.
I do enjoy the process of making frames, and will still do that on occasion, but if I was relying on art sales to put food on the table I would certainly think twice about DIY vs. purchasing.
It’s like sewing–you do it because you love it, not because it makes economic sense.
While I suppose I could acquire the tools, materials, and skill to do my own framing, I want to be a painter not a framer.
My aptitude for woodworking is extremely low. Having worked with some truly gifted framers I know that framing well is an art in its own right.
That is absolutely true.