Recycling Art Materials
Waste not, want not.
As a teaching artist, I've always held a high respect for the materials that come into my possession, whether personal or in my classroom. While I've always been conscious of how much resources are needed to make art, it's become a focus of mine to learn how to make the most out of the materials I have. To put this idea simply: Reduce, reuse and recycle EVERYTHING that I bring into my classroom.
Learning how to recycle art materials was never taught to me in formal education. I was told to be aware of how much I use, but no one ever taught me how to reuse old materials or make them last as long as possible. I can classify art materials into 2 major categories: Consumables, and Non-consumables.
Consumable materials are what you would expect to use once and it can't be used again. This includes things like paint, ink, colored pencils, markers, paper, soap, charcoal, etc. Things that have a finite amount of use before they are no longer suitable for consumption.
Non-consumables are things that can be used over and over again, like air dry clay, ceramic clay that hasn't been fired, wire, string, fabric, wood, canvas, bottles and containers, etc. things that I can use year after year with my new students when my former students already learned what they needed to from using the materials.
I am constantly organizing, re-organizing, repurposing, and decluttering in both my personal studio and my classroom studio. After I run out of paint in a paint bottle, I will either refill it with more paint or fill it with something else like glue, glaze or water to be used for another project or another class. Every time I have new consumables delivered, I will always save the cardboard boxes because my sculpting class learns how to draft up cardboard furniture for their projects. My drawing class learns how to block print onto fabric patches and if I have left over (which, I always do), then I can simply wash the fabric and use it for my sculpting class when they learn how to make clothes for clay figurines. Any left over ceramic clay from my ceramics classes that they don't use will be reclaimed and repackaged for the following year's students, which saves me time and budget on new clay. The same goes for glaze, since it can be pricey, I have my students empty their leftover glaze colors into a big jar to be saved for later. They always get excited to see what mystery concoction they've made when I glaze a sample tile that combines all of their colors. It's usually a muddy brown, but brown is also a glaze color I need so I don't have to buy more brown. While I want and encourage my students to take their projects home, if they don't want their projects, then they can donate them to me and I can harvest them for parts that can be used by a future student that WILL want to take their project home.
I spend a lot of time and energy to determine if I need to buy the nice, expensive materials or if I can get by with a cheaper alternative. Yes, I could buy sheets of cardboard that are large and flat, but my students don't make anything bigger than 2 feet in my class, so they can get by with the leftover cardboard boxes I accumulate from art supplies shipping. Yes, I could buy brand new canvases for my painting class, especially if I am running low on stock for the number of students I have, but I don't have to buy as many new ones if I clean and re-gesso the previous class's canvases that they don't want to take home. I could buy cheaper brushes in case some get lost, stolen or broken and I do have some, but my students need some nicer bristles in order to practice their fine motor skills easier. I am not required to fire the ceramics projects, or glaze them, as stated by law, but I wouldn't want to take a ceramics class if I can't bring home a completely fired and glazed project that has a practical function, so I'll spend the extra cents for glaze, and make sure it's food safe glaze so my students can make dishware and not get sick.
All of these are examples on how I make the most of the things in my classroom. There will always be some form of waste considering how many art projects get made by a single student multiplied by the amount of students I teach a year over the course of several years, but I like to think that I'm doing the best I can to reduce landfill and the carbon footprint that just my classroom (and my personal studio) make alone.
PSA: I love decluttering as much as the next person, this is especially important as a crafter that needs a lot of materials, whatever I don't use in my personal studio, I give to my students to learn with. I do the best I can to make sure the budget I'm given is used to its fullest extent, like going to the thrift store buy some pretty tablecloth for my drawing class to block print on that only cost me a few bucks instead of sourcing an expensive swatch of fabric for 10x the price. My friends and family are generous enough to ask me if I want any of the things they plan to donate before they cart it off to the thrift store. I've had parents of students who graciously offloaded their bucket of lightly used markers for my classroom instead of throwing them away. I am also periodically asked if I want any framed pictures or canvases that were used as office decorations and will be replaced with new art, I always say yes to this. I love repurposing old art. I have also sent some elementary schools boxes of crayons for their kids since my students have outgrown their interest in them.
TL;DR If you are looking to declutter something, ask your local school, the teachers will be grateful you did.
As a final note, I want to give some more tips on how to recycle some materials to save time, energy, space and money. And I would love any suggestions to add to the list.
Kneaded erasers: they can be cleaned with some warm water and soap/shampoo/conditioner/dish soap. It takes some time and practice, and it won't be perfectly clean, but good enough to use again.
Glaze: I'm talking specifically about glaze that has not been used and has dried out into a solid, dense block of chalk. Put it into a bag, break it up into smaller chunks with a chisel or hammer, and then pulverize the rest either with a grater or with mortar and pestle until it's powder again and can be mixed with water to bring it back into a usable consistency. Please wear a respirator as that dust is not good for your eyes or lungs.
Ceramic and air dry clay: break the larger chunks into smaller pieces in a baggie and add some water, the clay will eventually mix with the water to become muddy, which you can dry out on a plaster slab until it's at a workable consistency again. If there are any clay projects or pieces left over from students that don't want them or ones that break in the kiln, I will actually collect them and break them into smaller pieces or make ceramic noise shakers or weights inside a hollow project to make the bottom heavier and more stable. For any air dry clay that is painted, lightly coat the paint in water, wait for a few minutes, and you can wipe off the paint.
Stretched canvas: I will usually let the canvas soak in a shallow tub of water overnight to loosen the layers of paint and gently scrape it off so the layers don't become too thick. They then can dry out and I can re-gesso any holes.
Watercolor: Sometimes my watercolor tins can leak into each other and contaminate the pure color. Not to fret, they just need a thin layer of water on top and let it sit for a minute or 2 before a clean brush can lift the contaminated color off the top. I also have my students bring me their empty (or near empty) tins to be refilled with the same watercolor so I don't throw away as much plastic.
Splayed brushes: If my attempt to shampoo the brush bristles to get out the extra paint that has hardened doesn't work, then I will still clean them to the best of my ability before setting them aside for my sculpting and painting classes. Old crusty brushes are effective for spotted textures like stone, grass and leaves. If not, they also work as glue brushes.
Fabric: I use fabric for my students to block print on with ink. Just like any other printmaker, there are bound to be extras and mistakes. If I can't get the ink stain out of the fabric with a few washes, then the fabric can be used by my sculpting class and it can be painted on to change the color and hide the printing mistake. If that doesn't go through, then I donate the fabric to the sewing teacher for their kids to make bookmarks.
Containers: One of my colleagues will wash the empty yogurt cups their partner eats from and donates them to me periodically. The cup size is perfect for a small amount of water that a student can use at their desk while painting. The cups are also wide and short so there is less chance of a spill. If they get too old or break, then they can be discarded for a new one that is of no cost to me or my students. This also goes for other plastic food containers like Tupperware, sour cream jars, cottage cheese cups, etc. provided that they are clean, they make great organizers and storage for small things.