I don’t know about you, but my creative streak always seems to rear up when the checkbook looks a little bleak. Over the years, I’ve learned that making art with limited supplies is a fantastic way to stretch my creativity, save money, and explore new techniques. Limited resources can lead you to think outside the box, and the results are often unique and unexpected.
In this article, I’ll cover ten techniques to help you create amazing art with what you already have at home, along with some practical tips to make the most of your supplies. When you’re a beginner, making art in times of economic scarcity is often the stretching mechanism you need to find your signature style. Advanced artists can use these techniques to develop a new twist on old skills.
Each technique includes step-by-step instructions so that even if you’re new to art, you can follow along and produce something you’ll love.
Invest in Your Skill
A skilled artist can create magic with next to nothing. One fantastic way to be creative when you don’t have supplies is to invest in your knowledge base. At Homebody Hall, we’re passionate about giving you the skills you need to excel. From our Muddy to Masterpiece Masterclass to our Acrylic Pouring Color Theory Mega Printable Pack, we offer a series of tutorials and resources that will increase your understanding of color theory and mold you into a paint pour expert! Grab one of our tutorials today, and invest in your skill.
Ten Art Projects You Can Complete with Limited Supplies
1. Collage from Found Materials
Collaging with found materials is an accessible and creative way to work with limited supplies. By using scraps from magazines, newspapers, or even junk mail, you can create beautiful, layered artwork that reflects your personality and environment.
- Step 1: Gather materials. Look around your house for paper items like old magazines, catalogs, packaging, or colorful wrappers. You might even use textured papers like receipts, postcards, or maps.
- Step 2: Cut or tear your materials. Use scissors if you want clean edges, or tear the paper for a more organic, textured look.
- Step 3: Arrange the pieces on a piece of cardboard, canvas, or paper. Try placing larger shapes in the background and smaller details on top to create depth.
- Step 4: Glue everything down using a glue stick, regular glue, or even homemade paste (1 part flour, 1 part water). Press down on each piece to make sure it sticks well, and let it dry completely before displaying or framing your piece.
Collaging lets you transform everyday scraps into something beautiful, all while making a low-cost and resourceful piece of art.
Pro Tip: Collages tend to look a bit “crafty” if not done to perfection. However, they can look professional and abstract if proper time and care are taken. Play around with shapes and placement. Consider dying all the paper the same color for an interesting monotone creation, or go with bold black and white for a uniform look. To ensure a professional look, seal your collage with a high gloss clear coat. Whatever you have lying around will do. Use Elmer’s glue if you get desperate (2 parts glue, 1 part water)!
2. Monochromatic Paintings with Coffee or Tea
If you’re interested in creating a piece with only one color, coffee and tea make excellent natural pigments. This technique works well for creating sepia-toned or vintage-looking art, ideal for landscapes or portraits.
- Step 1: Brew a strong cup of coffee or tea, depending on the shade you want. Darker teas and black coffee give richer, deeper tones.
- Step 2: Pour some of the liquid into a small container for easy access. Use it straight for darker tones, or dilute it with water to create lighter shades.
- Step 3: Use a brush, cotton swab, or even a stick to apply the coffee or tea to your paper. Apply layers, allowing each to dry before adding another to build depth. You’ll notice the color darkens each time you add a new layer.
- Step 4: Allow your piece to dry completely, then optionally spray it with a fixative or hairspray to prevent smudging and preserve the color.
Creating monochromatic art with coffee or tea adds a vintage quality and gives a warm, earthy feel to your work—both of which are popular in current home decor.
3. Stenciling with Household Items
Stenciling allows you to repeat shapes and patterns without drawing each one by hand. You will need to find or create the initial stencil, but once you have that, you’re good to go! Found objects like a pretty leaf can make an inverted stencil. You just adhere it to the canvas and paint around it.
- Step 1: Find or create your stencil. You can use a plastic snowflake from Dollar General, a piece of scrap lace with an intricate design, or cut an interesting shape into a cheap placemat.
- Step 2: Once you have a design you love, simply secure it to your canvas with masking tape and paint over it with spray paint, a sponge, or whatever tool you have lying around.
- Step 3: Remove the stencil carefully. Clean it. Move it to a new spot on the canvas, and repeat.
Stenciling is an easy way to add dimension to a piece, and it works especially well for creating repeating patterns, like borders or background designs.
Pro Tip: If you’re unsure where to start, choose a piece of art that you like and try to mimic the look or emotion of the piece with your stenciling project. Stenciling works best if you use a plopping or dotting paint method rather than typical brush strokes. Hold your dotting sponge or brush perpendicular to the canvas and dab the paint on.
4. Toothbrush Splatter Painting
If you enjoy creating abstract art or want to add texture to an existing piece, toothbrush splatter painting is a fun and simple technique that only requires an old toothbrush. This is a great idea for those times when you forgot to rinse your brushes, and you open your art space to realize they’re all hard as a rock (anybody else?…just me?)
- Step 1: Set up your workspace with paper or canvas. Prepare your paint by diluting it slightly with water so it’s easy to flick— Approximately half water and half paint, depending on the grade and quality of your paint.
- Step 2: Dip the toothbrush into the paint, making sure the bristles are covered but not dripping.
- Step 3: Hold the toothbrush above your paper and run your finger across the bristles, flicking the paint. Try using different colors and layering splatters for interesting effects.
- Step 4: Experiment with the distance between the toothbrush and the paper and the speed of the flick, creating a myriad of different splatter patterns.
This technique is ideal for backgrounds, and it adds a dynamic quality to abstract work. Plus, it’s easy to control once you get the hang of it!
Pro Tip: For an interesting take on a portrait, draw and cut out a profile of your chosen muse on construction paper. Adhere the paper to your canvas before you start splattering paint. Then, remove the cut-out to reveal an easy and interesting splatter-paint portrait.
It doesn’t have to be a portrait! This technique works great for creating interesting shapes and patterns of all kinds. Just look around the house for something that catches your eye!
5. Using Kitchen Utensils for Texture
Adding texture with kitchen utensils can give your work a unique look without needing any specialty tools. Forks, sponges, and crumpled foil work particularly well for creating texture.
- Step 1: Select an item like a fork or sponge. If you’re using paint, water down acrylics for easier application.
- Step 2: Dip the utensil in paint, then press or drag it onto the paper or canvas. For example, dragging a fork creates lines, while a sponge creates a soft texture that works well for backgrounds.
- Step 3: Layer different colors and textures to build depth in your work. This technique is perfect for abstract pieces or for creating landscapes with textured effects.
By using kitchen items, you can add dimension to your work in unexpected ways, and it’s fun to see how each object creates a unique result.
Pro Tip: For added texture, consider using a thickening medium. You can try silicone caulk if you have a tube lying around. Sand or joint compound also works well.
6. Natural Dyes for Color
Creating art with natural dyes is both eco-friendly and budget-friendly. Many foods can produce beautiful colors, like beet juice for pinks or spinach for greens.
- Step 1: Crush or blend your chosen dye source. Beetroot, spinach, turmeric, and berries are great options. Add a few drops of water to create a workable liquid.
- Step 2: Dip a brush or cotton swab in the dye and apply it to your paper.
- Step 3: Let each color dry before adding more to prevent smudging. Build layers to create depth and intensity.
Pro Tip: Keep natural dye art out of direct sunlight to prevent fading. It will season best if you give it a couple of coats of a UV protectant clear sealer.
7. Stamping with Erasers or Potatoes
Stamping is an easy way to make patterns without needing intricate designs. Simple shapes like circles or stars are perfect for this technique. You can make stamps from coins, paper clips, household sponges, potatoes, or even leaves to achieve varied effects.
- Step 1: Gather a few small objects that could work as stamps. Round items like coins create circles, while straight edges from objects like popsicle sticks or rulers work for lines. If using a potato, cut it in half and carve a design like a heart or star into the flat side. For an eraser, simply carve with a craft knife.
- Step 2: Dip each object lightly into paint or ink (you can make ink by blending markers with a small amount of water).
- Step 3: Press the object onto your paper, creating patterns or repeating shapes to add rhythm and movement to your work. Experiment with overlapping and changing angles for a more complex design.
Stamping is great for adding playful shapes to any project and works well for creating repeating patterns.
8. Charcoal from Burnt Wood
Charcoal is one of the oldest art materials, and you can make it yourself with a piece of burnt wood.
- Step 1: Carefully burn a small, thin stick until it’s blackened. Let it cool completely.
- Step 2: Use the charred stick to draw. Charcoal creates a deep black color that’s easy to smudge and blend for shading.
- Step 3: To prevent smudging, spray a light layer of hairspray over your finished drawing as a fixative.
This technique gives you access to a free drawing tool and works especially well for sketching or creating bold, dramatic effects.
9. Ink Transfer with Packing Tape
Ink transfer using packing tape is a unique way to create textured images or patterns in your artwork. This technique works well with magazine images, newspapers, or even laser-printed photos.
- Step 1: Find an image or text that you want to transfer. Choose something printed on lightweight paper (like magazine pages) for the best results.
- Step 2: Place a strip of clear packing tape over the image, pressing down firmly to make sure the ink adheres to the tape.
- Step 3: Soak the taped image in warm water for a few minutes until the paper softens. Gently rub the back of the paper to remove it, leaving the inked image on the tape.
- Step 4: Once the paper backing is removed, you’ll be left with a transparent image on the tape, which you can press onto your artwork or apply with glue for a layered effect.
Ink transfers add a unique, ghostly quality to your artwork, perfect for collages or adding interesting layers to backgrounds.
10. Embossing with Simple Household Tools
Embossing involves creating a raised or indented pattern on paper, which adds a three-dimensional texture to your artwork. You don’t need expensive tools for this—just a few simple items from around the house.
- Step 1: Place a piece of thin paper (like printer or tracing paper) over a soft surface, such as a stack of newspaper, clay, or a foam pad.
- Step 2: Draw your design gently onto the paper using a dull pencil or the rounded end of a pen. (I like to use a pen with the writing tip unexposed). Press down firmly but not so hard that the paper tears. This pressure will create a raised effect on the opposite side of the paper.
- Step 3: Flip the paper over to reveal your embossed design, which should now be raised in the areas where you applied pressure.
- Step 4: Optionally, you can lightly rub colored pencil or chalk over the raised areas to make the embossing stand out more.
This pressure embossing technique is ideal for creating decorative borders, lettering, or subtle textures in your artwork, adding an elegant, tactile quality without any specialized tools.
Tips for Creating Art with Limited Supplies
Here are some final tips for maximizing your creative process when working with limited resources:
1. Think Creatively
Look at everyday objects with an open mind. Items you’d never think of, like kitchen sponges, packaging materials, or makeup brushes, can be perfect for creating unique effects. Don’t limit yourself. The best part of working with random supplies is you don’t have to worry about messing them up. It didn’t cost you anything, so go crazy!
2. Embrace Layering
Since you’re working with fewer colors and tools, layering can make your work look richer and more complex. You can layer textures, colors, and patterns to create visual interest. To avoid a crafty look or busyness, consider limiting your color palette to one or two colors.
3. Focus on Composition
Experiment with different arrangements to make your piece feel balanced. Since your materials may limit color choices, strong composition will make a big difference. Take some extra time to think about product placement, size and shape of your objects, etc. before jumping in. In order to make a limited supply project look professional, you may have to put more thought into it than you would a regular piece.
4. Stay Open to Experimenting
Not everything will turn out perfectly, and that’s okay. Some of the best art happens by accident, so don’t be afraid to try new combinations. If you hate it, scrap it and start over, or paint over it with a base color, and try again.
5. Walk Away
Before you get frustrated and chunk a project in the bin, walk away and do something else for a while. Remember, this is a new experiment for you, and it’s unlikely to turn out just the way you imagined. When you take your mind off of it and focus on something else, that’s usually when a new brilliant idea comes to mind!
Get Creative with Limited Supplies
Art isn’t about having the best tools or the most expensive supplies; it’s about making the most of what you have. These techniques allow you to create stunning art on a budget, encouraging you to be resourceful and creative in every project. So gather up your materials and dive into one (or more) of these projects. You might surprise yourself with what you can create with just a few basic supplies!
For more ingenious ideas, check out our article “Doing More with Less: Transforming Your Home with the Underconsumption Craze.” It dives deep into home decor ideas to refresh your space without buying more junk!
