Best American-Made Art Supplies & Craft Materials

Crayola has made crayons in Easton, Pennsylvania since 1903, and the crayon boxes are the clearest US-made item in its range. Crayola sells far more than crayons, including markers, Model Magic and big art kits, and we have not confirmed where each of those is made. Read the origin line on the package for anything other than the crayons.

For markers, Liqui-Mark makes washable and permanent markers and highlighters at its plant in Hauppauge, New York. It also imports some lines, and its crayons are not on its US-made list, so the markers are the part to buy.

Handy Art in Milton, Wisconsin says everything it sells is made there: tempera, washable and acrylic paints, finger paint, liquid watercolors, gesso, inks and glues, under the Handy Art and Little Masters names. The Jackson family has run it since 1974. Colorations, the classroom brand of Discount School Supply, has a washable tempera set that states US origin, but origin varies across its wider range.

For glue, AdTech makes hot glue sticks in Hampton, New Hampshire, and Surebonder makes its glue sticks at a plant in Wauconda, Illinois from raw materials that may come from abroad. Neither company states an origin for its glue guns. Wikki Stix waxed-yarn sticks are labeled wholly made in the USA, though we could not confirm the factory city. Grafix makes shrink film and Dura-Lar sheets in Maple Heights, Ohio.

Two brands here are not US makers. Uchida of America is the California sales arm of a Japanese marker company, and its site marks several lines Made in Japan. Stampabilities, a store brand of rubber stamps, does not say where its stamps are made.

Several professional paint makers still grind their colors in the US, and each one names its town. Golden Artist Colors makes Heavy Body, Fluid and OPEN acrylics, gesso, gels and pouring media in New Berlin, New York, on the grounds of the barn where Sam Golden and his family started the company in 1980. It has been fully employee-owned since 2021. Gamblin makes oil colors, Gamsol odorless mineral spirits and Gamvar varnish in Portland, Oregon, where Robert Gamblin founded it in 1980.

Utrecht mills its Artists' acrylic and oil paints in Brooklyn, New York, and has belonged to Blick Art Materials since 2013. The Brooklyn claim covers those two lines only, not the Studio Series or other Utrecht-branded supplies. Da Vinci Paint Co. says every paint it makes, oils, watercolors, acrylics and gouache, is made at its small headquarters in Southern California.

For watercolor, M. Graham & Co. of Hubbard, Oregon mills watercolor and gouache with honey and oil colors with walnut oil. Daniel Smith states that its Extra Fine watercolors and gouache are made in the USA but does not name the plant; the company started in Seattle in 1976. Grumbacher labels its Pre-Tested oils and its Academy and Finest watercolor tubes as made in the USA, while its 12- and 24-pan watercolor sets are made in Germany. Chroma Inc makes acrylics and Jo Sonja paints in Lititz, Pennsylvania, and makes colors that need cadmium, cobalt or lead pigments at its plant in Australia.

Liquitex is the name many buyers expect here. It launched the first water-based acrylic artist paint in Cincinnati in 1955, but the brand says its paints and mediums are now made mainly in France and China.

To choose, decide on the medium first and buy single-pigment colors. Professional labels list the pigment code (PB15 for phthalo blue, PR122 for quinacridone magenta) and a lightfastness rating. Six to eight single-pigment tubes mix a wider range of clean colors than a large set of premixed ones.

US-made artist brushes are scarce. FM Brush Company makes brushes at its headquarters in Glendale, Queens and at a company-owned plant in Thailand, and only some of its Dynasty lines, such as the sets labeled made in New York, are stated as US-made. Silver Brush Limited does not say where its brushes are made, and Grumbacher describes its brushes only as designed in the USA.

DecoArt makes its Americana acrylics, Americana Decor Chalky Finish, Dazzling Metallics, SoSoft fabric paint and Patio Paint at a 115,000 square foot factory in Stanford, Kentucky, in business since 1985. Some raw materials are imported, and its brushes and tools carry no origin statement, so the US claim is about the paint.

Plaid Enterprises of Norcross, Georgia, founded in 1976, marks three paint and glue brands Made in USA on its own pages: Apple Barrel, its budget acrylic in 2 oz and 8 oz bottles; FolkArt, a heavier-bodied craft acrylic with enamels and chalk paint; and Mod Podge, the decoupage glue and sealer. Plaid does not name the plant. Its spatulas, squeegees, brushes and some FolkArt sets carry no badge, so look for the Made in USA mark on the item itself.

Dixie Belle labels its chalk mineral furniture paint as made in the USA with globally sourced materials. The company is based in Port Richey, Florida but does not say where the paint is made. Testors, of Rockford, Illinois, says its enamel and acrylic hobby paints, lacquer sprays and model glues are made in the USA without naming the plant. Rust-Oleum makes spray paint at plants in the US and Europe and does not say which plant filled a given can.

For fabric, Jacquard Products says its Procion MX fiber reactive dyes, Textile Color, Lumiere and Dye-Na-Flow paints are all made in Northern California. Fiber reactive dye bonds to cotton and other plant fibers, so it suits tie-dye. Fabric paint sits on the surface and works on blends.

Craft acrylic and artist acrylic differ in pigment load and lightfastness. Craft paint is fine for wood signs, ornaments and kids' projects. For canvas work you want to keep, use an artist line.

General Pencil Company makes graphite, charcoal, pastel and Carbon Sketch pencils at its own factory in Jersey City, New Jersey, where the Weissenborn family has run it since 1889. The pencil pages read made in the USA with domestic and imported materials. The kits are mixed, and General lists each part: its Little Red sharpener is made in China with a German blade, and its erasers are made in Spain. If you want only the US-made part, buy pencils by the dozen rather than a kit. Kimberly drawing pencils run from 9H to 9B; HB, 2B, 4B and 6B cover most sketching.

Speedball makes screen printing kits, fabric screen printing inks, block printing kits, rubber brayers, calligraphy kits and India ink at its headquarters in Statesville, North Carolina. Its predecessor, the Hunt Pen Company, moved manufacturing there from Camden, New Jersey in 1957. Look for the made in the usa mark on each Speedball page, because the Elegant Writer markers and calligraphy fountain pens have none, and Speedball also distributes outside brands such as Escoda and ArtGraf. Speedball also owns Mona Lisa, whose metal leaf adhesive and odorless thinner carry the same mark; the leaf sheets themselves do not.

Saral wax-free transfer paper lists only a New York office and does not say where the paper is made.

Polyform Products makes every Sculpey clay, Original Sculpey, Sculpey III, Premo, Super Sculpey, Souffle and Liquid Sculpey, in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Polymer clay cures in a home oven, so it needs no kiln. Sculpey's tool sets and the tools packed in its kits have no stated origin.

AMACO, the American Art Clay Company, says it has made ceramic and craft products in the USA since 1919 and works from 6060 Guion Road in Indianapolis. Its air dry clay suits classrooms without a kiln, and its underglazes are for fired work. Laguna Clay mixes its moist stoneware, porcelain and earthenware bodies in California and Ohio and its colored porcelains in Oviedo, Florida. The wheels, kilns and tools Laguna sells have no stated origin.

Ampersand Art Supply makes Hardbord, Gessobord, Claybord and its other Museum Series panels in Buda, Texas, from US-grown aspen fiber. Sunbelt Mfg. Co. makes stretched canvas, cradled panels and silk screen frames in Gladewater, Texas; its rolled canvas carries no product-level origin line. Fredrix primes canvas at a plant outside Atlanta and also runs a factory in Tijuana, Mexico, so check the label on each Fredrix item.

For paper, Strathmore traces its history to an 1892 paper mill in Massachusetts, but it does not currently say where its pads are made. Northbooks makes many of its journals in the USA and the rest with partners in Taiwan, and each product page says which. Gallery Leather assembles leather journals and planners by hand in Trenton, Maine, from a mix of imported and domestic materials, including imported bonded leather.

Clear photopolymer stamps are one of the few paper-craft categories still widely made in the US. Technique Tuesday of Portland, Oregon labels its clear stamp sets made in the USA. Hero Arts says its clear stamps are made in the USA, and it makes red rubber and wood mount stamps at its facility in Richmond, California. Spellbinders Paper Arts now owns Hero Arts and also sells Stampendous, an Anaheim stamp maker whose founder put its US-made share at over 70%. Stampendous clear stamps are labeled made in the USA; its metal dies carry no origin line, nor do the steel dies in Hero Arts' Stamp and Cut sets.

Ranger Industries makes all its inks, including Tim Holtz Distress Ink and Archival Ink, plus embossing powders, paints and mediums, in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. Ranger's shop also resells Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese products, so check the page when you buy something other than a Ranger ink.

Mrs. Grossman's prints its sticker sheets at its own factory, now in Kanab, Utah; Andrea Grossman started the company in Petaluma, California in 1979. One licensed sticker set turned out to be made abroad, so read the package on character designs. American Crafts and its We R Memory Keepers tool line, both of American Fork, Utah, mark some items Made in the USA and many others Imported. Yasutomo, an origami paper and sumi ink brand, began as an importer of Japanese goods and claims no US manufacturing.

For storage, IRIS USA molds its clear plastic bins, drawers and file boxes at its own plants in Surprise, Arizona; Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin; Mesquite, Texas; and Hazleton, Pennsylvania. SKB says its cases are made in the USA at its Orange, California factory, and its iSeries waterproof cases are the line it builds there start to finish.

Brown Sheep Company spins and dyes Lamb's Pride and Burly Spun yarn at its family mill near Mitchell, Nebraska, mostly from wool bought from Colorado and Wyoming growers. The raw wool is scoured at an outside plant first, and Lamb's Pride blends in mohair of unstated origin. Harrisville Designs spins wool yarn, builds floor looms and makes Friendly Loom potholder kits in the mill village of Harrisville, New Hampshire. Its shop resells some imported needles and yarns, which are labeled. Caron's listing copy says One Pound and Simply Soft acrylic yarns are manufactured in North Carolina, but the Simply Soft listing also says made in the USA and imported. National Nonwovens makes WoolFelt, in 100% wool and wool-rayon blends, in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

For tools, Brittany makes birch and black walnut knitting needles and crochet hooks in a family workshop in Elk, on the Northern California coast. Denise makes interchangeable knitting and crochet kits at a machine shop in Waynesboro, Virginia, with cases made in Minnesota. Mirrix makes copper-framed tapestry and bead looms in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

For jewelry and hobby work, Tronex makes its precision pliers in Fairfield, California; its tweezers and wire strippers are imported, and some cutters list Pakistan as origin. Excel Blades makes hobby knives and #11 blades in Paterson, New Jersey and marks US-made items with a flag icon; its tweezers and carving sets are imported. Badger Air-Brush Co. has made airbrushes in the Chicago area since 1964 and now works from Bellwood, Illinois.

For leather, Weaver Leather Supply of Mt. Hope, Ohio builds its Master Tools machines in the USA and resells other makers' tools whose origin it often does not state. Tandy Leather is a Fort Worth retailer, and only some of its items, such as handmade stamp heads, are labeled made in the USA.