Preferred brands of soft pastels?

[WhiteDove01s]

Mungyo is what my (organic, no gmo in the cafeteria, always has a vegan option) k-12 school district uses. If they have toxins, they've gotten past a very toxin-sensitive, involved PTA.

Hmm, that's bumped them up on my possibles list.

*reads the rest*
Oooo... I have got to try this.
Baby food jars - do not have at current, but already on wishlist as a storage method for my polymer clay, so additional numbers could be possible when budget permits.
Filters, check.
Funnel, check.
Mortar and Pestle... half-check. The mortars in grabbing range right now, but the pestle has gone missing somewhere. I've probably just set it down in the wrong place or knocked it behind something.
Soft water... possible, will require steam distillation rig, check back room for where parts have gone. The tapwater here is so bad we had to get a filter device so I wouldn't get ill every time I drank it, and I'm pretty sure it's not soft. Fixing that for small amounts and then recycling that won't be too hard for me tho.
91% alcohol - not on hand, but available on Amazon, so should be addable to chemistry shelf.
70% alcohol - hey, good thing this made me check! The bottle I keep with the med supplies only has about an inch left in it. Time to get more of that too!
And the chalk. Might be fall before I get to try this, but it is going to be so much fun...

[DollyKim]

For babyfood jars just look for neighbors with babies.

I generally keep my polymer clay in the wrapper it came in, opened at the seams, or the waxed paper boxes the bigger bricks came in. All of it is in a storage tub under my dresser. The biggest thing is keeping it dust free and from drastically changing temperature. Aside from the occasional bad block I've had stuff I bought last century that still conditions, especially with the hammer method.

[richila]

I have Mungyo and love them.

[OkamiKodomo]

I may have to try that technique for the pastels as well. I have most of what is needed, except I'm not sure what is meant by soft water. Is distilled water less effective? I would definitely want to make a pan set up though. Looks like I may need to get a cheap set of watercolors and let em dissolve haha.

[WhiteDove01s]

For babyfood jars just look for neighbors with babies.

This isn't really a safe neighborhood for that. I don't know any of my neighbors by name, much less speaking terms. And I'm scared going door to door in the nearby trailer park might get me shot if I stumbled over someone's meth lab. I ended up finding a box of 8oz jelly jars that might work well.

I generally keep my polymer clay in the wrapper it came in, opened at the seams, or the waxed paper boxes the bigger bricks came in. All of it is in a storage tub under my dresser. The biggest thing is keeping it dust free and from drastically changing temperature.

The Evil Overlord is getting into polyclay too (it's good therapy for her hands), so usually any blocks bought are divided in half with her when they arrive. Most of mine are wrapped in foil and then in a drawer. I'm looking for a better solution where I can see the colors. Especially since I have formulas for some color mixes I'll want to keep some of on hand, and those aren't going to have original packaging.

I'm not sure what is meant by soft water.

Hard water is basically water that's picked up minerals, usually calcium and magnesium. You can tell if you have this because it'll mean little bits of white crud on your faucets, stains in your sink, soap that doesn't lather well, and breakdowns in your washing machine or dishwasher. Soft water is just water that is not hard.

My tapwater actually should work ok (especially if I use what we've filtered). I know the water was hard when I moved in, but now that I think about it the problem has resolved in recent years. Filtering on the water company's side must have improved. I'm just pondering steam distilling for the sheer excuse of pulling out my little alcohol burner again. (Yes, I could use the hot plate, but that's less fun! XD)

Anyhow, how junky are Sergeant Art pastels? Those are on Dick Blick and seem to be really cheap ones but with a good color range and full sticks. I've maybe managed to talk the Evil Overlord into them... I've had to explain three times why not to get a $5 pack Amazon had that looked like kid's street chalk. The Mungyo are about the same price, but are half-sticks... and we're probably going to end up breaking whatever arrives in half anyway as she's doing polyclay too. I plan on using the purification method, so I'm not as worried about them being binder-heavy as long as it gets things started.

Also, I'm pondering storing the powdered pigments in test tubes. There are little plastic ones used when you're dealing with nonreactive stuff that won't need heated, and they have caps. I can get a brush down into a test tube, and tap the excess pigment off on the inside and possibly not get chalk dust everywhere. And they'd look so neat arranged in a holder by color. XD