Vegan Art and Craft Supplies

by Sandra

Categories: Vegan Arts and Crafts Vegan Product Lists
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Last updated: 29/04/20

Note: Information is provided by the product manufacturers, either to us directly, or to members of the Vegan Womble community (unless stated otherwise). Ingredients, packaging and production methods can change over time, and occasionally we may be given incorrect information, so please DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING, and let us know if you spot any changes or errors. To help keep this resource going, Vegan Womble would receive a small commission if you were to purchase products via any affiliate links in this post. Affiliate links are marked with *. Read our full legal disclaimer…

Product information and photos are submitted by the Vegan Womble community – you are our eyes and ears. We will keep adding products as they come in, so please keep sending us your vegan discoveries.

It seems like a minefield, I know, but once you know what to look out for, it’s not so intimidating!

Common Animal Derivatives in Art + Craft Supplies

Natural Hair from hogs, squirrels, camels, goats and ponies are often used in paint brushes.
Shellac is a resin like secretion from the female lac insect, used to give a glossy finish and as a binder in inks.
Cochineal comes from various types of lac, scale insects; its secretions are used to make a strong carmine dye.
Bone black made from the charring of bones to produce very dense black.
Ox gall is a watercolour medium based on the animal protein from gall bladders of cattle, which improves paint flow.
Tempera paints use egg to bind the pigments together, this paint has fantastic longevity and pre-dates oil painting.
Gelatin is obtained by boiling skin, tendons, ligaments, and/or bones in water. It is usually obtained from cows or pigs and is commonly used to size paper and canvas.
Rabbit skin glue, also called hide glue, made by rendering an assortment of animal parts. Traditionally used in the preparation of gesso, as a sealant (size) on canvas (and wood panels) underneath gesso, and as a glue in some book making.
Casein is an adhesive binder made from the proteins in cow’s milk, and is commonly found in pencils.
Honey is used as a preservative and to increase colour vibrancy and smoothness.
Beeswax is also often used in pencils and crayons for smoothness.

(Sources: Art Discount and Jackson Art)

Art + Craft Supplies Vegan List

We’ve put together a list of safe art and craft supplies that are animal friendly. These companies have stated that the products listed are NOT animal tested and contain NO animal derivatives.

Adhesive

3L

All 3L products including Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L and HomeHobby by 3L.

Sold via cc-craft.co.uk in the UK

(Source: 3L Corporation via Facebook messaging)

Best-Test

Premium White Rubber Paper Cement

(Source: Vegans have superpowers blog, June 2013)

C.Kreul

Javana Textil Potch – for textiles
Hobby Line Art Potch – varnish and glue
Hobby Line Gemstone Glue

(Source: Vegan Art Stuff blog, April 2017)

Diamond Glaze

A clear adhesive used for many media.

(Source: Diamond Glaze customer service)

E6000 Glue

Made strictly with chemicals.

Elmer’s Glue

“Elmer’s does not use animals or animal parts to make glue. Our products are made from synthetic materials and are not derived from processing horses, cows or any other animals.”

(Source: Elmer’s website)

“Elmer’s Glue is made from a chemical compound called polyvinyl acetate (PVA) resin emulsion […] Like you, we are also concerned about animal by-products/testing. […] While we do our best we cannot guarantee that some of the third-party, indirect suppliers are as sensitive to this issue as we are. We however, strongly encourage our direct suppliers to work with their partners to avoid these practices.”

(Source: Elmer’s, via email, dated July 2017)

Gorilla Glue

(Source: Gorilla Glue via email 21 Mar 2016)

G S Hypo

Jewellery cement

(Source: G-S Supplies, Inc., via email July 2017)

Iglu

Listed as vegan on Amazon.

Ocaldo PVA

(Source: Ocaldo, via email, July 2017)

Plaid

Mod Podge

Stix 2

All products including glues, hot glues, adhesive transfer tape and glue dots.

(Source: Stix 2, via telephone, dated May 2017)

Sugru

No animal derived materials used.

“Animal testing has never been used or commissioned by us to test Sugru. We have also never commissioned such tests on raw materials either.

However, as a small company, we don’t have control over testing of raw materials by all of our suppliers and their suppliers. In some cases, for the safety of consumers, they may have been required in the past to have animal testing as part of their suite of health and safety procedures.

We would like to reassure you that we always endeavour to work with the most trustworthy and reputable suppliers and that ethics in business are something we take very seriously.”

UHU

All glue products by UHU are vegan friendly.

(Source: Vegan Art Stuff blog, April 2017)

Weldbond

Universal Adhesive

(Source: Vegans Have Superpowers blog and comments on Amazon)

Acrylic Paint

Academy Acrylic Paints

All colours excluding:

Burt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Cadmium Red Medium Hue
Thalo Gold
Warm Gray
Payne’s Gray
Dioxazine Purple
Grumbacher Red
Ivory Black
Naples Yellow Hue
Raw Umber
Thalo Silver
Thalo Blue

(Source: Chartpack, via email 1 May 2017)

Amsterdam

Acrylic Standard Series

(Source: www.RoyalTalens.com via email)

Boldmere

(The Works Range)

“We stock ethical and vegan products. However, due to the nature of our products and the fact we do not manufacture ourselves it is impossible to guarantee this as we stock over 35,000 lines of stock. “

(Source: The Works, via email Feb 2018)

Caran d’Ache

(Source: Caran d’Ache via email dated 5 April 2016)