Materials Used by the ARA Boston

I've received a number of requests from interested parties regarding the materials that we use at our School. Here is a run down of our supplies.

For Bargue drawings students use graphite pencil, Mars-Staedler being the most popular brand. The finished drawings are all done on the light grey version of the Stonehenge paper.

For our Figure Drawings we use carbon pencil (mainly Wolfe's Brand,) on Arches 140lb cold pressed watercolor paper. Some of the students have experimented with different types of paper like Artistico, Sommerset, or FA5, but the Arches is still the most commonly used.

For cast drawings we are using non-renewable materials. We draw on Fabriano's Roma paper, which is only printed in limited quantities. The drawings are done with Fusian Nitram Charcoal, a brand of charcoal now discontinued. We have a small supply of each Roma paper and Nitram charcoal so we aren't too worried about the shortages yet. Soon enough though we'll be forced to come up with an alternative. Any suggestions out there in internetland?

Along with these materials we also use kneaded erasers, knitting needles, plumb lines, mirrors, and black mirrors (glass from welder's masks.)