Home Depot, Michael's, and other big-box stores are the go-to if you’re looking for a claw hammer or knitting needles, but what if you're looking for an Erlenmeyer flask to use as a wine decanter?

For just such cases, we created this bookmark-worthy list of web-based retailers that traffic in obscure tools and artisanal materials. Whether you're a proto-Banksy looking for quality spray paint, a green-thumb on the hunt for exotic seeds, or a rookie robot-builder who needs a PCB, you'll find what you need at one of these stores.

Smooth-On

What You Can Buy: Plastic molding supplies used for sculpture, props, architecture and more. Smooth-On makes hard plastics, soft rubbers, foams and novelty compounds that you can shape to match your creative vision.

Get Inspired: See how Harrison Krix turned Smooth-On Resins into weapons from the World of Warcraft, laser rifles from the future, and replica Daft Punk helmets.

What We'd Buy: One word: plastics. Seriously, that's all they carry. Their Model Making rubber and plastic would be our pick.

SparkFun

What You Can Buy: Electronics components like microprocessors and LEDs for art projects, robots, and sundry other gadgetry.

Get Inspired: Sparkfun sponsors an autonomous vehicle design competition. No idea where to start? There are dozens of helpful tutorials on offer.

What We'd Buy: The Sparkfun Inventor’s Kit – everything you need to control lights, volume, and motion; and to terrify TSA.

McMaster-Carr

What You Can Buy: Hardware and components like steel rods, nuts, bolts, flexible tubing, and more. If it belongs in a workshop, McMaster-Carr carries it.

Get Inspired: RoboGames entrants need both brains and brawn. Sparkfun provides the former, McMaster the latter.

What We'd Buy: Their entire range of welding supplies as, ahem, a personal homage to the 30th anniversary of Flashdance.

Amazon Supply

What You Can Buy: Workshop equipment and wonky scientific tools like lab glass and centrifuges.

Get Inspired: Make astronaut ice cream using the flasks, tubes, heating elements and other bits and bobs from Amazon Supply. Dry ice sold separately.

What We'd Buy: Labware to make mini terrariums.

Utrecht Art Supplies

What You Can Buy: Classic art supplies along with unusual canvases that let you customize your heart out, like blank Converse sneakers.

Get Inspired: Spend a little time at “This is Colossal,” the domain of Wired Design contributor Christopher Jobson, and you’ll want to go on an Utrecht spree.

What We'd Buy: Oil paints to create En Plein Air compositions of Silicon Valley’s greatest office parks.

Bombing Science

What You Can Buy: 251 colors of spray paint (including Pantone matching) as well as cans, caps, and stencils.

Get Inspired: Watch Exit Through the Gift Shop. 'Nuff said.

What We'd Buy: Ironlak spray paint, because seafoam and salmon are color schemes that never go out of style.

Micro-Mark

What You Can Buy: Specialty power tools and materials that go with them. Precision lathes, engineering grade plastics, and other badass tools you can’t find at your local big-box.

Get Inspired: The amazing steampunk creations of the team at Crabfu Steamworks could inspire anyone to buy a machine lathe and start slicing.

What We'd Buy: Their etching supplies for the rare opportunity to safely mix metal, chemicals and electricity.

Harbor Freight

What You Can Buy: Low-cost power and hand tools. Harbor Freight is a repository of store-brand, straight-from-the-factory-style popular tools.

Get Inspired: Check out the board of Harbor Freight finds on Pinterest.

What We'd Buy: More than we need, because it's so darned cheap.

Modernist Pantry

What You Can Buy: All the tools an aspiring molecular gastronomist needs for emulsification, spherification, and other kitchen mischief.

Get Inspired: Watch videos from Harvard’s “Science of Cooking” course where food scientists and Michelin-approved chefs are leading the modernist cuisine revolution.

What We'd Buy: Anything from Ferran Adrià’s “Texturas” line will be the closest most of us ever get to elBulli.

Baker’s Creek Heirloom Seeds

What You Can Buy: Heirloom, organic, GMO-free seeds for over 1,400 fruits and vegetables.

Get Inspired: If you can make it through Food, Inc. with an appetite, the items in this catalog offer hope (and ingredients) for a healthier food system.

What We'd Buy: The beautiful and bizarre purple Sicilian Cauliflower.