I'm working on a solution that uses repeating container fields and calculations to show specific icons related to a record. However, I just learned that if I delete all the records from my DB or make a clone of it, I lose the icons, as the images are stored in container fields in a record. Is there a way to store graphics like this, that are not necessarily part of a record but more like an object that calculations and scripts can have access too?

You will need to have them stored in a field like you do. The way around this is to create another table that is hidden from the user and just contains one record with the reqired container fields.

Greg