Floral Face Painting Tutorial By Jane Harding | The Face Painting Shop

Face Painting and Prosecco Nights

Face Painting and Prosecco Nights

Face Painting and Prosecco Nights

Bit bored with kids’ parties? Enjoy helping people? Like some extra income? You could try throwing a ‘Face Paint and Prosecco’ evening for adults. A while ago I noticed the trend for night time cocktail and craft parties and crochet and chat nights, they seemed popular, a chance for people to get out the house, socialise and learn a new skill. If you’d like to have a go hosting your own face painting social this is what I learned;



1. You will probably get lots of initial interest with people tagging their friends, of course this doesn’t mean they will come, but something different is always exciting.


2. Consider partnering up with another business - I co-hosted with the venue owner who provided French canapes, I got the venue ‘free’ by trading for a few hours facepainting for her holiday club and we both marketed by advertising on our respective business sites.

3. Keep numbers small so that it’s a fun, relaxed evening with lots of hands-on help. We think of face painting as second nature but most people are pretty nervous even picking up a brush for the first time. Give lots of reassurance, praise and chance to practise. Take a wide selection of brushes and paints.

4. Use the best paints – no cheap stuff or lower quality, let them see how rainbow cakes and one-strokes work, give them a chance to use a double dipped flora brush, show them the delights of aurora in a glitter gun and give them time to practise on each other.


5. Don’t be afraid to charge a good amount. It was £50 a ticket for the Paint and Prosecco night which included 90 minutes of tutoring and hands-on painting, question and answers throughout re kit, paint etc, bottomless drinks and delicious canapes. Pretty amazing value in my opinion.

6. Remember to take lots of photos for your future marketing!


Face painting gives us so many opportunities. I love sharing my passion for art and face painting and there are so many things you can do -  family afternoon workshops where adults and children learn alongside each other, school workshops (especially popular at the end of the summer term), one to one teaching, gore and sfx (see previous blogs for details). It’s a way of allowing people to create, relax and have fun and you can earn good money too.

Joni x

A Weekend in the life of a Face Painter

A Weekend in the life of a Face Painter

Friday 
3.30pm
It’s an after-school kids’ party at a restaurant that has a soft play area, the place is closed to the public and the mums sit at the bar drinking wine, the children are excited and queue up for their numbers, I get to the promised 20 expecting an extra 2 or 3 but today it’s ok, no surprise additions. The 2 hours pass quickly, Spiderman, Batman and unicorns get painted fast and sweated off even faster. I’m not offered a drink but never mind. I paint all the kids, close my converted bass guitar case and leave on the dot.

7pm
is a wedding Reception at a fancy hotel. I arrive during that weird lull between the food and the disco, I look for the bride and can’t see her but find a bridesmaid who screeches in excitement and leads me to an incredibly dark corner to set up. Little girls in cream dresses circle my table. Its too dark to see and I ask for a light, someone appears and turns an overhead spot in my direction, it does nothing but cast a sharp shadow on peoples’ faces. I find my headtorch and pull it on. I look like an idiot but at least I can see. I paint all the kids and do some glitter and with fifteen minutes to go start to think about packing up, I’m tired and everyone’s now drunk. Then a guy in a grey waistcoat appears, weaving his way towards me, tie around his head, pint in hand, mates in tow. I wait for it. One of the men puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out his wallet, he sways and nearly falls backwards, everyone laughs. He lurches forward waving money in my face “I’ll pay you 30 quid to paint a penis on this guy’s forehead.” As usual I decline his kind offer. Long ago I accepted out of embarrassment and inexperience and when I’d finished the blokes fell about in hysterics then told me they didn’t have any cash.



Saturday
Kids birthday parties. Straightforward. A few kids sneeze in my face, some of it goes in my mouth. Hosts are nice, ask if I’d like a coffee or tea, offer food and cake. A good day’s work done.
Saturday night is a house call to paint a masquerade mask – I always get nervous doing these, I’m not overly confident with intricate line work especially when it has to be symmetrical and the person is depending on you for a great end result. So I do what I always do, get stuck in and hope for the best. Thankfully she likes it and I even get a tip. Phew.


Sunday
My regular lunchtime restaurant job, I love Sundays, it’s a great gig and I’ve been doing it about 3 years. I do 12.30-2.30pm and on special occasions like Mother’s Day and Easter Sunday I do double shifts. Sometimes it’s non-stop with the same children asking to be painted between courses, other days I may paint one unicorn in 2 hours but I get free coffee and the ocean views are beautiful all year round. Today I paint my regular customers and some new ones too. During quiet moments I practise roses on my arm, I paint rose after rose, they all look the same and I don’t like any of them.

3-4pm. A rare bump paint. I hardly do any of these, don’t know why, it’s just not really taken off here. I work on the floor, knees folded under and get pins and needles after about 2 minutes. The only other position is to paint with my legs open wide. I choose pins and needles.

How to build a website and why you absolutely need one!

Created: 07/03/2019 Category: ‍ Face Painting Blog Comments: 0

How to build a website and why you absolutely need one!

 

As far as I am concerned you can’t be in any kind of business and not have a website, it is so important! Not only does it mean that all of the information about you and your business is in one place for your clients to see easily, you can also be found via google search, and it makes your business more trustworthy.

A lot of clients will want to see your website, not just a facebook or instagram page, especially if you are applying for a photoshoot, agency or corporate job etc, some people will not even reply to you if you do not provide them with a website address. I tried to refer my friend for a job I couldn’t take who had told me she was available, but when the client asked me for her website, I could only give her a facebook and instagram page, and she wouldn’t even take her phone number from me. Think about it the other way around. If you were looking for suppliers for your event, or if you were looking at shoes from an independent seller for example, would you be happy going through a social media page or would you rather look at their website? I personally will not buy something or hire a service from anyone if they do not have a website.

It’s also really important you make your website really easy to negotiate, and that all the information your client needs is easily available to them, you want to make it easy for them to get in touch with you and book! Yes, there is a cost to having a website, and it will require some work to keep it up to date with images of your best work, any promotions you might be running and even your own blog if that’s something you want to attach to your website! Like a lot of things, you can choose how much you want to spend on your website, and how many benefits you want to get from it, and Wix do actually offer a free hosting option with their own advertising banners, so if you are worried about the cost, you can do this to see how you get on before committing yourself to a contract.

In the video I’m going to show you how to build and edit your website using Wix, just because that is what I use and what I have access to, but there are various other website hosts for you to choose from if Wix isn’t for you.

Before we start

Just a quick one before we start, it is REALLY important that all your files and photos are well organised so you can easily find them to upload to your website. If you don’t have space on your laptop (because photo’s can take up a lot of space!), get yourself an external hard drive to store all your photo’s on. I only keep very up to date images I frequently use on my laptop, partly because it’s only dinky (it fits in my handbag!) and doesn’t have a lot of hard drive space, and I keep lower quality images and older portfolio bits on my external hard drive, as well as a backup folder with all my current, up to date work.
Please find here the link to the website created in the video
https://mazzloxton.wixsite.com/mysite
And Please find here my two websites if you would like to have a snoop!
https://www.thepixietribe.co.uk
https://www.mazzloxton.com

Batman Face Painting Cheek Art

https://www.thefacepaintingshop.com/face%20paint%20supplys/batman_cheek_art

Barry M Lid Lock Eye Primer

Barry M Lid Lock Eye Primer

PINTACARITAS TUTORIAL DE UNICORNIO

One Stroke Face Painting Rose Tutorial | The Face Painting Shop

Yoga for Face Painters

Created: 10/01/2019 Category: ‍ Face Painting Blog Comments: 0

 

 

The new year is about breaking bad habits for me. An often overlooked bad habit for face-painters is our posture and health. We work multiple hour jobs, sitting or on our feet, leaning forward and our kit can be heavy. I can finish a long day and feel like I’m 80 years old! So I’ve teamed up with one of my very best friends, Keira May to talk through you some poses. On top of Keira being a yoga instructor her partner is a tattooist so she knows the trouble spots for working artists. Doing these poses regularly will improve your mobility and keep your greatest resource going. And no you don’t have to burn any incense if you don’t want to.

 

 

 

“Crescent moon (Ashta Chandrāsana)

A good warm up pose and one you can do anywhere without looking too silly! And can also be done seated!

From standing, feet together, raise your arms over your head, clasp your right hand around your left wrist and gently pull over to the right to create a subtle crescent moon shape with your body. Hold for a few deep breaths and repeat on the other side.”

 

 

 

 

Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1)

“A strength building beginners pose, the warrior poses give strength and length to your arms and legs.

From standing, feet together, step your right foot back. The back foot should be placed flat on the floor angled diagonally with toes pointing forwards. Bend the front knee, the knee should be stacked over the ankle, if possible, or slightly behind, if you find your knee goes too far forward you can take a wider stance. Reach your arms over your head and look up at the space between your hands. Keep your shoulders relaxed away from your ears and take a few deep breaths in this position before repeating with the other foot forward.”

 

 

 

 

 

Warrior 1 with a bind

“This is a lovely variation of the Warrior 1 pose, it gives a big stretch of the chest and upper arms which can get so tight and cramped up if you're painting all day!

From Warrior 1, bring your arms down behind your back. Interlace your fingers, squeeze your shoulder blades and Straighten your elbows. If you're not able do this with your arms, clasp opposite forearms or wrists, remember to squeeze your shoulder blades to open up your chest.”

 

 

 

 

 

Goddess / Fierce angel pose (Utkata Konasana)

“This is one of my favourite yoga poses! It gives you a wonderful strength in the thighs and upper back. It opens the centre of your chest, which can be very compressed after a long day of painting! It's a very strong and empowering pose. It can be a little difficult if you have a lot of tightness in the hips or weakness in the thighs. But as with all yoga, the more you practice the stronger and more flexible you'll find yourself becoming!

Standing with feet about 3 to 4 feet apart (or as wide apart as you find comfortable) . Turn your heels in so your toes are pointing diagonally out to the sides. Bend your knees and raise your arms. Bending the elbows so your arms are in a cactus shape. Squeeze your shoulder blades  together so you can feel your chest opening. Stack your knees over your ankles and sink your hips low.“

 

 

As they say in yoga, Namaste!

 

 

 

Keira teaches all manner of Yoga classes in the Leigh-on-Sea area and an be found through her Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/keiramayyoga/

 

 

Rosemary x

 

In the essence of busy Christmas parties, this week I have demo’ed my 2018 -3 most popular fast faces for girls. I hope you enjoy!

https://youtu.be/uLc6n22PWOk



Princess / Snow Queen Crown.
This is super-fast, around 2 minutes including gems and glitter, so it makes a great queue buster! I’ve used blues in this example but it works equally well in any girly colours! I have shown the most basic version that I use on this design, but it is easy to embellish it a little if you have more time.
Products Used
Global fun stoke – Calgary
DFX white
TFPS Short flat 1”
TFPS round #4
TFPS round #2
TFPS aurora glitter
Large Gem

Rainbow Unicorn
2018 really has been the year of the rainbow unicorn, and this design has been a popular one at all kinds of events.
Products Used
Global Fun stroke – Leanne’s Island Girl
DFX white
DFX black
Global Magenta
Superstar 213
TFPS short flat 1”
TFPS round #4
TFPS round #2
Lowe Cornell gold grip #2
TFPS aurora glitter

Floral Eye
This is my ‘go to’ eye design for older girls and ladies. It is fast, pretty, and easy to mix up a little by using different colours for the rose & petals. I love double/ triple dip flower petals, and these colour combinations are my all-time faves!
Products Used
DFX one stroke ‘Posie’
DFX white
Global Deep Green
Global Purple
Global Magenta
Tag Teal
TFPS Angled Brush Large
TFPS small Petal Brush
TFPS round #3
TFPS Round #0
TFPS Aurora Glitter

 

I hope that you have all had a happy (and profitable!) Christmas, and enjoyed the break! Happy New Year everyone!!
Kathryn xx

Silly Farm

USA friends....
Did you know you can get out world famous Pink Tip Brushes at Silly Farm Supplies <3
Heather Green

https://sillyfarm.com/pages/search-results-page…

Christmas Face Painting Tutorial

Sometimes You Need a Little Magic

We survived Halloween 2018! I didn’t take on quite as much work as I usually do this year, and it was lovely to be able to spend some of the evening with my family, so it was a successful one all round for me!

 

This week I want to talk about magic. Face painting has the potential to bring genuine magic to a child, and yesterday I experienced this in the most amazing way. I’ll be honest. I’ve been in a bit of a ‘funk’ recently… I’ve got a lot of stuff going on with my extended family, I have a 16 month old who seems to need around 5 hours of broken sleep per 24 hours, I’m in my annual ‘post-summer blues’ period, and I’ve been really busy with work. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been working away and painting my very best wherever I can, but on some level, I’ve been coasting.  I had a super busy Sunday planned, including a venue dressing (we also provide balloon décor / event balloons) so I was up until the wee hours on Sunday morning preparing balloons, and then up at 6.30 am to do the rest, then spent a few hours dashing around delivering and setting up my venue. In-between times I was up several times with the baby, and was properly exhausted. I left the venue at 12.30pm and was to return at 3pm to provide face painting, with another job in-between. When I was on my way back to the 3pm job I honestly felt like crying in the car because all I wanted to do was get home, and unwind / sleep! When I arrived I was greeted with about 5 times more people than I expected, the room was packed and there was no room for me to set up, other than a small space by the doors, which wasn’t ideal. A queue formed while I was setting up, and I (and my set up) was constantly getting bumped into / jostled around with the crowd. Things weren’t looking great for an ‘easy’ job. But… the music was good, the vibe was great, and I got stuck in and was getting through the queue at a good rate, and was happy with my work. Around an hour into the job, a little boy sat in my chair. He was quiet, shy, and his mum was there to help him. She explained that Darragh, 7, (not his real name) was a huge fan of the movie ‘Mary Poppins’ and asked if I had any suitable designs for him. His request was leaning towards having a flower on his cheek, like the one on Mary’s hat. I could have painted a simple push petal flower on his cheek and sent him on his way, and to be fair, he would have most likely been happy with that. But I had a quick think, and offered to paint Mary’s actual hat, with the little flower and berries in the centre. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t amazing work. I didn’t even ask for a photo at the time because it was just ‘okay’ and because I didn’t know what was about to unfold- it was just another ad hoc, un- practiced, slightly dodgy painting.  However, he was THRILLED. He immediately transformed into Mary herself, in every way possible. He had a helium balloon on a ribbon from one of the tables (which under normal circumstances gripes me a little as its ‘ruined’ one of the displays!) but for Darragh, this was not a balloon. This was Mary’s magical flying umbrella, and he was MARY! He floated around the room greeting people with ‘Good Day Madam / Sir’ and visited me several times, asking if I had any ‘unruly children’ who needed a good Nanny, and demonstrating how he could remove that giant invisible coat stand from his imaginary bag. The whole thing was magical. Mesmerising. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, and I honestly felt so privileged and blessed to have been able to bring that magic to his day. 

You know how it goes. There are the children who look in the mirror when you have painted them, nod, and slide off the seat to go on about their business. There are the children who smile, thank you and say ‘I love it!’ before going on with their business. There are the children who hang around, interested, asking questions and in awe of what you do… appreciating the art, and really enjoying the experience... but sometimes, there is genuine magic. It’s that magic that turns a potentially stressful or difficult booking into the best job in the world. I left that booking like a different person. I was full of the warm and fuzzies, and feeling so incredibly lucky to be able to make a living from some paint, some experience and some ‘hocus – pocus’. Mostly though, I feel so blessed to have been able to create something that transformed a shy little boy, into his idol. He WAS Mary Poppins yesterday. He had the hat, the umbrella, all of the invisible accoutrements that make Mary Mary, and he was loving life. He won’t forget that feeling for a while, if ever, and neither will I. There has been some learning in this for me. I’ve never painted a Mary Poppins hat before. I knew before I started that given the queue, the jostling, the time pressures, my mood, this was not going to be anywhere near my best work.  I could easily have said ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have a Mary design, how about a superhero / dino / dog?’ and none of the magic would have appeared. We all want to be at our best, demonstrating our skills on the little human advertisements wandering around the venue, sporting our best, well refined and executed designs, but sometimes, stepping out of our comfort zones in a pressurised situation, is the absolute best thing we can do for our own growth and development. 

Today I feel like my funk cloud has cleared. I’m inspired, am aware of how lucky I am, and I want to do this again and again. And again. I have the best job in the world.

 

I guess the moral of this story is that we should embrace the hard jobs. Pretty much like life itself, that’s where the growth happens, and the inspiration and the strength comes from. It’s easy to walk into a dream booking, paint lots of happy children, feel good and move on, but there is the potential for this magic at every single job and we should be actively seeking it at all times, maybe even more so where we don’t feel particularly happy.  It’s what makes the job properly worthwhile. It’s where the real job satisfaction lies, and it’s where the ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ happens!

 

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Tips To Dealing with Difficult Customers

My Top 5 Tips To Dealing with Difficult Customers
By Jane Harding
Hello everyone! Welcome back... who saw my ‘Pennywise’ tutorial on The Face Painting Shop YouTube Channel? Did you like it? I hope you found it helpful. If you haven’t seen it, ‘Go check it out!’

Today, it’s all about those dreaded difficult customers!
We’ve all been there, doing our best and still we seem unable to please some people. First off, let me tell you, sometimes you can try everything… including the tips I am going to share now and it still won’t be enough!
I say, do your best and then ‘Let These One’s Go’, don’t dwell on one person’s bad experience. If you have provided the best customer service possible and they are still not happy, it’s probably more about them than you… move on!

So what do I know about dealing with difficult people?
Well, in my former life/career, I spent almost 20 years working for the Local Authority and can safely say I have had my fair share of ‘Difficult’ Customers/Clients (whatever you want to call them).
IMO, there is nothing harder than working with/engaging/building relationships/and changing the behaviour of people that didn’t want you there in the first place! I have been trained to my back teeth in every counselling approach, lone working practices, dealing with aggressive people, managing risky behaviours etc. etc. So, I would say I have some knowledge on the subject.
Ultimately, it all comes back to good customer service, being fair and professional.
Here we go…
MY 5 TOP TIPS TO DEALING WITH DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS
(Could also translate to ‘difficult situations’)
1. LISTEN
The thing I find most common in “difficult customers”, is their need to be listened to. Just listen to them, let them get out what they need to say and then try replying with something like, “I hear what you’re saying”, or “I’m sorry to hear that”… keep in mind; you are not agreeing with them, you are just acknowledging their feelings. On a psychological level, just by doing this, they will feel you are taking them seriously and that’s all most people want. Especially when people get agitated and angry, these simple sentences can help to calm things down. STAYING CALM is probably the most important thing you can do. It’s very easy to rise to (or ‘mirror’) another person’s emotional level, but think of this in reverse. If you remain calm, they are far more likely to ‘mirror’ your emotional level and meet you back down there, and subsequently becoming much easier to manage.

2. FIND OUT WHAT THEY WANT
Customers that complain, tend to be angry and want to let you know about it. So, once you have LISTENED, don’t be tempted to be defensive or begin to offer explanations (they will only see this as excuses) and it’s most likely going to just escalate to an argument. It takes two to tango! Instead, get straight to the point… try saying something like, “I’m sorry to hear that you are unhappy with……., What would you like to see happen now?”, A question such as this in itself will appease most people, this is because you are showing that you have listened and that you are indicating your intent to make it right. I have always found that 9/10 people will say, “I don’t want anything!”….. NOTHING?! That’s what you’ll be thinking. After all that, they don’t want anything!! They literally just needed to vent, and whether you agree with them or not, ask yourself, ‘Is it worth getting into this argument?’. The damage they could do to your business if you decide to give a counter argument is much more damaging than your need to have your say.
The way I look at it is; my business is everything to me. This person is a customer (also important), BUT they are not someone I hold dear to my heart, so it doesn’t matter if they have a different opinion to me or if they think I am wrong… I know I am right and I am going to protect my business first and foremost.

Oh… and that 1/10 person… well, they will tell you what they want! Maybe they want a discount or refund? At this point I would use one of my counselling techniques, which in a nut shell would be as follows. Paraphrase everything they have just told you into something short and sweet like, “I am hearing you’re not happy because..… and you would like…..”. (It’s very important to start that sentence with “I”) This helps on two levels, one, you are proving you have listened and taken on board everything they said, two, they will think you are considering their request.
Now that doesn’t mean I am going to give them what they want, that would depend on a lot of things; i.e. What the issue was, was I in the wrong, do they have a point and what are they asking for? If I was actually in the wrong, hypothetically let’s say I double booked them and couldn’t get cover. Personally I would give them a full refund and apologise profusely! I might ask if there was anything else I could do to put my mistake right… id consider a discount for their next party or possibly offer to provide a 1 hour face painting experience for the birthday boy/girl and their siblings if the children were very upset or disappointed.
However; If it was a customer kicking off because I refused to paint a child under 3 at their party and their friend was upset, I would apologise (for the upset) but advise, unfortunately I am not in a position to offer a discount, as I have already provided the service I was booked for and calmly point out, that I can see they ticked the box on the booking form to say they had read my full T&Cs and that they do clearly state my policy on age restrictions.
Or, if there was another issue not covered by my T&Cs, I may offer a partial refund, if I felt this would prevent any escalation or negative impact on my business.

3. BITE YOUR TONGUE!
This is much easier said than done, but ultimately this is business… when you think of it in those terms you are less likely to take what people say personally. It’s when things are taken personally that we are most likely to react defensively. Your first instinct should be to protect your business and you do this by providing excellent customer service. So avoid at all costs, engaging in an argument with a customer, even if they never book you again. Who knows who might be watching or hear what’s happening. This is how bad reputations start, even if you were absolutely in the right, it won’t look that way from a distance. I stand by the fact that ‘word of mouth’ is your best source of advertising, so present yourself in a professional manner at all times.

4. CHANGE YOUR MINDSET
You may feel what I am encouraging you to do is ‘panda’ to people or ‘let them get away with treating you badly’, but I am really not, I reiterate, its business, try to shift your mind set to see it as ‘managing a situation,’ rather than the former. Here’s an analogy for you; if a child is having a temper tantrum because they have been told ‘no’, implementing ‘planned ignoring’ is the best behaviour management strategy and it’s important to remember, you are not ignoring the child; you are ignoring the behaviour! If the behaviour receives the desired response, the behaviour will continue. If the behaviour does not receive the desired response, the behaviour will cease. It’s the same thing here, you won’t get anywhere arguing back, or giving explanations/”excuses”… you need to be the bigger person, let it go and ‘Manage the situation’.

5. STICK TO YOUR GUNS!
I know what you are thinking, and you’re right, it’s not ALL about letting things go; it’s actually the age old saying of ‘choose your battles wisely’. Some battles you won’t win, so there’s no point escalating it out of all proportions, let them go. BUT sometimes we have to stick to our guns, i.e. for Health & Safety reasons! Let me tell you a story;

Once I was working at a PPF event when a grandad brought his grandson (6-7yrs) up to my chair. He climbed up; all appeared well, he had a big floppy fringe so I proceeded to put a hair band in his hair as he wanted Spiderman. As I did this, I revealed a forehead full of crusty chicken pox! You know it… my stomach dropped… I was going to have to turn this child away and possibly really upset him. But that’s life!
To give you the best example I can, here’s the basic transcript of what happened;

Me: Oh! Have you had Chickenpox?
Child: *nodded*
Me: Aww, I’m so sorry but that means I can’t paint you today.
(The child didn’t appear bothered at all)
Grandad: (In quite a stern tone) Well he’s ok now, he had them last week, they’re dried up!
Me: (In a calm tone) Yes, I see that, but unfortunately that doesn’t change my policy, I’m sorry about that, but I can’t paint him today.
Grandad: (In a defensive tone) They aren’t even contagious now, they are dried, he’ll be fine.
Me: (Still the same calm tone) Yes, I appreciate they’re most likely not contagious, I’m aware they are most contagious before the spots even develop. But unfortunately I am not in a position to put another child at risk or contaminate my kit.
(At this point I notice the people waiting in line start to pay attention and I began to feel the pressure to just back down and paint him, thinking they probably think I am being ridiculous!)
Grandad: (Very sternly, said something along the lines of) Well he’s going to be upset because he wants to be Spiderman
(yep, he tried to guilt me into backing down!)
Me: (to the little boy) I am so sorry I can’t paint you today, but I will be here again another day, so next time I’ll paint you to be anything you want.
(In all honestly the boy didn’t look the least bit bothered!)
Grandad: (whilst taking the boy down, in a frustrated tone) Come on… she won’t paint you and then continued to grumble as they walked away.

As he did, the next child’s grandad came right up to my face and said, “Well Done”. He went on to say he thought the other man had been very naughty asking me to paint his child, he also said had I have backed down they would have left the line… he took my business card.
In all honesty I believe if I had reacted to this situation by snapping back, being overly defensive or used a different tone of voice, this would have gone on much longer, the man would have caused more of a scene, people would have most likely left the queue and the man probably would have complained to the manager of the event I was at.
As it was, he left without a fuss and someone took my business card.
 https://www.thefacepaintingshop.com/face%20paint%20supplys

Artists of the month

New Superstar Glitters

Check out these amazing new glitters from Superstar, these are now availble on our website and in store.

Shopping link - https://www.thefacepaintingshop.com/face-painting-Accessories-the-face-painting-shop/Glitter/Superstar-Glitter

Face Painting Hygiene

Lets talk about Hygiene by Kathryn Craig

Created: 29/10/2018 Category: ‍ Face Painting Blog

Hi everyone! By the time you read this you are probably in the midst of the Halloween madness, knee deep in latex and fake blood! I hope it’s a lucrative period for you all, and look forward to seeing the amazing faces that you have all created!

This week I am going to talk hygiene. Everyone has their own ideas about what best practice means for them, and as there is no actual official rule on what we should and should not be doing when it comes to working, it is ultimately up to each individual painter what way they choose to do things. I will freely admit that it’s a bug bear of mine, and as such, my practices may seem extreme to others, but for me, it is about taking all reasonable steps to minimise the risk of cross contamination, and reduce the chances of being the reason that someone becomes unwell or suffers a reaction from work that I have carried out. People are covered in germs and bacteria, none more so than children, so it’s not possible to completely eliminate this from face painting, and that’s not the aim here. The aim is to reduce any risk as much as is practically possible, while still being able to work fast, and efficiently, and doing what you feel is right for your business.

Let’s start with your kit in general. I deep clean my kit after every day’s work. For me, this involves wiping over every paint surface, container, cup, stencils and poofer etc, giving my brushes a good clean and machine washing my sponges. I use a fresh towel and tablecloth for each job. It really doesn’t take that long... maybe 30 minutes on average, and for me, it’s crucial that I arrive at every job with a clean kit. I have had many parents / clients comment that they are pleased to see that my kit is clean, and this is one of the things that sticks in client’s minds and makes them remember you when it comes to booking entertainment for their next event. We have all seen photos of horror-kits online, or in real life, and it genuinely baffles me that any parent would allow their child to be painted by products that look so unsanitary. It’s also about taking pride in your work, your working environment and your tools. I love my kit. I invest heavily in it, and I want to look after it – my livelihood depends on it after all!

 

Paint

Did you know that all of the paint products that we use have a limited shelf life once opened? For most paints, this is 12 months. After this time, they should not be used. You can find this information on the label as shown below.  While our paints do contain antibacterial agents, these are designed to delay any mould growth in damp paint, and do not kill viruses / prevent cross contamination. After 12 months, these agents will not be providing the protection from mould growth that they previously would have, and therefore the paint is likely to be less sanitary than before.  I’ve talked about repotting before, and mentioned that I keep a note of all batch numbers and expiry dates. If you repot your paints, it’s a really good idea to do this, so that you can keep track of what expires and when.

 

Brushes

Jane posted a fab blog post recently about how to clean your brushes between gigs, so I’m not going to talk much about that, and will instead focus on on the job hygiene practices. Face painting water gets mucky. There is really nothing that we can do to eliminate that due to the amazing array of pigments in our paints, but there are easy steps that can be taken to ensure that your brushes stay as clean as possible during a job. Rule one… never leave your brushes standing in water. It damages the bristles, the ferrule, and it leads to cracking flaky paint on the handles... never a good look, and a perfect breeding ground for nasties. Personally, I operate a 3 cup system, and while it took a little getting used to at first, it works well for me now, and doesn’t slow me down at all. The first cup contains water, and is used as a first rinse. The aim here is to get as much paint as possible out of the brush. The second cup contains water, and a brush sanitiser. I use Brush Bath by Silly Farm, which is 100% organic and smells divine. You only need to add a few drops to the water, so it lasts for ages and it will not damage your brushes.  My third cup contains only water, and is only used to rinse after the second cup, or to load a fresh brush. I can work a long and busy job, and the water in this cup stays clean throughout as it is never used for a painty brush.

 

 

Sponges

So...the great sponge debate! There are two very different schools of thought on this. Lots of painters use a ‘one sponge per colour’ system, where the same sponge is used to apply paint to lots of faces, before being washed.  Alternatively, others use a ‘one sponge per face’ system meaning that sponges are not used on more than one face before being washed. Personally, the idea of sponge sharing doesn’t sit well with me. While I am sure that no one is painting over open gaping wounds, or visible infections, it is important to remember that the majority of infections are contagious before they are symptomatic, so there is usually no way of spotting that someone is brewing up something you don’t want to share! Also, just because it hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean that it never will, and if you are ever in a situation where a client has raised concerns about infection or reactions, you need to be able to prove that you work as safely as you possibly can. I want to minimise any risk of cross contamination and therefore I can’t get past the knowledge that I could be passing cold sores, conjunctivitis, impetigo, chicken pox or God knows what else, along a line of little people. Also, I don’t want those things in my paint, or on my hands if I can avoid it! I have loads of sponges, (I tend to cut regular face painting sponges in half which instantly doubles my stock!) and I have 2 mesh bags – one for clean, one for dirty. My sponges come out of one, are used, and go into the other, where they stay until I wash them after the job along with my towels and tablecloth. I add a laundry disinfectant to the load to ensure that they are squeaky clean before being reused. Interestingly, I have noticed that reusing sponges seems to be more common in the US than the UK, and can only assume that this is because there are a number of high profile American painters who do so. Again… this is a decision that only you can make, but it is important that you research both techniques before deciding what you are happy with. I have had parents comment that they are pleased to see that I do not reuse sponges, and that alone is a good enough reason for me to have a single use policy. Clients notice more than just the end result of our work!  Any professional face and body painting organisation that I could find all have a ‘clean sponge per face’ criterion in their working guidelines, including FACE – The International Face Painting Association. There are also some regions within the UK where individual councils have constructed a policy on safe face painting practices and again, any that I could find online all stated that sponges should not be used on multiple faces. Some countries like Canada have super strict rules on face painting that mean that even brushes cannot be reused without being ‘properly’ cleaned.

 

 

Hands

It’s not just the kids who are walking buckets of bacteria… we are too! Our own personal hygiene is important also, and where possible, I always wash my hands before setting up my kit. I carry antibacterial hand gel to use between faces, and (now that I’ve mostly ditched my baby wipes thanks to Nat’s campaign) I have a clean cloth for my hands. I can be a kind of messy painter, especially on long and busy jobs and I think it looks bad to be painting and handling face, brushes and sponges with painty hands, so a quick wipe between faces really helps.

 

Workspace

People see messy and think dirty. While your table itself is unlikely to get dirty during a job, it may (if you are anything like me) become untidy during a busy gig. Don’t be afraid to take a few minutes to do a quick tidy. I usually allow the next person into the chair and tell them that I am just going to have a quick tidy up. I’ve never had anyone complain about that, and it’s good that your clients see that you are making sure that everything is clean for them.

So there you have it. It’s pretty simple! Start with a clean kit, take steps to keep it clean and safe on the job, and clean properly when you are done, and you shouldn’t go too wrong.  If you wouldn’t accept it from a MUA working on your face, then it’s not ok to expect your clients to accept it from you! If you are interested in reading some more opinions and experience about hygiene, I posted a poll in the Face Painting Shop Tips & Tricks group on Facebook which has had over 200 inputs from other painters on how they manage cross contamination risks.  It always good to see what other painters are doing and why, so feel free to have a read and add your own comments!

Kathryn

 

Christmas Party Link for tickets

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-face-painting-shop-christmas-party-tickets-51959407988

Christmas Party for Face Painters

Full Details - https://www.facebook.com/events/762845574062139/