Face Painting and Balloon Twisting Blog

Just a friendly reminder…. If you get your entertainer insurance from the World Clown Association, it is time to renew your membership. Membership and Insurance Renewals are due on May 1st. Be sure to send in your renewal for so as to not miss out.

Registration forms are available to download at: http://worldclown.com/?page_id=37

Remember, you have options for entertainer’s insurance besides getting it from the World Clown Association. Evaluate your current needs and the plans, then select the one that will serve you best. If I am not mistaken, the policy offered by WCA does not cover employees or animals used in a show other than dogs, doves, and rabbits.

Clowns, magicians, balloon twisters, and face painters often work at restaurants on Kid’s Night. Remember, to be entertaining while working.

Balloon Twister at IHop
He makes a great mermaid balloon, but seems to be too into making the balloon to interact with the guests.

Balloon Man
Can’t hear any audio, so it is harder to tell, but again, it looks like he is working more on the balloons than entertaining.

Balloon Skeleton
This kids is doing a good job entertaining himself…

Sir Toony wearing his Game Bibs

Whenever I wear my Game Bibs, people ask me where I got them. They are made by Fanatical Fan Gear. They sell a line of bib overalls, cargo pants, and cargo shorts in most of the college football team colors. I purchased a pair a few years ago because I thought they would make a great outfit for when I do balloons and face painting. Since then, I have purchased a few more pairs.

My Game Bibs fit over my clothes. I usually wear a pair of cargo shorts so I can keep my keys and wallet safe in an inner pocket.

The Game Bibs are reasonably priced. Currently, the Bibs cost $49.95. They currently have some on clearance for $10 or less. I purchased a few extra pairs for myself.

I try to avoid putting myself into situations where I know that I will be facing long lines of people waiting for balloons or face painting. Whenever possible, I will encourage the host to hire one or more of my friends to help keep the lines moving. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. I find there are a few ways to handle long lines.

Although a lot of hosts want the balloons and/or face painting to be free for the guests, one way to decrease the number of people waiting in the lines is to charge a fee. If they are selling tickets for kids to play games, go on rides, or play in the moon bounces, suggest also having them use tickets for the balloons. That way, the kids will have to decide between getting a balloon or playing a game.

I have heard that some event organizers want only the most basic balloon creations. The less they look like a dog or other item the better. They get credit for offering balloons but since the balloons are very basic, some people will decide that it isn’t worth the wait in a long line to get a basic balloon.

The final method is to make fantastic balloons… OK, this won’t make the line shorter, it may actually make the lines longer. But, people will be willing to wait any amount of time to get great balloons that they have never seen before.

For face painting, I have had some event organizers suggest doing only cheek designs. I know some face painters who are really skilled at the cheek designs, but I find them harder since they require more detail to make them easily recognizable. I feel that I can paint a child’s full face like a dog faster than I can draw a tiny dog on their cheek. For me, a faster design just means fewer embelishments.

I know that I am not the absolute best face painter or balloon twister, yet I often get parents and hosts tell me how much they or their guests loved my work. I don’t know how many times someone has told me that my work was so much better than the “Guy” they had at their office party or some other event.

While I realize that the correct response is, “Thank you.” I can’t help but think how many people I know who could have done better looking designs. I also know that from time to time, I have found myself working in an assembly line environment where I have to stick to the simple creations.

I have learned that making the child feel special is sometimes more important than the quality of my work. When a child asks for something that I don’t really know how to make, I can either suggest something else or give it a try. Sometimes, the child really would rather get a blob of a balloon they can pretend is what they wanted instead of getting a great looking balloon that isn’t what they really wanted.

I think this fact is lost in the many balloon and face painting competitions at the various conventions. A judge is looking for artistry, difficulty, balance, and other qualities of a design that show the skill of the artist. On the other hand, my customer, the 6 or 7 year old child who just asked for a balloon or their face painted will be using a different set of criteria to judge the results. I have seen judges at competitions score things lower because they didn’t know what the design was (think modern cultural items like Angry Birds) when a kid would instantly recognize the design.

I think it is easiest to impress people with your designs when they don’t have an easy way to compare things side by side with the designs from another entertainer. My goal is to always deliver my best designs and to continue learning and getting better. Some day, people may think of me when they say they know people who are better at making balloons or face painting. Until then, I need to accept the compliments and know that I am doing my job of making people happy.

On Wednesday, October 3, 2012, hundreds of balloon sculptors will be arranging balloons into dogs, hats, and a variety of colorful sculptures as part of Balloons Around the World.

Each artist will be donating an hour or more of their time for a good cause in their community. The sculptures are free of charge or exchanged for a donation to the charity. It’s an event that allows people to both showcase a fun art as well as to give back to their communities.

Besides the well-known puppy dog, the world of balloon art has matured to include multi-balloon sculptures that defy the imagination. Close to 300 balloon artists participated during the 2010 event – in schools, libraries, and hospitals. They also twisted and decorated in malls, on the street, and even in grocery stores… all for fun, all for free. Balloons were inflated in more than half of the 50 states, as well as in Argentina, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Great Britain!

For more information, visit the official website: www.BalloonsAroundTheWorld.com

I first saw this a year ago… it is a pretty cool idea for when you can put out a tip jar.

Available from http://www.tipjar.net/

Mike showing his drink at Chick-Fil-A on Cow Appreciation Day

Each year, Chick-Fil-A holds a Cow Appreciation Day when they invite customers to dress up as cows and get free food. I like excuses to dress up in costumes and I like free food, so I always mark the date on my calendar. This year, it was today, Friday, July 13, 2012.

Over the years, I have purchased various accessories to wear on Cow Appreciation Day. I have a cow hat, cow bell, and even a kids cow towel. I even made a sign that says, “Eat More Chicken”. Usually, I will paint my face after work to look like a cow and head to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. I don’t think I have ever had someone ask me to do a cow face when face painting. The first year, I actually had a hard time finding good examples to copy.

In case you are also looking for some inspiration… There are a few face painting examples on YouTube.

Silly Farm’s Mama Clown doing a Cow Face Painting Design

Marvelous Masks Chicago Face Painter shows a Cow Face Painting Design

Snazaroo US has a gallery of Farm Animals that includes a few cow designs.

Enjoy the FUN from 2012! Join them in 2013!!

January 9-12th 2013… and the 13th for Private Classes
The ONLY ONE in The USA! Not Just A Balloon Jam! A Super Balloon Jam! The Woodstock of Balloons! Come To Orlando…Come Twist with FRIENDS!! Their Goal is for the Balloon Community to have an Event where everyone can Share, Learn, Jam, and just have FUN!!! In a Warm Place!!! With BALLOONS!!!

http://www.TheFloridaSuperJam.com/

I am finding inventory control to be a challenge. Last week, I had to restock my bag of balloons for my weekend balloon twisting events and couldn’t find a single bag of purple balloons. I had every other color, just no purple.

For items with a relatively long shelf life, like canned goods, I usually keep 8-10 cans in my cabinets. My cabinets have the space and I really don’t have to worry about the food going bad before I eat it. I always back fill my cabinets (put the newest items behind the older items) which helps make sure that something doesn’t sit in the cabinet too long.

When it comes to balloons, I keep one bag of each color in a storage system in my living room where I restock my balloon bag. I keep the balloons organized in rainbow order so I can quickly find the color I want and I can see what colors I need. I keep the rest of the balloons in the basement. I have another bin in the basement that has my balloons in rainbow order. When I need a specific color, I will take it from the bin. I keep any other remaining balloon in the shipping box it came in. When the bin in the basement starts to run low, I will find the colors in the shipping box and move them into the bin. I usually know that when the shipping box is empty that it is time to order more balloons.

When I order balloons, I do an inventory and count the number of bags available for each color. I then try to guess which colors will be popular in the coming months (I buy extra red, white and blue for the 4th of July; black and orange before Halloween; and green, red and white for Christmas). I seem to use a lot of red/pink/purple balloons for the girls, green for both plant stems and aliens, and black and white for penguins.

I feel that I should try to keep a closer tab on my balloon supply. Although I can usually get more balloons within a few business days, I prefer to make a few large balloon orders instead of several smaller orders. Since I know which color balloons I buy, it shouldn’t be too hard for me to make a listing of balloons and cross off the bags as I go. That would give me a visual indicator when my stock is running low and a way of seeing the ratio of balloons used by color.

I know that I have some of the same problems with my stock of face paints. I don’t go through the paint nearly as fast and it takes a lot less space to store.