Face Painting and Balloon Twisting Blog

Are you on facebook? I know a lot of people who for one reason or another are not on facebook. I joined several years ago when I was hosting foreign exchange students. At the time, it was one way for me to monitor their online activities. Since then, I have found hundreds of friends on facebook. Some are classmates from elementary or high school, some are family, some are current or former co-workers, but at least half are entertainers.

In my opinion, there are more reasons to join facebook than to avoid facebook. For one thing, facebook is a great way to share news and pictures with friends and family.

Like all users on facebook, I have a personal page where I can post pictures and updates. I can use that page to identify family and friends, like other pages, and interact with groups. I also have a page for my work as an entertainer. I post pictures from my events, messages about where I will be next, and can have both friends and customers like me. I have a few groups on facebook for my clown alley and jam groups. With these groups, our members can share pictures, event updates, and other news.

Watching other people on facebook, I have come to realize that one must use some caution. I know several people who mix there personal interests (politics, religion, etc.) and their professional interests. I don’t think they always realize that their jokes and comments can be seen not only by their friends but also their customers. Sometimes, I think that if I was their customer, I would stop doing business with them based on their facebook comments and complaints.

If you are NOT on facebook yet, I suggest you get an account. If you are on facebook, I suggest you evaluate your profile and determine if you need to further separate your personal page from your business identity. Also, I suggest that you think twice before positing a comment that others may find offensive.

Lisa Joy Young gives her reviews of FAB face paints from Silly Farm, BAM Stencils, and More!

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.

Legendary face-painter Brian Wolfe creating a snake face with an airbrush at the 2012 Midwest Haunters Convention in Columbus, Ohio.

Face Painting – Disney’s Hollywood Studios
The pattern was called “Music Mania”

Airbrush / Stencil Mermaid Design

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.

Superhero Face Painting at Disney World

Tiger Face Painting at the Zoo
The boy looked a little young but too tired to squirm.

SpiderMan at City of Belmont’s Kids Fest
It was interesting having the kid stand while getting his face painted.

Silly Heather from Silly Farm has 100 face painting tutorial videos on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/sillyheatherb

Spring Chick Face Painting Tutorial
Here’s a good design that’s perfect for Easter and Spring, a chick hatching out of it’s egg using rainbow cakes and floral designs.

2 Minute Bunny – Face Painting Tutorial
Here’s a quick tutorial on a fast bunny face painting design, just in time for Easter!

Christopher Agostino — Transformation Artist
http://thestorybehindthefaces.com/

Christopher Agostino has enjoyed a 30 year adventure in theater, storytelling, face and bodypainting. Trained in theater, theatrical makeup and graphic arts, he developed a technique for quickly transforming a human face in a unique mask-like style with bold designs that capture the essential quality of traditional body art.

He has brought this performance art onto the stage in the Transformations show, and has appeared before hundreds of audiences in schools, festivals and theaters with his original productions combining storytelling and painted faces.

Li Chi Slays the Dragon — a Transformation Tale by Christopher Agostino:

Before Cave Walls…The Transformation Lecture: