Face Painting and Balloon Twisting Blog

Two years ago, when I was finally ready to go from doing volunteer events to paid events, I knew I wanted to have liability insurance. It seemed like most of my friends had their insurance through the World Clown Association. They offer insurance as an additional option when paying the annual membership dues. It seemed like the easiest option. Although, the insurance is offered by the World Clown Association, I know a lot of non-clowns who do either balloons or face painting who join just for their insurance.

World Clown Membership and Insurance

If you get your insurance through the World Clown Association, their policy year ends on April 30th, 2012. It is time to renew your membership and pay for another year of insurance.

New Members – $40
Membership Renewal – $35
Liability Insurance – $139

They do offer Additional Insurance for a client who requests being added to your policy.

From their website:

Coverage: This is a Comprehensive General Liability Policy provided by an A-rated insurance company with coverage of $1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate per event.

Deductible: None The price remains the same regardless of number of months covered (The fee is NOT prorated) and includes Premium, Brokerage fee and Association handling fee.

Policy Exclusions: This program is designed for Clowns and Magicians.

The following types of performances are NOT ACCEPTABLE.

1. Hypnosis
2. Hot Air Balloon Events, Circuses (production), overnight camping Tractor pulls, Rodeo and roping events, motorized events, Mechanical amusement devices, inflatables, rock climb,Bounce Houses, laser tag, sky diving, competition racing.
3. Pyrotechnics, Explosives, Fireworks or similar materials except “concussion effects, “flashpots”, and “smokepots” (Flashboxes covered up to $5,000)
4. Production Management or Promotions Management for hire
5. Animals except performing dogs, doves and rabbits
6. Musicians and Disc Jockeys, except clowns/magicians who engage in these activities as part of their act
7. Copyright infringement exclusion (i.e. Barney, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny)
8. Throwing objects (juggling is acceptable)

Be sure to evaluate your insurance needs and pick the coverage that is right for you. If you hire employees or have special requirements, you may want to get a different policy. Other companies that offer insurance include:

Specialty Insurance Agency
http://www.specialtyinsuranceagency.com/

K&K Insurance Group
http://www.kandkinsurance.com/Entertainment/Pages/Entertainers-Performers.aspx

Cossio Insurance Agency
http://entertainerinsurance.com/

Silly Heather from Silly Farm has several videos on YouTube. Here are her new ones for St. Patrick’s Day.

Lucky Lady for St. Patrick’s Day

Lucky Dude – Shamrock Face Painting

See more of Heather’s videos at
http://www.youtube.com/user/sillyheatherb

Boy gets a Tiger face at Disney

Girl gets a butterfly face in a mall

Girl gets her face painted at the circus… along with an interview of the face painter.

Boy enjoying the dinosaur painted on his face

Terminator Face Painting by FancifulFaces

Robot Face Painting Tutorial by FacePaintify

Not into face painting? How about a robot balloon?

I like to dress like an entertainer. That probably means something different to everyone. I know some entertainers like to “dress up” and look formal with a suit and tie. Others like to wear colorful outfits. I definitely like to be colorful when I am at a casual event, and that includes my shoes. Several shoe companies let their customers design custom shoes. Some are just picking the team colors and others are creating a totally unique looking shoe.

I have several shoes from Converse. I initially decided to go with Converse because they seemed to have more options available. They have a variety of solid colors and prints available. The shoes really don’t cost more than regular shoes. Prices range from about $40-80 per pair plus shipping. A few times each year, the shoes go on sale.

Rainbow with Stars and Swirls

Pink Butterfly – I think the face painter in this video needs to work on her setup. Her paints seemed a little too far from the chair.

Silly Farm Supplies, one of the larger face painting supply vendors has created a face painting video channel called FABA TV. They say that their goal is to provide quality education and training in the Face, Body and Entertainment Art industry. They are dedicated to making FabaTV the world’s best resource for everything related to entertainment.

You can watch previews of their videos on their channel on YouTube.

FABA TV is a subscription service. Every month FabaTV will launch 4 NEW classes and a live class! Classes will then be archived under each topic and Instructors channel and can be viewed at anytime.

Silly Heather from Silly Farm has several videos on YouTube.

Rose Bud Fairy Mask
A Valentine Face Painting Design by Silly Heather. In this video she creates a valentine fairy mask design using the fairyfly kit, Rose Bud.

Dragon Wings Face Painting Tutorial
In this video she creates a dragon mask using the fairyfly kit, dueling dragons.

My Sweet Valentine – Face Painting Design Tutorial
Valentines is coming up and Heather created this quick step by step tutorial on how to face paint this teddy bear design that will be sure to WOW!

YouTube has many face painting tutorials of various quality. There are also videos taken by parents or grandparents of their kids having their face painted while at the zoo, festivals, or on vacation. These videos show real face painters working with real kids. I like to hear the reactions of the people talking in the background.

Here are three more YouTube videos of kids getting their face painted.

Ninja Turtle at the Circus

Pink Skull and Crossbones

Minne Mouse at Hollywood Studios

My very first clown convention was the Circus Magic Convention in Williamsburg, VA. Circus Magic is a regional clown convention that is held each year at the end of February and that means that it is coming up soon. This year, it is February 23-26, 2012 at the Holiday Inn Patriot in Williamsburg, VA. The convention is one of several conventions run by Steve “Salty” Kissell and DJ “Fancy Pants” Ehlert.

Although this is a clown convention, they have workshops on balloon twisting, face painting, magic, and other topics that would be of interest to clowns and other types of children’s entertainers. They have a great list of instructors coming to help with the workshops. Ken Stillman will be there teaching balloons. Marcella “Mama Clown” Murad and her co-workers from Silly Farm will be there to teach face painting. Jim Howle and Leon McBryde, both former Ringling Clowns, will also be there helping with makeup and clown noses.

Circus Magic Convention
February 23-26, 2012
Holiday Inn Patriot 3032 Richmond Road
Williamsburg, VA 23185
http://www.circusmagicconvention.com/

Presented by Steve Kissell. Bringing Education Excellence to the Performing Arts! Come Celebrate, Laugh, and Learn at Circus Magic with the special theme of: Tribute to the Wizard of OZ!