Face Painting and Balloon Twisting Blog

When face painters or balloon twisters get together, they like to have a jam. A jam is an opportunity to practice, share tips and techniques, and see how others work. I highly recommend participating in jams whenever possible.

One unfortunate thing about face painting and balloon twisting is that there isn’t a central organization for the face painters and balloon twisters to belong to and as a result, there are very few chartered groups. Since the groups are not formal, they often do not have websites or other ways to find out about them without knowing someone who belongs to the group. Clowns have their local clown alley, magicians have their local magic ring, and jugglers have their local juggling clubs. There are also fewer conventions dedicated to just face painting or just balloon twisting. Since I am also a clown, most of my training comes from the face painting or balloon twisting sessions at the clown conventions.

When I was getting started, I was lucky enough to find out about a local face painting jam. The jam met once a month in a local restaurant. Going to that jam provided me with an opportunity to network with other face painters in the area and learn about other jams. Unfortunately for me, the format of the jam didn’t provide me the opportunity I needed to really practice face painting. That led me to seek out other groups.

At the end of 2009, I started to host my own jams. I went to my local Cici’s pizza and spoke to the manager and told him about the other jams I have attended and asked if I could host a monthly jam. He agreed and we have been going there ever since. Having the jam at a popular family restaurant can be a win-win solution. The restaurant gets the benefit of having entertainment for their customers with kids, and the face painters and balloon twisters have kids faces to paint or give balloons.

After finding a location, my next step is finding other face painters or balloon twisters to attend the jam. I decided to have a joint jam for both face painters and balloon twisters. I was fortunate to have a network of friends and told them to invite their friends. Like most groups, we are informal, I maintain an email list that contains people who have attended the jam in the past and a facebook group to share news, pictures, and other information.

My jams are an opportunity for us to get together each month and socialize and practice. Although, I have tried to set themes, it usually becomes a free for all with people doing whatever they want. There are usually kids at Cici’s, so we have a chance to interact and give away our extra balloons.

Not all jams are the same. Some people host jams that are more like a mini workshop with a theme and presenter. Others offer time for each person to do a show and tell session where they can share their discoveries or ask questions. Mine are a time to practice. As host, I can run the jam the way that I want and if others like it, they will continue to come.

I have been using the rainbow cakes for butterflies for a while, but that is about the only split or rainbow cake that I have used. After seeing these two videos, I think I need to try out the TAG paints and their one stroke designs.

The first is a great dragon face on a young boy. It starts with a base coat of orange and yellow and then adds in the dragon split cake.

This shows three butterflies. Each begins with a base coat over the eyes and then one of the split cakes for the edge of the butterfly wings.

The Pirates League at Walt Disney World gives a great presentation on transforming a young boy into a pirate.

Here are two YouTube videos that show girls having their faces painted like butterflies.

The Internet is a great resource for finding inspiration for face painting designs. There are a lot of face painters who post images and videos of their work, but there are even more parents who post pictures of their kids after getting their faces painted at parties, festivals, or while on vacation. If part of a blog, you can find valuable insight from the parents about the experience.

When looking on YouTube, I like to find the vacation photos instead of the tuitorials by face painters. Again, these are real people and not the kids of a face painter who has had their face painted hundreds of times.

Here is a video of a young boy getting his face painted like a tiger at the Animal Kingdom.

Welcome to the new Face Painting and Balloon Twisting Blog at FaceAndBalloonArt.com.  This is a website project by Mike Becvar. This website has been on the drawing board since the spring of 2010 and is finally beginning to take shape.

I hope to use the website and blog as a resource for the professional face painter and balloon twister. I plan to post articles related to industry news, new products, or upcoming events.

In 2009, I started another website project, The Clown Network, where I am creating a resource for the professional clown. One of the challenges that I faced with that website is the fact it is hand coded and not using a database to manage the content. It means it takes a little more effort on my part to maintain and update the content. I am hoping that by using a WordPress Blog template, that it will be a little easier for me to manage this website.

There is still a lot of work to do, but this project is finally off the ground.

Welcome and let’s hope for a long and successful future.