Face Painting and Balloon Twisting Blog

I like watching the videos that parents take when their kids have their faces painted. I think it shows more of how the artists work in the real world compared with the tutorials that people create. It is always interesting to listen to the parents and other people making comments in the background.

Butterfly

Spiderman

Pink Cat

Butterfly – OK, this is a series of photos not a video, but one of the things I noticed was how the artist stands to the side to let the parents watch and take pictures without getting in the way. I know artists who like to have the kids face away from the crowds, but face painting should be as much for the spectators as it is for the child

Penguin Balloon from a Face Painting and Balloon Jam at Cici's Pizza

Each month, I host a face painting and balloon jam at the Cici’s Pizza in Chantilly. It is normally on the 2nd Monday of the month, and in January, our first Jam of the year will be on Monday, January 9th at 7:00pm.

You can come as early or late as you like. We are able to accept tips from the guests. The jam is open to face painters and balloon twisters of all skill levels. Bring your supplies. The jams are an opportunity to socialize with other face painters and balloon twisters, share ideas, and practice interacting with the customers at Cici’s.

Chantilly Face Painting and Balloon Jam
Monday, January 9th, 2012
Eat 6:00 – 7:00
Jam from 7:00 – Close

CiCi’s Pizza Buffet
14392 Chantilly Crossing Lane
Chantilly, VA 20151
703-961-9100

If you can’t make this jam, there are several other jams in the area. Princess Jennifer hosts a jam at the Cici’s Pizza in Falls Church on the 1st Monday of each month. Ivonne and Leandra host a jam at the Fuddruckers
in Annandale on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. You can find these jams and others on Facebook.

Balloon Penguin

Here are some good, clean jokes about winter and snow.

Q. How do Penguins drink their cola?
A. On the rocks.

Q. Why do birds fly south in the winter?
A. Because it’s too far to walk.

Q. What happens when skiers get old?
A. They go downhill.

Q. What is the best hockey team in the universe?
A. The All-Stars

Q. What can you catch but never throw?
A. A cold.

Q. What time is it when little white flakes fall past the classroom window?
A. Snow and Tell.

Q. What do snowmen eat for lunch?
A. Icebergers!

Q. What do you get if cross a snowman and a shark?
A. Frost bite !

Q. Why did the cross-country skier wear only one boot?
A. Because he heard the snow was one foot deep.

Balloons By Mike holding a Christmas Tree Balloon at a balloon jam

Merry Christmas from Mike Becvar aka Balloons By Mike and Sir Toony Van Dukes the host and moderator of the Face Painting and Balloon Twisting Blog.

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of 2011. This has been a good year for me. I am very thankful for my friends who have helped me along the way. I host a monthly face painting and balloon twisting jam which has proven to be a great way to both get time to practice and share ideas with others.

I am making a new years resolution to put more time into writing content for this blog. Hopefully, you will enjoy the posts to come in the new year.

Sir Toony Van Dukes at the North Pole for a charity event

Q. Why is it so cold at Christmas?
A. Because it’s in Decembrrrr!

Q. What do snowmen wear on their heads?
A. Ice caps.

Q. What do you call a party for snowmen?
A. A Snowball!

Q. Where does a snowman keep his money?
A. In a snow bank.

Q. What do you sing at a snowman’s birthday party?
A. Freeze a jolly good fellow!

Q. What’s the best thing to give your parents for Christmas?
A. A list of everything you want!

Q. Why does Santa have 3 gardens?
A. So he can ho-ho-ho.

It is a fact I quickly learned when doing balloons outside in the summer. A balloon left in the sun will eventually pop. While there are probably multiple things that lead the balloon to pop, I think a big issue is the increase in volume of the air trapped inside the balloon as it heats up in the sunlight. Eventually, it will expand enough to pop the balloon.

You don’t need to have a complete understanding of Thermodynamics to understand that there is a relationship between temperature, pressure, and volume of a gas. When you trap a fixed amount of air inside a container then heat the air one of two things will happen. If the container is solid, like a glass jar, the pressure inside the container will increase. If the container is able to expand like a balloon, the volume of the air will increase. The opposite is also true. If you cool the air, the pressure will decrease or the volume will decrease.

Last winter, I made myself a balloon hat while working at a local restaurant. When I left, I decided to walk to a store on the opposite side of the parking lot before heading home. It was a cold night and before I made it to the store, I noticed my hat was becoming limp and suspected that one of the balloons had popped. I took the balloon hat off and noticed it was much smaller, but within a minute of walking into the warm store, the balloon hat returned to its former size. What had happened? I had made the balloon inside a warm building and then took it outside where the temperature was freezing cold. The air inside the balloons cooled off and caused the volume of air to decrease making the balloons shrink. Once I returned to a warmer location, the air inside the balloons was able to expand and inflate the balloons to their normal volume.

While it is an interesting effect, it is important to realize the impact that temperature will have on balloons. When doing balloons outside on a cool day, it is important to realize that if the kids take the balloons inside a warmer building that the air inside the balloons will expand and increase the chance of the balloon popping. If making balloons inside when it is cold outside, it is equally important to realize that the balloon will deflate a bit when the kids go outside.

Each month, I host a face painting and balloon jam at the Cici’s Pizza in Chantilly, VA. It is normally on the 2nd Monday of the month, and in
December 2011, the official jam will be on Monday, December 12th. This month, we will share ideas on designs for the upcoming holidays.

Note: The theme is more a conversation starter for the dinner period of the jam. It is not a lecture but an open opportunity to ask questions of the group or share what has worked in the past. come with your questions and ideas… Bring your ideas and an open mind for the discussion.

Arrive when you can… I will try to arrive around 6:00 and plan to eat first. The jam continues until Cici’s closes at 9:00pm. You can come as early or late as you like. We are able to accept tips from the guests.

The jam is open to face painters and balloon twisters of all skill levels. Bring your supplies.

Chantilly Face Painting and Balloon Jam
Monday, December 12th, 2011
Eat 6:00 – 7:00
Jam from 7:00 – Close

CiCi’s Pizza Buffet
14392 Chantilly Crossing Lane
Chantilly, VA 20151
703-961-9100

If you can’t make this jam, there are several other jams in the area. Princess Jennifer hosts a jam at the Cici’s Pizza in Falls Church on the 1st Monday of each month. Ivonne and Leandra host a jam at the Fuddruckers in Annandale on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. You can find these jams and others on Facebook.

From Silly Farm
http://www.sillyfarm.com/store/index.php?p=page&page_id=Paint-A-THon

On December 2, 2011, FabaTV will go LIVE for 12 hours to help raise money and awareness for the Covenant House. FabaTV has teamed up with some of the world’s most talented artists, together they are putting their paints to use for a great cause. The 1st annual Paint-A-Thon will take place on Dec 2nd, 2011 via fabatv.com/page/live, starting at 3:00 pm EST December 2nd and ending at 3:00 am EST Dec 3rd, 2011. They will be broadcasting 12 hours of free, LIVE face and body art classes and you, the viewers, will be given the option to donate money to help they purchase much needed holiday gifts and supplies for the children of the covenant house. 100% of the proceeds will go to the covenant house and the gifts will be delivered by Santa Leon himself.

The Covenant House is a teen homeless shelter, where they focus on helping at-risk, run away, and homeless teens to turn their lives around and rise above their obstacles. The Covenant House works hard to help get teens off the streets, keep them motivated, productive and out of trouble.

Sometimes, you just need to get out and have some fun.

Sir Toony Van Dukes and his friends from Just Clowning Around of Northern Virginia

On Friday, November 25th, 2011, Mike Becvar went out as Sir Toony Van Dukes and joined several of his friends from Just Clowning Around of Northern Virginia (JCA) and participated in the Reston Holiday Parade at the Reston Town Center.

Several of my friends from JCA are also balloon twisters and face painters. They have helped me become a better clown, face painter, and balloon twister. Getting together for parades is a way for us to have fun and give back to the community by spreading smiles to large groups of people.

Several years ago, someone gave a presentation on software development. He presented a triangle and said that at each point of the triangle represents one variable: quality, speed, and price. When a client decides they need custom software developed, they need to decide which of the three is most important because changing impacts the other two. If you want something fast, you will either need to pay more money or sacrifice quality. If you want quality, you will either need to pay more or wait longer. If you wanted something cheaper, you will either need to wait longer or sacrifice quality.

An example of a large, multiple balloon flower made from 3 orange, 260 balloons, one green 350 balloon and 1 lime green 260 balloon

How does this relate to face painting and balloons? I have been to many events where kids had to wait in line for an hour to get a balloon or to get their face painted. I was at an event yesterday where one mother said my work was much better than the guy they had at her company’s holiday party. I told her that I wasn’t concerned about speed (length of the line). I was making bigger and better (more expensive and higher quality) balloons. If I was hired for a party and needed to make enough balloons for all of the kids in a limited amount of time, I would make simpler balloons.

As a balloon twister, I can choose to make simple, single balloon creations, or larger, multiple balloon creations. My choice impacts the number of balloons I can create in an hour. If the client wants only the larger, multiple balloon creations, they either need to give me more time, hire additional balloon twisters, or invite fewer kids to the party.

A simple, two balloon flower made with a pink 260 and green 260 balloon

Unfortunately, it is not quite as easy for face painters. Their only option for speed is usually to cut down on the level of detail or not adding glitter at the end. Some people think that offering cheek art is faster because it is smaller, but the truth is that it is more detailed work and as a result can take just as long… Yes, there are stencils and rainbow paints that help speed up the work for some of the cheek art designs, but in general it isn’t much faster.

When I talk to the mother planning a birthday party or the person in charge of a large festival, I try to get an idea of how many kids they expect and explain how long it takes to do something for each child. Sometimes, it costs me the job as they realize they can’t afford to pay additional people and other times they are able to hire my friends to help. Either way, I see it as a win because I am not put into a position where I need to deal with a very long line of customers. I can do events where I can do my best work and wow the customer and their guests.