This is a super fun new addition to our shop…step by step trading cards! And the best part is, we will include one of these cards for FREE with any order of $50 or more! Collect them, trade them, use them for a starting point for your own practice sessions, or pass them around at your next jam to get the ideas going! We will have an assortment of cheek art, masks, full faces, and other body art.
Every card is printed in full color, and each design will show 4 steps. And don’t forget, on top of these fun cards, we are still offering FREE shipping on all orders of $100 or more! (Use code SHIP100 at checkout) And that’s not the slow, show-up-at-your-door-beat-to-heck kind of shipping…it’s PRIORITY mail shipping, which arrives within 1-3 business days in the continental US, with tracking and insurance….because as face painters, we KNOW how hard you work for every dollar that you spend on supplies, and we want every order to arrive in tact!!
I am very happy to announce that our wildly popular Smile Painter Set is back, cheaper, and better than ever!! The Smile Painter Set was originally designed years ago to help aid those who have been asked to paint at their child’s school or church function, having no previous experience with face painting.
Putting together this kit was my way of helping out all of those people who had contacted me and couldn’t afford to hire a professional, but needed some help with what to do and what to use. Some of my other professional face painting colleagues may not like that I am offering supplies and instructions to volunteers, rather than promoting the hiring of a professional. However, I know after 18+ years in the business, that there will ALWAYS be organizations out there that simply never would have been able to afford my services no matter what mind-blowing sales spiel I gave them. So, none of us are really losing business from these organizations…we are simply giving them another reason to by cheap, dangerous makeup. And to leave them with only an out-of-reach option seems irresponsible to me.
I put this together to help steer these people away from the traps many of them end up falling into…so many events that use volunteers end up using craft paint, such as tempera paint, poster paints, or even acrylic paint. Sadly and dangerously, many people are under the impression that “non-toxic” means that it is safe for skin. This is oh, so NOT true. Please read my blog post on this topic to educate yourselves further! It is NOT worth saving a few bucks on paint only to leave a child with a horrible, painful rash!!
The other trap these volunteers fall into, is they purchase super cheap face paint from the craft store that is not re-fillable.Besides the risk of cheap made-in-China makeup not being safe for the kids, they then end up using up all the black (or some other color), and just throw the rest away because they now can’t use the palette again. Over time, you waste a lot more money than if you’d simply purchased a re-fillable kit in the first place. This kit has a refillable palette, so when one color runs out, they can simply purchase a refill for a few bucks. The kit can live on for every annual event the church or school does.
The Smile Painter Set is created to be kept by the school or church for years to come, so that they can properly equip whoever is able to volunteer with the instructions and proper supplies they need…all at a FRACTION of the cost of hiring a professional for even one hour, one time.
We had to take this kit out of the shop for a little while, after some major price hikes went into effect with a manufacturer we were getting many of the supplies from. The original $60.00 kit jumped up to $70.00, which I felt still left it a little out of reach for the average school or church volunteer. So, with some re-vamping, replacing the makeup and brushes with high quality, professional Wolfe makeup and brushes, we were able to improve the kit while bringing the price WAY down from $70.00 to only $55.00! And you STILL save over $5.00 versus purchasing every item individually!
Check it out today, if you are someone looking for help with your church or school functions! It gives you just enough of the professional quality items that you can’t find in your local craft store, and the book outlines any other supplies that you can gather yourself around your home or local store.
There is one other supply item that is not in the kit, as I felt that not everybody may want it included, and that is glitter. But it is very important to also stress that if you decide to use glitter, that you ONLY use glitters that are FDA approved for cosmetic use. Metallic craft glitters are extremely dangerous for face painting, as they can scratch the cornea. You can check out our full line of safe, gorgeous, cosmetic glitter products here!
Painted with Global magenta, green, yellow, and ultra blue.
After this I had to try the teal as well…I had a customer curious about staining so I purchased a teal for the stain test I did over the weekend. Here are the same colors with teal added, and some Wolfe black:
Painted on my arm using Global Colours and Wolfe black
None of the Global colors I tested stained, by the way. They removed just as cleanly 24 hours later as they did 1 hour later!
Here is a paint cake in my hand to give you an idea of scale:
Since I will be no longer re-stocking the Kryolan palette refills as they run out, I’ve begun building our assortment of Paradise palette refills. These are just $5.00 and are sized to fit in the 8-color palettes that we also sell. They are also great for artists looking to try out a small amount of a new color or brand, without investing in a large cake.
As of now we have 10 basic colors available, but over the coming months we’ll be adding more colors, including their brilliant line.
…and that’s not all!!
BRUSHES and SPONGES
We also have a couple new brushes and sponges added to the mix…
This flat tapered brush is great for making tiny little double-dip flower petals. It’s similar in shape to the Fleur brush, but smaller, and only $4.00!
We also have a new pink aluminum kabuki brush! This is a beautiful brush, and at just $8.00, offers you a more economical option than our current $18.00 Mehron Kabuki brush. I love using these to apply rosy cheeks (using Kryolan Youth Red Blush) on my princess designs. Did you know they also work great for applying base coats of color too, when used virtually dry on your regular paints?
Since there are a couple ways that artists like to make their separate double-dip paints, we’ve also just added a new type of container: our new round, 3-section divided containers. These little containers allow you to put a small amount of your three favorite petal colors in a separate container, saving your larger cakes from the inevitable white swirls that result when double-loading the tip of your brush.
BALLOONS
Some of our new specialty shaped balloons, now available!
As I have personally grown as a balloon twister, so has my shop selection! We now carry a much larger assortment of specialty balloon shapes.
Alien Faces…fun to make into hats, put in UFO’s, and just add to alien bodies!
Bee bodies…they do so much more than bees! I’ve seen many creative things done with these. The yellow ones are great for a quick minion, and the red ones make cute apples, too! I also use them for a reel on the fishing pole!
Geo Blossoms… an obvious solution for quick flowers, but they can also be used for other designs!
Hearts, hearts, and more hearts! We have the “sweetheart assortment” which includes pink, red, and white! We have just plain white hearts, which are great for making cat faces, princess wands, and boquets! AND, we have both the pink and white heart-shaped cat faces!
We will SOON be carrying small bear heads! As of now they are on backorder with my distributor, but will be available on the site just as soon as they arrive. Yes, they are great for making bears, but you can also turn them upside-down to have an instant body and legs for other designs…
This first one above is also on backorder still with the distributor, so we don’t have that one quite yet. But, as soon as it’s in, it will be available on the site! For now, though, you can still get the Balloon Magic Figures and Balloon Magic Advanced books…
These books are both really PACKED with designs. The book itself is in black and white, but is full of photos to help you through each step.
Be sure to keep an eye on our balloon section as it will be growing even more in the coming months. Our pocket sized balloon menus have been very popular, and we plan on creating additional pocket-sized menu cards to add to the collection. We’ll also be adding more menu options and sizes soon!
I’ve had several customer inquiries regarding staining, so I thought I’d finally do a little stain test on myself! Granted, I don’t own every brand out there, so I wasn’t able to test everything. But, I think I got in a good variety of the brands I do own…Paradise, Wolfe, Kryolan, TAG, Global, and I just have one cake of Cameleon. It is also important to note that all skin types are different, and even different areas on the same person will react differently to any paint. This is just a test on my own skin which doesn’t really tell you a whole lot about anyone else, but is only meant as a starting point for reference. So, please view these results through that lens.
I started by painting three stripes of each color on my legs. The idea was to wipe off a row of stripes after 3 different periods of time…1 hour, 12 hours, and 24 hours.
Initial swatches
An hour later, I cleaned off the far left column, using a makeup remover wipe.
After one hour, you could still see the following:
– Paradise Brilliant dark blue – Paradise Brilliant light blue – TAG pearl green (just a little) – TAG pearl rose – Wolfe Metallix pink – TAG pearl purple – Wolfe neon blue
All of the Global and Kryolan colors came off clean, as well as my one Cameleon swatch.
12 hours later, I cleaned off the center column using the same makeup remover wipes. This is probably a typical time frame for a child who has his or her face painted at a party one afternoon/evening, then keeps the paint on overnight. The following colors were new additions to the ones that showed at 1 hour:
– Paradise wild orchid – Paradise beach berry – Kryolan Aquacolor Yellow – Kryolan Aquacolor Green – Wolfe Green Metallix
I knew the Kryolan yellow and yellow based colors would start staining by now. When I first started painting, all we used was Kryolan. When kids would come up to us begging for free face painting, there was one artist who would offer to give them a free yellow dot on their nose. Of course, the kids were very excited to get free paint in any form…the artist knew they’d still have a nice, yellow dot on their nose for church the next morning! 😉 He he…I know, not very nice. I couldn’t ever bring myself to do it. Other yellow based colors also seem to stain in Kryolan, like the green and orange.
I really LOVE my Paradise brilliant blues!! But man, do they stain! I did a little stripe of it on my son’s cheek earlier this week, and the stain stood up through a good scrubbing with a makeup wipe, a couple swimming lessons, baths, etc….several days later it’s starting to fade finally!
Those TAG pearls are really beautiful, too, but also tend to stain. I wonder if putting another base color underneath it would help? I feel another experiment coming on!
24 hours later, the following additions to the list started to show stains:
– Wolfe Black just barely showed a slight stain. I really don’t think this would be noticeable unless you were specifically looking for it. I’ve heard many artists complain about Wolfe black staining, but I just didn’t see it. Although, a child’s skin is likely more sensitive and may yield different results.
Here is a graphic showing ALL of the results, side by side, including 24 hours:
What I found interesting though, is that a couple colors seemed to actually drop OFF the list after 24 hours…Kryolan yellow no longer seemed to show up, and some of the TAG Pearl and Wolfe Metallix seemed to have less of a stain than they did when washed off at 12 hours.
In a nutshell…the Global paints seemed to perform the best as far as non-staining goes. They washed off just as clean 24 hours later as they did 1 hour later.
The ones that left a very clear,visible mark after 24 hours include: – TAG Pearl Purple – Wolfe Neon Blue – Kryolan Green – Paradise Brilliant Dark Blue – Paradise Brilliant Light Blue
I would say if you really want to be careful about staining, stay away from the TAG pearls & Paradise Brilliants in the deep blue/purple range. I have not tested any of the other Paradise Brilliant paints, so I’m not certain if it’s the blue pigment, or the Brilliants in general. Of course these are AMAZING colors, and I’d never remove them from my kit. But, it might be a good idea to warn parents of potential staining just to be sure they don’t have school pictures coming up in the next 24 hours, and to reassure them that some staining is normal and to be expected.
It also may be worth noting that after a 20 minute soak in the bath tub, followed by some pretty vigorous scrubbing with a soapy bath pouf, the two stripes still standing were the Paradise Brilliant blues. Kindof wishing I had known this a week ago…I could have spared my kindergartener from 3-4 days at school with a blue line on his cheek! 😉
Have you done some stain tests yourself? Please comment below and feel free to leave links to your own test results (or email me to have them added here)…I’d love to hear how other brands and colors compare, too!
If you know me, you know I can get slightly obsessed with designing and creating the perfect kit. With my degree and passion in industrial design (product design and retail store fixture design are what I do when not face painting), the desire to solve problems through design plagues me CONSTANTLY! My obsession with thrift shopping also has me picking up all kinds of funky items to reconfigure and utilize in my face painting business. I have several different kits now, and all are really great in different ways and for different gigs. (see this post for my last kit creation)
When I came across this aluminum case at Goodwill for $6.99, I of course HAD to pick it up and turn it into a sweet kit!! It was in excellent condition and even came with a set of keys to lock it.
$6.99 aluminum case found at Goodwill
The first thing I did was pull the cardboard base lining out. It had some vinyl pieces on it that were designed to secure whatever this case originally held, which I saved and ended up re-using. (the Velcro, too!) This piece pulled out pretty easily.
Ripping out the lining. I left the black foam sheet in the top half.
I saved the cardboard as well, since it was already made to fit the size of the case. I covered it with some fun, colorful fabric, and proceeded to trick it out with all sorts of pockets and elastic loops. I added a couple more pieces of velcro after taking this picture, but you get the idea:
My custom made “insert!”
I bought the fabric, elastic, and velcro, and then re-used those black vinyl pieces as pockets.
It was pretty easy to just run this cardboard with the fabric through my sewing machine which worked great. The velcro is positioned just right for some small plastic containers I used (see below), which I found at Michaels (in their bead storage).
I then put some velcro on the back of this piece, with the other pieces on the inside of the case lid, so that I could velcro the whole works to the case. I don’t know if I’ll ever remove it, but if I ever want to sew anything else on, or even swap out the whole deal with a new setup, it’ll be super easy now.
In the base of the case, where I pulled up the cardboard, it looked ugly. But, I covered that with a black towel (cut to fit, and hemmed), which also attaches with velcro. This way I can pull it out and toss it in the washing machine if when it gets dirty.
Sewing the removeable brush holders
For my brushes I sewed some velcro to the back of one of the leftover scraps of vinyl, and then added red elastic to the other side, creating loops to stick the brush handles through. I then was able to add the other half of the velcro to my case wherever I wanted to mount my brushes. The velcro enables me to put my brushes in one spot to pack them away, and then move them to another spot to make them easy to access while I’m working.
Using the brush holder
Above you can see the brush position when in use (far left), the brush holder being removed (center), and the two brush holders being fixed into position when packing up my kit for travel (right).
I positioned the velcro strips across the back at just the right height (below) so that I can have these larger containers open while I’m working. In those I have my bobby pins, daubers, kabuki brush, and some larger gems. When I’m NOT using the kit, that top space is where I can mount my brushes to keep them safely packed up.
Kit in use, with plastic containers open
Below the larger plastic containers I have some smaller ones that I only open when I need them. They hold my various gems, google eyes, metal tips and pins for my Liquid Bling, and even one with a few Tylenol. Nobody likes being stuck with a headache at a gig! 😉 I had the worst time finding adhesive that would stick the velcro to these containers. I tried super glue, some special Velcro adhesive, 2-part expoxy and Gorilla glue. NOTHING worked…I even tried roughing up the plastic with sandpaper, and the velcro just popped off like nothing. I finally tried some “extreme” foam tape by 3M and that seems to be working!
Below is a photo of the kit open, and all of it’s contents spread out. You can see that it holds a LOT of gear for a small space!!
Below you can see how everything fits inside the kit. An assortment of my liquid bling, glitter, metallic powder, adhesive, and Detailz sit nicely along the bottom of the lid in their red elastic loops. Above my glitter I have more elastic loops that hold my lollipop blenders, small dauber, dotting wand, Mehron pencil, mini screwdriver (I use to mix my paints), body glue, and a chapstick sushi horizontally. The flat pockets hold my business cards and BAM stencils.
All of my supplies packed away!
In the base of the box I have another plastic box that holds my small screw-together jars of paints. Behind that I have my larger cakes, all screwed together and rolled up in my green washcloth. Wolfe black and white are in the upper right corner. Under that is another small washcloth. My mirror sits on top of my paints. I have a little plastic zipper pouch on the lower left corner, which holds my makeup remover wipes, an assortment of sponges, and daubers. The pink circle is a cool collapsible cup for my rinse water. (I may buy another so I have two rinse pots though) On the lower right corner are my two water bottles. I like a spray bottle and a dropper bottle. I may find smaller ones for this kit though. A palette of Mehron INtense Pro pressed powders sits under the cup, and underneath everything is my towel-lined (with velcro again) paint tray and my design sheet.
Open and ready for business!
Above is a photo of the kit all opened up and ready to paint with. My brushes are mounted upright in the lower right corner, my mirror is poised handle-out, ready for me to grab for the big reveal! I have my green wash cloth under my water cup, draped over the edge of the kit to soak up any drips that may fall off my brush while I’m painting. Everything else is pretty much already on display which I love!
Here it is all packed up and ready to go! Pretty slick…I am excited to take this to my next gig. I’ll let you know how it works out! Knowing me, I’ll probably come home with more improvements to make! 😉
Kit filled and closed!
Update January 2015: I still LOVE this kit! I did get a deeper case though that can hold my bulky brush tub, so I use that one more currently. But, I’m exploring options for smaller brush tubs so I can go back to this. I’ve also since created an entire playlist on YouTube of videos showing my kits in detail. Check them out HERE and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel for the latest! I’m CONSTANTLY working on improving my kits!
Here is one video showing you my current standard gig kit:
Check out my channel to see tours of my pocket sized kit, my travel kit, and a time lapse of me creating one of my insert panels.
Here are a few YouTube videos that I learned from and was ispired by when creating all of the balloons on our new pocket balloon menu cards! Several of you have asked for instructions, so this is my attempt to share as much info as I can. I’ll see if I can put together some pdf’s in the future! These are all pretty basic designs, and there are many, many videos online for every one. Many of these I just figured out looking at pictures, however, I’ve done my best to find videos that are as close as possible to the designs in the photos, if not the same! Some I simply described below, but will add videos later if I’m able to find some. Feel free to email me though if you still have questions!
Red Card (1-Balloon Designs): Sword Pig Rabbit(I started mine with a tulip twist for the nose) Dog(I’m sure there are hundreds of videos of the basic dog out there!) Alligator Elephant (I work backwards, starting with the opposite end (non-nozzle) making the trunk, then two big ears, and legs/body just like a basic dog.) Swan Giraffe (same as the basic dog, but with a long neck instead of long tail, and shorter ears) Monkey Turtle Bracelet
Blue Card (2-Balloon Designs): Flower Monkey with Banana (Similar to the red card’s monkey, but without the hand details, and with a short yellow balloon tucked in the arms for a banana!) Fishing Pole (Learned from a friend…The reel is made from an apple-twisted bee body that has been twisted in half, then the pole tucks in between. The “line” is a white balloon with all the air squeezed out, and the fish is made from a heart shaped balloon with most of the air let out.) Helicopter Princess Wand Rose(there are many variations out there!) Dragon(add the fire too if you are able!) Ladybug Bracelet (I make mine like the turtle bracelet but in black, and stopping at the head and legs, then add a little piece of red twisted and folded over for the shell/wings) Snake(on the card the tongue is different, just an uninflated red balloon)
Yellow Card (3-Balloon Designs): Princess(I do my arms a little different, linking the hands) Monkey on a tree(The one on the card uses the simpler monkey from the red card, but the tree is similar to this video) Penguin Dog(ears and head are similar to this video, but the one on the card is standing, leaves out the extra balloons needed for the nose and tongue, and has a collar instead) Butterfly Princess Wand Princess Crown Horse Airplane (Haven’t found a video similar to this yet. Start the yellow propellers with a tulip twist, then make 3 “petals” for the props. The main body in blue is like a loose bird body with more smaller propellers on the back. The wings are similar to the monkey’s palm tree, just slipped through the main body.)
I am super excited to introduce our latest new product, which is designed and made right here at Paintertainment… Pocket balloon twisting menu cards!
When I started balloon twisting, I loved the portability of my balloon apron, yet still wanted the ability to display some sort of visual menu. So, I came up with my own prototype of these cards that fit nicely into my apron pocket.
Here is a list of the designs on each card:
Red Card: sword, pig, rabbit, dog, alligator, elephant, turtle bracelet, monkey, swan and giraffe. Blue card: flower, rose, monkey with banana, helicopter, fishing pole, ladybug bracelet, dragon, snake, princess wand Yellow card: princess, monkey on a tree, penguin, dog, butterfly, horse, princess wand, crown, airplane
As a new twister, they were not only helpful to show the kids what I could make, but also as a visual cheat sheet for me! There were enough fellow twisters on Facebook interested in purchasing them, that I designed, printed, laminated and put together some for my online store. They are available now for $9.00
Right now they come in a set of three cards: 1-balloon designs, 2-balloon designs, and 3-balloon designs. Each card is laminated, and has a hole in the corner that is reinforced with a metal eyelet. The cards can then be connected with a metal ring (also included).
The ring is easy to open and close, enabling you to add or remove cards depending on the crowd or type of gig you are working at. It also allows you to attach the menu cards to a loop on your apron:
In my Twist-em-up apron, I’m able to hook these on a loop, flip them around and slip them into an apron pocket without even opening the ring. You can also attach it using a recoiling badge lanyard so they don’t walk away, which is how I hold my scissors and sharpie too. And if you end up being stationed at a table, they can be laid out for the kids to look at!
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