If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Silly Farm Supplies Competition!

“Face Painting Experience” - SF Competition
Sent in by “Miss Sparkle” the Clown

A bad experience can be a learning experience. 

I am a clown and was hired to do a birthday party for a friend I work with for his 5 year old daughter and her friends.  The day before I had started putting together an extra face painting kit so that if I ever had a large party and needed someone to help me I would have a spare kit.  Each kit is in an identical brightly colored tub.  The only difference was that my kit had my paint set in it and the other kit had everything else but no paint kit.  Both tubs have a handle so I can easily carry them and they are lightweight and not too bulky.

Well the day of the party I loaded my car with everything I would need to do balloons, magic and facepainting, including my face painting kit (or so I thought).

I started the party with magic and balloons and then was ready to do the face painting. The children were so excited and as I opened my kit  my heart skipped several beats. No face paint pallet was in my kit. I had grabbed the wrong tub. It was a 45 minute drive to get them so that was not an option.  I kept my cool and looked through all the supplies in the kit and discovered I had a very small container that had thin slices of 3 different colors of paint that I use for a basic rainbow. Thank goodness I had that.  I proceeded to paint all the children using just those three colors and glitter of coarse.  The children did not seem to notice or care but I know I could have done much better with more colors.   

This is where you have the opportunity to learn from my mistake.  I have been clowning and face painting for about 3 years since that fateful day and I have never had that happen to me again.  I have 2 important rules to share with you:
#1 is this, after every party the first thing I do when I get home is wash my brushes and sponges and let them air dry overnight before putting them back in my kit. I then re-organize my kit so that everything is ready to go for the next party. Even if it is late and I am tired I take care of my face paint kit first.

And my # 2 rule is just as important, I have an index card taped to the inside of the tub lid that has a list of every thing I need to take along for a face painting gig. Some of the items on the list are paint, brushes, sponges, glitter, table cover, wipes, mirror, face design sample sheets.  Make sure to check your list even if you think you have everything. Being over confident and forgetting to check your list may cost you a party and your reputation. Be pre-pared.
I hope this has helped you.            

“Miss Sparkle” the Clown

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in “Miss Sparkle” the Clown, such an important lesson to be learned here! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of September when I announce the winner. To find out more and enter the face painting Silly Farm contest click here.  Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli
P.S Click here for face painting designs  with step-by-step with photos and instructions!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 1:02 am and is filed under Face Painting Competitions, Face Painting Business Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.