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This is an entry sent in for our monthly
Silly Farm Supplies Competition!
“Face Painting 300+ Kids”
By Mollie Stofan aka “Mollie the Painter”
Hi everyone!
I recently got a call to do a school festival a few weeks ago, to paint about 300+ kids!
I just about fell out of my chair when I heard how many.
I have never painted that many people at one time!
But I never back down from a challenge and I quickly taught my 14 year old sister to paint a few simple faces.
We chose to limit our choices to: Tiger, Zombie, Rainbow Butterfly, Party Eyes, Snakes & Flowers.
When we arrived at the event, we had our own pavillion and we lined up the picnic tables along the sides of the building and which created a large walk way.
As we started to paint, my sister took the right side and I took the left. We lined up as many as 25 kids at a time and went down the line with one color and then came back for details and once again for glitter.
We painted everyone, in three and a half hours–we were hired for 4 hours! The parents were very impressed by our meathod of getting everyone painted so quickly. They have already booked me again for next year!
I hope this helps anyone who needs to know how to paint a large group very quickly!
-Mollie Stofan
“Mollie the Painter”
(412)401-0113
molliethepainter@yahoo.com
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Thank you for sending this in Mollie! Nice to hear from you and well done on a massive gig! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of August when I announce the winner. To find out more and enter the face painting Silly Farm Supplies Competition.
Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!
Happy Face Painting,
Philadelphia Tivoli
www.FacePaintingTips.com
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Congrats Mollie!
I followed the same formula of mass producing faces for an end of the year class party. I was painting alone and needed to paint 60 or so kids in an hour and a half. Initially, I was told I would have two hours to paint, but the kids were late getting to the park from the school due to scheduling then they had to eat lunch. Okay, no problem…. In addition, part of the “fun” involved water balloon fights. I don’t know any other profession that can be caused such anxiety over water…LOL! Anyway, I ended up painting everyone and then some! Toward the end I even had boys lining up to be painted as butterflies, which I changed into “dragon”-flies with just a few clever strokes. It was quite a challenge as many of the kids were coming back after having participated in the water balloon fights. As they were lining up for the bus, about 15 or so kids were having me paint mustaches and goatees, boys and girls alike, to replace what had been washed off in the battles. It was a blast for everyone and I, too, have been invited back next year. Next time I will have a helper. Just because you can do something alone doesn’t mean you have to!
Be blessed!
Nikki Karn
Wow, that is AWESOME!! Go Mollie & lil sister!!
wow I really loved this organization. Limiting kids choices does help in the decision making, I especially loved the idea of lining them up in an assembly line type fashion!!! This was very helpful. Thank you. When I go to parties that are large I too limit their choices. I find this helps me keep the line going…. two to three choices for boy and for girls and some that are unisex. (although i find little girls like skulls too!!!)
I do some facepainting, but I do not know much about prices, could you please give me any idea about how much to charge? I really appreciate your help. Thank you
You do a wonderful job, congratulations. I can see how talented you are.
That is FANTASTIC! I wouldn’t have thought of doing that many faces, not even in a whole day – even with a helper! Now that is organisation! I hope you win!
well done..yes i also find to much choice can realy blow the time.
Where do i get these awsome rainbow paints ?
I so need to get some they look fab?
Thank you for all the sugestions they are a masive help
I started doing it for fun for my own children and am now doing childrens partys and local events and enjoy it so much but need some rainbow paints x thanks Corrina x
sounds interesting….how did you handle cleanliness? i have a hard time
keeping my brushes washed when working so fast. ideas would be appreciated.
What a great way to organize and paint such a large group of kids in a short period of time. Thanks for sharing this tip.
Thank you so much. You have perfect timing. Shortly before I opened this email I received a job at a “back to school bash” with over 600 kids signed up to attend! I almost turned it down. I have only one assistant and the idea of that many kids was just overwhelming. Then I read this and talked to my assistant and we know we can do this. With your extremely helpful advice.
thanks again
Hello, I’m just beginning to seriously consider face painting as a way to make extra money, I’ve always been a stay at home mom, and have no real income of my own, although I am an artist, I do oil on canvas and faux painting on walls etc… anyway I’d really like to attend a convention of some kind pertaining to facepainting, are their any in my area of california, S.F. bay area? coming up in the future? and is their another way to get information on starting my own face painting business?
Oh, man! That’s so cool! I just did a back to school yesterday and wished I knew a better way to paint so many kids. Now I know what to do! Thanks, so much for the insight!!
To those who are just starting to face paint, facepaintingtips.com is the perfect place to start. Phili is a great instructor and her website has a lot of how-to info. Also, at http://www.sillyfarm.com you can find the rainbow cakes and other good stuff to get you started. The right paint and brushes is a must!
that is amazing i am only starting the whole mass face painting thing and this is just something i can work up too congrats
Thanks so much for the great assembly-line information and the pictures! It looks like you had a rewarding day.
Thanks everyone who is enjoying my post
I’ve gotten alot of email’s asking where I got my rainbow cake. I ordered it from http://www.sillyfarm.com and it is the “Wolfe Neon Rainbow Cake which includes neon pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple” for $16.00 and as you can see it was well worth it and very popular. I had not actually even used the cake yet because I had been soo busy with finals at college and I didn’t have the time to “play” haha.
Also as I was painting, I found out quickly just how many kids to paint at one time. If I did too many at once, the kids would sometimes get pre-occupied and fidget around. But as you can see in the pictures, the kids are watching each other get painted and smiling and laughing. I think that the perfect amount to paint at once was 15-20 kids. Girls (of course haha
) would wait patiently but the boys wanted to get up and play around.
I’m glad this is helping lots of people
- Mollie the Painter
Hi Mollie!
I used your ideas with great success yesterday! I only had an hour to work, but I had over 50 kids, mostly girls! So, I had a kid number each hand with a washable marker. Then, I separated the boys from the girls. I was through within 30 mins.! I gave the girls a choice of butterfly eyes or spidergirl eyes using the rainbow cake as a base for both. I went back through the line to do the outline & glitter. Man, it was a breeze compared to what I’ve done before! You were right about the boys scattering! A few came back and I put a quick, but cool spider or snake wristband on them.
Here’s what I learned:
Give the boys and girls a separate set of numbers. I lost a lot of time searching for missing numbers in the girl’s lineup that belonged a boy. (Duh!)
Pick one boy and one girl to do the designs on. They help the other kids see what the finished design will look like.
Keep the designs very simple. I put the color on the upper lids only and added a few swirls or lines for definition. To add glitter, I carried a little cup of water (for dry glitter) and a small pot of glitter.
Talk to each kid as you go down the line. Just saying, “You’re looking good! I’ll be back to finish!” can make their day and keep them willing to wait for the next step!
Thanks, girl!