Sponge per color vs. Sponge per person.

So I was pretty set with the idea of sponge person, washing brush between each person, yadda yadda..

Then I go to the Wolfe Brothers workshop, and he (Brian Wolfe) uses 1 sponge per color, dips the sponges in his rinse water to wet them, and uses one brush for everything. The extreme example of coffee water.

And he's one of the biggies in the industry.

What do you all do?

No judging here. Just want info.

I use one sponge per mixed cake at a gig. If I have a bunch of girls coming to get neon rainbows I just re-wet it and swipe it again... Sometimes my table is so crowded I cannot find the sponge again and grab another one..

I also use just a few brushes for everything and have lots of coffee water... I just keep dumping and refilling.. I paint something on someone... dump the brush in the water, grab a new brush and start the next color I wanted to do on them... dump it in the water.... etc... It is awful on my brushes just sitting in water a lot.... which is why I buy so many but it is a hard habit to break

I don't imagine he does festival work anymore. I get the impression that the one color per brush/sponge was the general accepted method for a while,and people hold on to the way they were taught.

I do one sponge per person, and I rinse my brushes between colors/people, and change my water very frequently.

I do one sponge per person, or will sometimes use the same sponge if I have siblings wanting the same design.

I do like Jennifer. Both because I don't want one child's food - or whatever still on their face - on the next kid, but for some designs I use the sponge with more colours and in a way so I can not easy use it again for the next. Like my skull: one side white, the other black and then the white side again to blend, making the white grey.
I have tried with one sponge per colour, but was very fast making them with colour all over, so I took a new one most of the time anyway.
Sponges are not so expensive and are easy cleaning in a washing machine, so yes, it does use more products, but I think it is worth it.

I use both methods and it depends on the situation/party. I normally tend to use the same sponge for the cakes and just wet/wipe it off a napkin inbetween kids. If the kid looks messy, I ask the parents or him/her to get cleaned first and then come back. I have 2 round (big and small) brushes for black line work and ditto for white. then i have other round brushes for the red/orange/pinks, yellows/gold, greens, and blues/purples to cut down on the coffee colored water, but it still happens...I say just do what you feel comfy with and what works for you.

I use one sponge per kid (more to keep the colours from mixing than for cleanliness... it's the same water)... I don't need my sponges blowing away in the wind or falling all over in my way, so it's one per kid and dump it into the dirty sponge container.

I just rinse my favourite brushes between kids... I bring very few brushes with me. Change my water as needed but my water container has 3 sections so I try to keep one of them fairly clear for going to my paint and one quite dirty for taking off the majority of the paint to clean them.

A clean sponge for every person, period. Sometimes two if the design calls for it. It is governed by Health Regulations not my choice, but, it would also be my choice.

Sponges are cheap (at least mine are!) and last forever, and you can clean them so... no problem.

At conventions and workshops lots of the instructors are traveling with minimal kit so MAY not be working per normal, but I don't know that for sure. I still do one sponge per, but I'm anal.

I use one sponge per person. When I first started I used one brush per color. Since switching to one sponge per person its amazing how much faster I use up paints. If I do brushwork around their nose or mouth then one brush per person. Otherwise I use the one brush per color.

1 sponge per face and I may load that sponge with 6 different colours, depending, before I put it to their face. If I find that paint drying a little, or to far into the sponge, I give it a little spray with my water bottle and it works like a charm again. As Shannon said, regulations state only 1.

I plan on only using one sponge per person.

I have so many sponge wedges I've cut so using one per kid is no problem, so thats what I prefer to do. I have a container on my table I throw the dirty ones in after use. When I get home I throw them all in a laundry mesh bag thingy and into the washer they go.

I found that using one sponge per child uses up too much paint and I have lots of sparkling, electric & metalic paint$. l have so many rainbow cakes on my pallet, one sponge resting on each split color is all I need for the popular designs. I make sure the child is clean of debris before I paint. I always have lots of spare sponges so if any I'm using look questionalble, into the dirty bag it goes.

I have at least two dozen color dedicated brushes in various sizes & shapes, arrainged according to color and brush size in my ice tube tray, ready to easily identify and use.

I had very little coffee water at the end of the gig when my pallet was all snaz but since I got the DFX lite & dark greens, white & black, I have a small mouthed crock jar I dip my DFX brushes into. The water looks black when its clean in that little jar and very difficult to see into. Altho I mist the DFX paints, they still seem to need a drop or two of water to get them to flow.

So when the DFX brush touches the water, a bit of color is released on top of the water ; P When I touch a Snaz brush to the water, any paint released just falls to the bottom, leaving the water clean, which is why my Snaz water container is two inch tall widemouthed white ceramic jar ; D

Students didnt believe me when I first told them and carefully inspected my white jar at the end of a session and it really looked clean untill I told them to stir it up with a brush handle and sure enough, it looked a bit milky from the paint on the bottom.

Now, if I can only get used to the new jar and keep from dipping into my favorite white jar with a DFX brush, I'll be a happy camper!
Susan

I do a mix of both. In the inside jobs it is one sponge per color unless someone looks even the slightest bit questionable. Sneezing or a cough or anything suspicious.

If I am outside, it is always one per person and then into the bag or they blow all over.

I too agree that to keep using a new sponge is a huge waste of paint. My neon rainbow designs don't start looking really good until the third or fourth person and by the 10th they pop to the moon. I know some will say eew..., but I take all precautions when painting and inspect everyone and turn away anyone with even a watery eye, so I feel good about what I do.

I've noticed that paint goes on better after a few kids (when it is sponge per color). So I'm glad to hear someone else say that too. I've been starting more of the sponge per color, partially for that reason. But I do switch them out if they get mucky or it touches another color, or if there is anything suspicious too.

Metina wrote:..., but I take all precautions when painting and inspect everyone and turn away anyone with even a watery eye, so I feel good about what I do.

How do you politely turn someone away, whether at a birthday party or at an event? I've wondered about this and how to keep someone from getting upset. Besides not wanting to get other children sick, I don't want to be sick! Due to a health condition (nothing contagious) I have to take medication that lowers my resistance and makes it easier for me to get sick. I've been concerned with how to turn people away and not make them feel badly.

Thanks!

I do carry some temporary tattoos that I've used on the kid that is 1 and the parent is insisting on wanting something for them. I just say like "This won't smear, and I'm sure she/he will enjoy it much more"

You could probably do that with the sick kid too.

My signs that say my start and stop sign also indicates that I don't paint on anyone under 3 in the face and that no one who is sick or "impaired" will be painted.

This covers me, but if a 2.5 year old is really good in the chair then ok, but then I make the call.

Have you thought of carrying it in the store? I think it would be a good seller

I use Starblend smoothies mostly for my base, so I use a Smoothie per color & wash them at the end of the day. I have paint brushes for black & white(line work) that are 1 per color & I rinse brushes for any other colors. Eventually I'll own enough brushes that I can have 1 per color. I'm starting to get better at sponge work & will have to start thinking about 1 per color or 1 per person.... I also turn away anyone w/ open soars, eye illnesses or lice(it's going around our school district & I'm super paranoid). I also hand sanitize like crazy.

While I'm not as good about it as the Canadians, I'm moving towards no double dipping the brush too. I'm a firm believer in Universal Precautions from working at a hospital and doing home visiting. There's a lot that a "clean lookin" kid can have, and his open wound with MRSA might not be where you can see it. Or pinworm eggs or shagella hanging around his face from when he went to the potty and didn't wash his hands good. I feel okay with using more paint and changing my water all the time.

I am a one (or two sponge per face) gal. My brushes are a different story however and it's somewhat complicated in theory. I'll just say that I use 3 or 4 brushes per color...yes...I have a lot of brushes up when I paint. I also don't dip back into the paint once I sponge a face, I either switch sides or get another sponge. Do I waste a lot of paint? Probably, but the cost is nominal compared to the damage a communicable skin condition could cause. My rate compensates me for the use of my supplies, so I use them.

I use one sponge per color. If it works for Disney and passes OSHA standards, then it's okay for me. What's the diff in letting kids play together in a playground? If one kid is gonna climb all over the monkey bars that the last kid just licked, then painting a kid with the same sponge doesn't seem so weird.

Of course if a kid looks funky(drippy, rashy...) then I set that sponge aside and don't use it anymore.

I use one brush per color for the most part as well. And I keep hand sanitizer near by

lol... drippy

Sponges are ok but other ways to apply paint have come up lately.
Lindy uses the pouncers to get paint on in tight places and small areas of color. She says its wonderful not to get paint on her fingers.

Sunday Arla showed us how using a kabuki (sp?) brush (that kinda looks like a huge short handled blusher brush) gets the paint on a large area much faster, which is great for body painting or full face and keeps fingers free of paint.

I have several soft blusher brushes that would be great for pink cheeks or sparkling turquoise eyeshadow and will bring them to the gig tonite and letcha know how they work out. I'm so tired of getting paint on my fingers from the sponges, so I'm more than willing to try something new.

I like the snaz teardrop shaped sponges for rainbow or split colors because they are large enuf to keep paint away from fingers and the small end gets into small & eye areas. I have seen lots of really experienced painters use the whole uncut round sponge to apply paint but I found the sponge is too large & flimsey for me to handle with any accuracy in small or limited places.

I lost the round petal shaped Snaz collection of 6-8 colored teardrop shaped sponges when I first started painting and just got another one, so I will put the half sponges into storage when it arrives. I am soo sick of having to wipe paint off my hands so often at gigs.
Susan