Priorites on building a kit

I have what I would consider my basics for my kit, even if my options are not always the dream product I would like. I am making do in some area.
But since I am having to work within a budget I am trying to prioritize what I buy next. I am replacing cheap brushes with Loew Cornell as they go on sale or I have a good coupon. I have gotten myself 1 starblend in white. And I have purchased 2 rainbow cakes (Paradise Flash and Tag Neon).

I want some of the stencils, but which ones do you all find most useful?
I want more starblends, but if working with a limited budget, which are a top priority?
I am intrigued by the Tag one stroke cakes, but which are the most useful?
Are there any tools, organizers or other items you feel you can't live without (other than brushes)?

I have a few things on my wish list that I know are not as much of a priority for me just yet, such as the laptop cases, a scrapbook case, a couple of chairs, a new tent. But these are things I can't justify to myself unless I am booking events more regularly.

this is a great topic and would love to see what everyone has to say. =)

In my opinion, purchase one strokes that appeal to YOU, but within different color catagories. Like I realized on my last large order, all the rainbow and one strokes I bought had purple in them;) I wasn't paying very close attention. but If you buy a cake that appeals to you, you are more likely to create beautiful things with it, and everyone will want those designs.

The only cake I have that I rarely use, is a basic traditional rainbow. and I thought I would use it all the time!

And get a green split or one stroke. You won't believe how much you'll use it.

Hope it helps a little!

As for one strokes, I'd recommend a rainbow (not neon) and a leaf. If you like doing dragons/boy designs, a flame one-stroke would be useful too. A rose one would be good if you like doing roses. Many people like the unicorn one-stroke as well. Honestly... it just depends on what kind of designs you enjoy doing!

As for brushes.. if you're on a budget I'd recommend Simply Simmons. They have them at Walmart and Michael's. I think they're about 4-6 dollars each... and I like them better than my Loew-Cornelles.

I don't have Starblends, but I assume the most used ones would be black and white. Maybe a red for Spiderman.

If you don't have some already, I also recommend Mama Clown fairy dust glitter... I finally got some after so many recommendations, and I love it. I'd never used a poofer bottle before and its GREAT! It's so easy to give an overall glittery look on your designs.

I have or am wanting for a good kit/setup is:
a container storage that you can double as a table, I just bought a Plano rolling storage box from Menards today.
two folding chairs
you can make signs or what have you to decorate and make your area bigger but for a basic setup, that is the two most important things (to me).
Then for painting, I would want a green/ yellow one stroke cake, a rainbow cake (reg or neon) and one other one stroke cake of pretty colors like a sunset or unicorn or something to do some pretty butterflies and crowns and whatnots with.
Of coarse have all of your basic colors and pastel colors, (I have paradise but am switching over to Tag)and I am wanting to try Wolfe for black and white detailing. I would do sooner or later, a starblend in white, black, red, orange, yellow, pink, purple, and a green. But start with the ones that you would use the most. Do you do alot of spidermans? Green monster masks? Tiger faces? Skeletons? Butterflies? Or crowns? Whatever design is your most requested or the one you want to be doing the most, buy those colors first to start off.
I also think that the brushes have a little to do with it, but I think it is more of learning the technique and figuring out pressure and how to load the brushes, besides the quality. I think if you arent using paintbrushes found in a kindergarten classroom, then you'll be ok for awhile. Unless you really need the better ones. But if it was me, I'd wait till the ones you have start to fall apart a bit or look raggity.
And as far as glitter, I would just get one irridecent poof glitter. I would not buy a ton of glitter colors. It's too messy, time consuming, and cluttering having so many different colors laying around. And for glitter gel, I'd probably get maybe a silver and a gold? At least that is what I would use the most.
Then you just need the other bits and pieces, the sponges, water container to clean your brushes, ya know, just the odds and ends that you will need.
Again, this is my own personal prefrence. But I am also someone who is trying to keep the less is more motto in my head so I am not spending every last penny I have on all the awesomeness that is out there.

So Mita how do you like you case from menards..isn;t it a great tool box...
I love the rainbow one stroke, and the unicorn one..i have my own leaf split cake I love the fairy floss cake by tag.. i have several one stroke cakes and use them all..I have the wolfe rainbow cake and a green rainbow cake with several shades of green in it..got in vegas last year..but i make alot of my own rainbow cakes in the colors combo I like....but its your preference..the girls will usually pick anything with a rainbow, or if it has pink or purple in it..I also try to match what they are wearing..if you have every watched Lynne Jamison paint..she just loads her spong with the different colors when doing a design, and then does her line work..she is amazing..

I think Denise just started a thread about splits and one strokes and their use.

I have been using a selection of Artist Loft brand brushes I had gotten because I was to be teaching a class on watercolor that didn't make, so I had them around. But in just 2 months, some of the rounds are loosing their points, so they have been my priority on replacing. I have gotten a 4 and 6 Loew Cornell when they had them on sale and I had a coupon for an additional 20% off at Michaels.
I have cut up all of my 18 colors of DFX into split cakes and 3 rainbow cakes.
My first order from the forum shop of my white and black DFX that I already needed more of should be arriving Friday, just as I am to be leaving to set up at a show for this weekend.
But I am already working on my next order. I figure $50 a month unless I am actually making money at this should keep me going.
From what you all have posted I think I will get a rainbow and a greens one stroke cake and a black starblend for my next order. Zombies are my biggest request right now. Probably because I have been going to sci-fi conventions that have had zombie apocalypse themes to them.
I have some glitter from getting a Tulip glitter Tat kit with a coupon. I hate the stencils, but I just added the glitter to my kit and am using the glue for rhinestones I already had around the house from a variety of other projects. But I really think I would prefer the sparkling dusting powder and the brush you can fill with the powder instead of glitter. It was used at a guild meeting this month and it seemed less messy. But as long as I have glitter, it isn't at the top of my list.

Everything said: split cake leaves is a must have indeed!
I also love splits with purple but that's personal taste.
Also love liquid blings like Suzy Sparkles, they really pop a design!

Is the glitter from glitter tats usable on the face?!
Thought I read somewhere that it's not suitable for that?

PerfectlyPaintedFaces wrote:As for one strokes, I'd recommend a rainbow (not neon) and a leaf. If you like doing dragons/boy designs, a flame one-stroke would be useful too. A rose one would be good if you like doing roses. Many people like the unicorn one-stroke as well. Honestly... it just depends on what kind of designs you enjoy doing!

As for brushes.. if you're on a budget I'd recommend Simply Simmons. They have them at Walmart and Michael's. I think they're about 4-6 dollars each... and I like them better than my Loew-Cornelles.

I don't have Starblends, but I assume the most used ones would be black and white. Maybe a red for Spiderman.

If you don't have some already, I also recommend Mama Clown fairy dust glitter... I finally got some after so many recommendations, and I love it. I'd never used a poofer bottle before and its GREAT! It's so easy to give an overall glittery look on your designs.

I recommend a neon rainbow one stroke for ANYONE! I use this so much...anytime any little one wants a rainbow.. it's much more vivid. Also, whenever you have an undecided child, a curvy rainbow down the cheek or arm is perfect...add a few white dots, starbursts and five point stars (for boys) and for girls maybe a couple of tiny white hearts and top it with white fairy dust glitter.

Miss Ronnie wrote:

PerfectlyPaintedFaces wrote:As for one strokes, I'd recommend a rainbow (not neon) and a leaf. If you like doing dragons/boy designs, a flame one-stroke would be useful too. A rose one would be good if you like doing roses. Many people like the unicorn one-stroke as well. Honestly... it just depends on what kind of designs you enjoy doing!

As for brushes.. if you're on a budget I'd recommend Simply Simmons. They have them at Walmart and Michael's. I think they're about 4-6 dollars each... and I like them better than my Loew-Cornelles.

I don't have Starblends, but I assume the most used ones would be black and white. Maybe a red for Spiderman.

If you don't have some already, I also recommend Mama Clown fairy dust glitter... I finally got some after so many recommendations, and I love it. I'd never used a poofer bottle before and its GREAT! It's so easy to give an overall glittery look on your designs.

I recommend a neon rainbow one stroke for ANYONE! I use this so much...anytime any little one wants a rainbow.. it's much more vivid. Also, whenever you have an undecided child, a curvy rainbow down the cheek or arm is perfect...add a few white dots, starbursts and five point stars (for boys) and for girls maybe a couple of tiny white hearts and top it with white fairy dust glitter.

I have SUCH trouble working with my neon rainbow. No matter how many times I run my brush over the thing, I can never get it opaque enough. I also find it muddies a lot easier than my other one-strokes. I love my big neon rainbow cake... but the one-stroke drives me crazy! I wish I got a normal rainbow instead.

Barb, I love the case so far. But I haven't gotten to use it for any gigs yet. But everything fits perfectly and I can use it with a set up of two regular chairs or a tall director's chair and standing up. It's the perfect height. I also like that I can put a lock on it to keep my kids little fingers from getting into all of my stuff.

Janna, I am glad it's not just me. I can't get the paint in my big one to work good with a brush. It's beautiful with a sponge though.

I agree with what Janna said on one strokes. My leaf cake is used for leaves (of course) but also my crocs, snakes, turtles and dinosaur. My flame is great for flames, dinosaurs, dragons, sand sharks and orange tiger lilies. My ocean is used for dolphins, sharks, waves, whales and periwinkle flowers. My magpie (black/gray/white) is for my wings, skulls, sharks and whales. I listed only 4 cakes but you can see I make a lot out of them. I also use them for designs and swirls around the eyes.

My go to brushes are my Mark Reids in 2 and 4 plus my 7000 Lowe Cornells. While I have stencils, I rarely use them for anything other than texture. I was watching another face painter use stencils for designs and I heard a person who was also watching say, Hey I can do that! They don't need an artist to do this!

I agree with the glitter! It just adds a nice finishing touch for girl designs. I also can't be without my water spray bottle or my sponges. Wet wipes are also a must.

Peppermint_Mill wrote:I agree with what Janna said on one strokes. My leaf cake is used for leaves (of course) but also my crocs, snakes, turtles and dinosaur. My flame is great for flames, dinosaurs, dragons, sand sharks and orange tiger lilies. My ocean is used for dolphins, sharks, waves, whales and periwinkle flowers. My magpie (black/gray/white) is for my wings, skulls, sharks and whales. I listed only 4 cakes but you can see I make a lot out of them. I also use them for designs and swirls around the eyes.

My go to brushes are my Mark Reids in 2 and 4 plus my 7000 Lowe Cornells. While I have stencils, I rarely use them for anything other than texture. I was watching another face painter use stencils for designs and I heard a person who was also watching say, Hey I can do that! They don't need an artist to do this!

I agree with the glitter! It just adds a nice finishing touch for girl designs. I also can't be without my water spray bottle or my sponges. Wet wipes are also a must.

Totally off topic here Peppermint, but I was reading your post and would love to see your one stroke turtle, sand shark, tiger lily, whale and periwinkle flowers. Many are designs that intrigue me but have never tried.

Thanks
for the inspiration.

I dislike the neon rainbow one stroke, I also find it difficult to get on with a brush. but I do the regular rainbow with that kid who won't sit still and the parents go cant you just do somthing small - these children all get rainbows.

as for one stroke cakes I recomend snake and dragon as just browsing this forum and through use myself,I think most people would agree that they are useful. I have my favs which are different to other peoples but snake and dragon seem to be something most painters have and use.

with the larger split I would go with Tag fairy floss, simply as you have a big neon, and your prisma (flash) it a rainbow so I would say fairy floss as it is pretty. and the tag rainbow dose look different from the prisma one but as you have a prisma I feel that telling you to get fairy floss is less of a double up of colours so to speak.

Zombies - fleshtone colours if you dont have them, and I love the snaz blood cake, also browns and grey.
paradise black for shading I used a wash for a long time but having paradise black just makes things simpler and there are just some things a wash can't do that paradise black can. It's also good for zombies as you have a black tone less black than wolfe, tag or DFX - dose that make sense?

As for brushes. every one has there own personal choice. but If you find a brand you like and it is working for you. be it Lowe cornell, royal, paradise etc stick with that while you are building i.e. round, filbert, flat ect as the bristles tend to be similar if you keep with a series i.e. soft or stiffer, after that then try different ones. you may find you like a stiffer detail brush, softer one stroke who knows we are all different and brushes everyone finds there niche eventually. but while building I would say stick with what you know works for you already but try different types/shapes, and then try some other brands. If you have done this already got a supply of diferent types/shapes in a brand, then you could try some other brands.
I didn't do it that way however as I am a face paint and brush addict and kept buying stuff but is somthing I now think I probebly should have done in hindsight.

I had trouble loading a brush with the neon rainbow without muddying, too. But I learned to load a sponge on the back and pounce and pull to create a brilliant neon rainbow. Now I love it!

Here is a video of what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErJJmY8WSQY

Please excuse the glare. I did this on my iPhone and the lighting isn't great.

Thanks for the tip, Diane! I never even thought of using a sponge with the one-strokes... duh! I think that will solve my neon rainbow problem.

PerfectlyPaintedFaces wrote:

Miss Ronnie wrote:

PerfectlyPaintedFaces wrote:As for one strokes, I'd recommend a rainbow (not neon) and a leaf. If you like doing dragons/boy designs, a flame one-stroke would be useful too. A rose one would be good if you like doing roses. Many people like the unicorn one-stroke as well. Honestly... it just depends on what kind of designs you enjoy doing!

As for brushes.. if you're on a budget I'd recommend Simply Simmons. They have them at Walmart and Michael's. I think they're about 4-6 dollars each... and I like them better than my Loew-Cornelles.

I don't have Starblends, but I assume the most used ones would be black and white. Maybe a red for Spiderman.

If you don't have some already, I also recommend Mama Clown fairy dust glitter... I finally got some after so many recommendations, and I love it. I'd never used a poofer bottle before and its GREAT! It's so easy to give an overall glittery look on your designs.

I recommend a neon rainbow one stroke for ANYONE! I use this so much...anytime any little one wants a rainbow.. it's much more vivid. Also, whenever you have an undecided child, a curvy rainbow down the cheek or arm is perfect...add a few white dots, starbursts and five point stars (for boys) and for girls maybe a couple of tiny white hearts and top it with white fairy dust glitter.

I have SUCH trouble working with my neon rainbow. No matter how many times I run my brush over the thing, I can never get it opaque enough. I also find it muddies a lot easier than my other one-strokes. I love my big neon rainbow cake... but the one-stroke drives me crazy! I wish I got a normal rainbow instead.

I had that trouble at first as well. The way to conquer it is to use as little water as possible when originally loading the brush... you will know while loading it that it is too dry. Then dip the very tippy-tip into your water and load some more. Plus, you have to be extra careful when loading to make sure your colors line up on the brush or you won't get the vibrancy.

I'm right there with you in that I'm just starting my kit. That being said one of the things I use most is the palette of pressed mica powders I made. You can find the thread on here, as that's where I learned about them. I find they help supplement my Wolfe appetizer palette greatly, in fact I used them just this past weekend to make a cheetah since I didn't have an appropriate color for it. It's great for spidey eyes on flinching boys too! Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I'll replace them with starblends once I start making money - but until then...

Hi
i am making my last paint order for a while : ( So I thought I'd seek some final purchase advise...I read Denises on stroke and rainbow cake uses, and now for the starblends. I figure white, black, red, need 3 other colors. Remember I live in the desert and have little to no humidy, so do starblends even matter here like in Texas or Florida. I have ez access to snaz red, white and blacks for spider or base work... I am thinking one Mark Reid brush. Suggestion for size? I have a hard time with thin black lines around the mouth....Here's what I have as a starter kit..
TAG- one strokes; rose, dolphin, one with no name(yellow, blue green and pink.
TAG- 2 color split: magenta/orange, red/orangie yellow, purple/pink and lt green dark/ dark green
TAG-neon rainbow and fairy floss
TAG singles- regular blue, teal, liliac dark blue, purple, yellow,
pearl whilte, old gold
neon yellow
Wolfe-Red
Diamond FX- 2 white and 2 black
ample colors of snaz.
Any fillers that you can think of?
I have glitter. Do you use it out of the poof bottle or prefer the round container? thanks

Hi FaceAndBodyFX! So glad I inspired you!! :-). I'd be more than happy to post my pictures. Would you mind waiting a week or so? I'm flying out to beautiful Australia and will be back in 10 days. I'll post my pix then. Thanks!! :-)

vegas mom wrote:Hi
i am making my last paint order for a while : ( So I thought I'd seek some final purchase advise...I read Denises on stroke and rainbow cake uses, and now for the starblends. I figure white, black, red, need 3 other colors. Remember I live in the desert and have little to no humidy, so do starblends even matter here like in Texas or Florida. I have ez access to snaz red, white and blacks for spider or base work... I am thinking one Mark Reid brush. Suggestion for size? I have a hard time with thin black lines around the mouth....Here's what I have as a starter kit..
TAG- one strokes; rose, dolphin, one with no name(yellow, blue green and pink.
TAG- 2 color split: magenta/orange, red/orangie yellow, purple/pink and lt green dark/ dark green
TAG-neon rainbow and fairy floss
TAG singles- regular blue, teal, liliac dark blue, purple, yellow,
pearl whilte, old gold
neon yellow
Wolfe-Red
Diamond FX- 2 white and 2 black
ample colors of snaz.
Any fillers that you can think of?
I have glitter. Do you use it out of the poof bottle or prefer the round container? thanks

I lived in Vegas for many years and even though you don't have the humidity you still have the scorching heat. Some (but not all) kids perspire when they are engaged in heavy play, no matter if they are outdoors or indoors. The Starblends do not run when the child sweats...HOWEVER... any details or line work you do with regular paint will run if the child sweats a lot... Still, it is an all-around better choice for Starblends when the kids are extremely active.

Thanks Miss Ronnie.
Looking for base colors then. Teddy bear? Tiger/leopard? Not familiar with starblends colors at all. Cactus??? JK

I have almost all the Starblends... there are a few natural skin colors I don't have. I use the red for Spidey, dragons, monsters, and lady bug masks. Green for green skulls, Hulk, monsters, dragons, witches, frogs, white for Spidey eyes, skulls, vampires, geishas and more. Blue is good for dragons, wolverine, blue batman, dolphins, monsters. Yellow for Wolverine, SpongeBob. Black for lots of things and shading, too. Haven't used purple yet, but I will challenge myself to. I do elephants and sharks with grey. Lions and chimps with mixing brown, ebony, Eqyptian, Oriental.

Here is my son as a lion all done with Starblends except for the black line details and white whiskers.