help me tweek set up got a new fat max!! yeah...

hey everyone. I have been painting faces for a couple of years, mainly cheek art and i usually work off a table and out of a tool box.. my family and I do balloons, Magic, and face paint.we are the stitch family clowns. so having room is always an issue.. I have heard the best thing to work out of is the fat max. and I got it for my Anniversary yeah... my husband kept asking me what i wanted for our anniversary and i told him a "fat max" and he said "really you want a tool box for our anniversary?" and now im working on a new set up. please help me as you see the pictures, to guide me in any changes i should do to save space as well as work more efficiently, also i made a new face-paint board i got inspiration from a lot of painters here on the forum. comments will also be appreciated!!

I just wanna say I am jealous over your fat max (hoping to make enough $$$ this weekend to finally buy one...I've been painting for a full month now and my kit is much TOO large to contain in anything else lol)

Second of all...I LOVE that van!!! So cool!!! My church is looking for a van to help pick up elderly people for church that can't drive....would be so awesome to have a van like that!!!! Love the play on words!

Your family looks so awesome....how cool for you all to be able to enjoy this all together!

I don't have ay advice on your set up because it looks awesome to me!! Is there something that isn't particularly working for you??

Tina , thanks for the compliments! I haven't used the fat max yet at an event, I will use it in two weeks.. I usually work off a table that took 15-20 minutes to set up and kids would knock things over and i would loose things by the end of the night, i would get so frustrated!! so ill get to see how this works!! but setting the fat max up here at home i feel so overwhelmed!!

The van.. if we are doing an outside event we pull the van up and set up beside it and my husband does magic out the back. hoping to get a tent for the event in two weeks.

our family also uses the van for children's church, we are aka. "the Magical Puppeteers" we go to different churches and teach how to set up children's church in a different "fun" way. we do puppets and Gospel Magic, songs. face-painting is usually when were in our clown outfits.. we have a blast sharing the Word of God!!

That is so awesome!!! I'm in charge of Children's ministry at our church and I'm boring...I'm teaching systematic theology to kids K-6 (yes it can be done) and all I have is a felt board! (such a bad teacher). I am praying God will bring someone to our church to take over, I will still oversee but would love to have someone else teach! My husband is the associate Pastor at our church and a church planter/grower at heart so I know eventually we will move on...but we really love our church and Pastor so much! My oldest son (13) adores ventriloquism and puppeteering (he's not good at keeping his mouth still though lol) so I know he would just adore if we could encorporate him and his puppets somehow...we do every year at VBS and the kid is on cloud 9 the 2 months leading up to it! lol

Too bad you're in Florida...sounds awesome, would love to see you guys in action!

When you set up and are working if you put things back where you picked it up from than should help things go smoother for you. I find this works for me. I heard that tip off someone else and find it really works as everything is in place when you reach for it and you are not looking all over the table for it.
I like your set up.

peachy mango. thanks for the tip.. ill have to try that.. i keep trying to use fat max here at home and i find my self saying where the heck is my spray bottle.. it blends in with my paint... even tho i put it in the same place..i still cant seem to find it.. then i think to myself maybe i need new glasses.. lol.

Tina.. you and my husband would get along good. he has felt lessons from the 70's almost a complete bible in felt. there is newer ways to do things to make things more exciting. look up C.E.F. children's evangelism fellowship. these are the programs that we teach. if you go to themagicalpuppeteers on facebook and give me an address ill try to send you some teaching tools for children's church and other ideas to help in your class. anything we can do to help, let us know.

I would move the display board from behind you to somewhere in front. Otherwise you will get people all up in your face as you are working.

I agree with Sweethavenarts. I would switch it with the Face Painting sign on the easel thing I like how you decorated it, very fun

Yep, you guys took the words from my mouth! Switching the 2 signs will be much better for you. Also, if you buy two foam core boards and tape them together, they can serve as the table top to your fatmax. Once you do that, you will no longer need your extra side table which will save you time in setting up. Then move your chair right beside your fatmax. If you are right handed, put it on the right side. When you are standing in front of your chair, your hand should reach your table top easily without taking any steps or doing a lot of bending. Any movement you can take out of the process buys you time and keeps you from tiring as quickly. Moving the chair alone, will decrease the size of your "footprint". Keep anything you use to do each face you paint on the table top (glitter, paints, brushes...). The only exceptions on this for me are sponges and water. All-in-all, I love your set-up. You don't have to add to it which is great, just re-arrange a little.

daisy stitch wrote:Tina.. you and my husband would get along good. he has felt lessons from the 70's almost a complete bible in felt. there is newer ways to do things to make things more exciting. look up C.E.F. children's evangelism fellowship. these are the programs that we teach. if you go to themagicalpuppeteers on facebook and give me an address ill try to send you some teaching tools for children's church and other ideas to help in your class. anything we can do to help, let us know.

Would LOVE that!!! I make all the felt board stuff (print on my pc) and draw some bigger background pieces like mountains and hills/clouds, etc.

I will have to try that and switch both of the signs.. only problem is i still have to see the design to paint it.. im thinking of making a little book with the designs in it so i can see.. not sure..
but the table supports the lid of the fat max.. without the table the lid leans down. i made a board with the foam and covered it with the black and white checkered duct tape for the top of the lid, that seems to work a little but i put the table under the lid to support it and that way i can have my water off to the side. the table matches the design of the fat max. here is a pic...




i will see how all of it works together next weekend!!
thank yall so much for your input!! this really helps!!

kinda hard to see the pic of them both...

If you can take a photo of your board, then you can print it out and have a cheat sheet.