Re: Keeping track of the line

by fesspenter Wed May 08, 2013 10:53 am

Why do those people wait until the end of the day to get pissy with us?
During the day, I do not notice as much snarkiness as there is at the very end.
Is there an alarm clock that goes off to call in all the unhappy people to come in and make the rest of the planet unhappy?

I do not notice as much icky stuff as I used to. Perhaps because I no longer get upset, or argue with people who demand to be painted after the posted hours. It is if some people feel that face painting is an right, not a privilege.

Um, Happy Painting?!!!

by facepaintingbydanielle Wed May 08, 2013 5:16 pm

I like the alarm idea fesspenter. The crazy people seem to pick the worst times to show their craziness don't they! Happens in every industry. I used to be a checkout manager and oh my goodness the level of crazy that is wandering around the community is terrifying lol! I try not to let them get to me, like I tell my son "those poor people, they must have really sad lives if they go around being nasty to everyone. I doubt they'd have many friends!" It helps to pity them Smile

by monna Wed May 08, 2013 5:26 pm

No those people have LOTS of friends...they find others that love drama...

by a face painting mom Wed May 08, 2013 6:25 pm

Don't you just love em, when they flock together to commiserate and convince each other that they have been waiting in line for over an hour for that free painting? And you know that they have not been in line an hour, but even if they were, it is free...and they did not have to wait? Like if they have company, you can't hear them talking about you? pffffft.

For the most part, at parties it is not a huge issue. I just paint who ever gets into my chair and tell them I can paint, or watch the line, but I cannot do both. Love the idea of giving those "underbookers" wrist bands for the 12 kids they said they had... Smile

by fesspenter Wed May 08, 2013 6:27 pm

Oh!
The
LOOK
of
HORROR..
when you ask them to pick their favorite 16 (or 12) children to be face painted
xoxox

by facepaintingbydanielle Wed May 08, 2013 6:57 pm

Hahaha I can just picture the horror Lisa! Hilarious really!!

by a face painting mom Wed May 08, 2013 7:44 pm

I am kinda looking forward to that look... Twisted Evil

by rthling Wed May 08, 2013 9:33 pm

I can. not wait. to. use. that. line.
But I like to pull people's chain. Shocked

by eviedejesus Thu May 09, 2013 8:05 am

The wrist tickets are also good for when you have a party at a public place (like a park, bouncy place, skating rink, chuck-e-cheese, etc.) that way kids that aren’t part of the party don’t get painted. I used a self inking stamp (that I got from Vista Print for free) to personalize them with my company name & phone number. They sell the wrist tickets on Ebay - 100 for $3.49 and that includes shipping (they arrive in a regular envelope, so shipping is cheap). I haven’t needed to use them yet, but keep them in my kit just in case. http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-WRIST-TICKETS-TYVEK-7-COLOR-WRISTBANDS-NEW-SECURITY-/330596235272?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item4cf9123808

by eviedejesus Thu May 09, 2013 8:10 am

I do like the jelly bracelets for small parties though. I usually let the hostess deal with who gets painted next, I tell them to assign someone for that because I need to concentrate on painting. Haven’t done many parties yet though and the list thing does waste time. I think the best thing to do is to send the client an email two days before the event with bullet points of what you expect as a reminder. (ie: max kids you will paint, set-up space, etc.)

by Guest Thu May 09, 2013 8:28 am

My birthday package is limited to 15 kids. Most parties are less around here. When there are more I have a different rate and have never had an issue.

by dmeagher Thu May 09, 2013 10:38 pm

Run to Office Depot or Staples and pick up a box of those little round tags with the circle attachment for next to nothing. Then, run to the Dollar store and pick up a bunch of hair ties which come in bright colors and are exactly the perfect size for a child's wrist. Attach the numbered tags to the hair ties and give them out in order. As I collect them, I write the number "on deck" on my little dry erase board for all to see. This has worked perfectly for me over the last several years.

by JJJJJ Fri May 10, 2013 10:28 am

dmeagher - i like that! thanks for the suggestion Very Happy

by Katurah Sat May 11, 2013 1:31 am

fesspenter wrote:At birthday parties, it is usually small enough to have a mom wrangle the children.
I did a large event at SickKids hospital on May 2, and the volunteers handed out pieces of paper that they had numbered. And if someone's number was missed, that child was next in line.

I carry event wristbands in my kit. The last time I used them was at a party where I had been hired to paint 16 children in an hour. When I arrived, I noticed that there were clearly more than 16 children...more like 30 children. The mom told me she could not hire me for more than one hour as she had spent $300 on the birthday cake. I counted out 16 wrist bands and numbered them with a permanent black marker. I gave them to the mom and asked her to pick out her 16 favorite children. She looked at me in horror. Three children came to me with no wristband and told me they had "lost" their wristband. I sent them back to the hostess. When I was on the second to last of my 16 children, the mom came to me and asked if I could paint the rest of the children for $20. I told her that $20 would last about 11-12 minutes and I may be able to paint another 3-4 children. She left and came back and slammed $100 down on my FatMax table.
I know that my story is NOT what you wanted to hear. I carry those event wristbands in my kit just for those occasions. You can have your name and logo printed on them. I bought a stamp with my website on it and I stamped the wristbands myself.

Happy painting!

Totally keeping this in mind!

by Tweetsie Sat May 11, 2013 6:59 pm

Jody Rife wrote:I have gotten really tired of parents getting weird at the end of the line thing, I have gotten much more strict about making sure that event coordinators have someone to keep track of the line and come over 30 minutes early to count back and make sure no one else gets in line. I do think I am going to look for a last in line vest though. I meant to do that last year.

Side note, I had a crazy, think she was high, mother over the weekend, I had already painted all day 7hrs and was not going to take any crap. She actually got furious because her son only got a $5 spider man design and not a whole face spidey. It was a school event and that is what every Spidey was. The child was barely 2. I won't go into the scene she made but I was really getting ticked. But I handled it the best I could. So, it all ended well, everyone knew she was nuts but all the more reason for me to be sure that at the end of the day things like end of the line cut off go smoothly. I tend to get cranky after a day of nonstop painting when people get nasty with me.

by facepaintingbydanielle Sat May 11, 2013 7:37 pm

I used the list idea yesterday, it worked really well. The kids were all just hanging around in a circle watching the painting, and they started to get confused about who was next - so I handed my notepad and pen to a mum, who was quite happy to write down all the names for me. She even crossed the names off after each child, it was great! I just painted, and as more kids came they added their names, and if a kid wasn't there when it was their turn I just did the next on the list and it was that child's turn when they showed up lol Smile

I did about 30 faces (and about 10 arms lol) in 2 hours, was very happy with myself.

On another note, I seem to be having trouble getting the consistency of my black right for lines. It's either too dry or it's too wet Suspect

same for one stroke rainbows. Was so frustrating!! So much so that I'm toying with the idea of using a liquid black for line work (currently I'm using a tag black cake). Any tips would be much appreciated Very Happy

by fesspenter Sat May 11, 2013 7:56 pm

Dear facepaintingbydanielle:
Was it hot and/or humid where you were painting yesterday?

by facepaintingbydanielle Sat May 11, 2013 8:08 pm

It did get a bit humid, but it was only warm not hot. It got a bit windy for a bit and that dried all the paint out, so I had the keep wetting it. Oh the joys of outside painting hey!!

by fesspenter Sat May 11, 2013 8:17 pm

When it is hot/humid, I have noticed that my paint turns into a consistency of sour cream, with about that much opacity as painting with sour cream.
I have swapped the Wolfe White and Wolfe Black with another set in a cooler with the lids off. I have placed my face paint trays on top of freezer packs. I have learned (thank you to Shannon Fennell) to drip in water from a tiny squeeze bottle instead of misting with a spray bottle. I was getting my paint too wet and it could not dry out. (Also the overspray was putting dots of white and splashes of black in the surrounding colors.) Keep working your brush in the paint on the 'dryer' parts of the paint. Do not add any more water. Take your time loading your brush.

I am so glad you had a great time at your event!

Happy Painting!

by JJJJJ Sat May 11, 2013 8:42 pm

I used to have lots of trouble with one-stroke rainbows. Now I only occasionally have lots of trouble with one-stroke rainbows flower

The trick is to begin with MUCH less water than you'd ever think you needed. I dip the one-stroke brush in water, then swipe it across a dry towel to remove the excess, then stroke it over the cake. If it seems too too dry, I dip JUUUUUUUUUUUST the tip edge, ever so sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggggghhhhhhttttlllllllyyyyyyy, into the water, and befin to load again. This usually gets me a nice stroke of rainbow on the child, without running or overlap.

DId you catch that "just" and "slightly"? Very Happy

I still forget, in the speed of the moment. That's when it all goes to glop!

by facepaintingbydanielle Sat May 11, 2013 9:56 pm

Thanks Lisa, Ill have to try the dripping water idea. I had been dripping water in with the brush but that takes ages, then I get impatient and spray it which makes it gloppy. Don't think it was hot enough yesterday for it to have been an issue, but in summer the ice packs under the paint idea is good - I have a laptop cooler pad, maybe ill put that under it lol. It's USB powered though, so that may prove problematic tongue

Jjjjj glad it's not just me that finds it tricky! I was thinking of sponging on rainbows instead of using my brush, the brush is just too difficult! It was mainly a problem on little girls with wispy hair on their foreheads that wouldn't stay out of the way, so it was just as bad as painting over eyebrows, the water got sucked out of the brush so I had to reload too much, which made it muddy. Can't win sometimes!! But they were all stoked with their "princessrainbowcrownwithglitterandflowersandcanipleasehavegems" lol. Love how they get so excited they forget to breathe and say it all as one word, so sweet I love you

(stoked, is that only an Aussie word or do you guys use it too?)

by fesspenter Sat May 11, 2013 10:07 pm

Dear facepaintingbydanielle:
I DO sponge on rainbow cakes instead of brushwork in the summer. The exceptions are the OneStrokeRoses, Leaves & Snakes. The brushwork is left too wet to go over it with linework and ends up running down the face.
As for the wispy hairs...
I buy those tiny little clip-on butterfly hair clips at the Dollar Store (about 20 for $1). I clip the hair up and out of the eyes, and the child keeps the clip as I do not reuse it in someone else's hair.

Yes, I speak Aussie. My sister lives on the Gold Coast.

Happy Painting!

by facepaintingbydanielle Sat May 11, 2013 11:28 pm

I'll have to have a look for those clips, I tried bobby pins but they don't hold tiny fine hairs, and I sometimes use headbands and wipe them with a baby wipe after, but they don't hold much either Rolling Eyes

Well ill switch to sponging rainbows instead then, if that's what you pro's do! I think the colours would be less muddy then too (I'm using a tag neon rainbow one stroke).
Glad you speak Aussie, I once confused the heck out of an American girl by using the term 'heaps good', lol.

Thanks for all your help!
Danielle

by Affordable Face Magic Wed May 15, 2013 12:35 am

Love those clips. I get 30 for $1 here.

by Tweetsie Wed May 15, 2013 9:12 pm

thanks for the idea. i just . some clips for the whispy hairs

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Keeping track of the line