Split Cakes...What Brand?

Hello Everyone! I'm new to the face painting world and I would love to hear some reviews about what kinds of split cakes you use. I was going to buy DFX but it seems that they are out of stock everywhere at the moment, so I'm considering buying the Silly Farm brand. Any suggestions.

Thanks, Lindsay

Silly Farm uses a mix of brands so they wear down unevenly, I use only TAG and find them fantastic, they have them here in the forum shop. The other thing you can do is make your own from paint you already have. There are great vid's on you tube for doing this.

Hope that helps

Sam xx

I have some from Silly Farm, some from the Face Paint Forum shop & some custom made ones. I like them all. As they wear down I usually just fill in w/ paints from my kit.

Best value for your dollar is these http://www.facepaintforumshop.com/servlet/the-TAG-cln-One-Stroke-Cakes/Categories

great colors, more paint then what is in the small square arty brush cake and easier to load because it is a longer rectangle. I agree that the arty brush cakes wear unevenly... My 'pretty baby' cake is definitely that way...

DFX is not out of stock? Not sure where you heard that, they are just out of stock on the white at the moment... Here are the DFX and Paradise split cakes

http://www.facepaintforumshop.com/servlet/the-50-gm-Blending-Cakes/Categories

I love the DFX split cakes. I did get a TAG metallic rainbow cake and it is gorgeous. I absolutely love the arty cakes because the colors are beautiful and there seems to be no end to the color combinations. However, shipping from Silly Farm is outrageous and if you need something quickly it is even more so. I think more people would actually use the arty cakes if it was not for that fact. They are definitely beautiful.

I have 20 of the SF Arty cakes, and there are ones that wear evenly and others that definitely don't. That being said I do love the color combos which is why I have so many.

As far as their larger round split cakes I find that they wear more evenly with the exception of the Kryolan uv/neon cake, very spongy and the yellow wears much faster than the other colors, but is a very pretty look on the skin.

I prefer my DFX splits and making my own. I just order 1 paradise prisma but will not use that one until the scent dissipates.

I just received from my swap buddy some TAG one strokes, and they are no more easier to load, meaning my DFX and SF Arty cakes are just as easy if not easier to load, then again properly loading my brush has never been an issue for me.

I do agree about the shipping charges being alot higher than other other sites, so I only order when I need to get several things.

I meant easier to load because you can go back and forth farther then in the little square sizes.

Even if your cakes are made with one brand, they will still wear unevenly due to color combos (metalic with regular, or neon ect...) or even the color themselves wear out differently. Add to the fact that you may want to pick up more of a certain color/area. Also most of us tend to put more pressure at the middle of the cake to pick up the colors, hence this is why most have the middle wear down faster.

i must say i'm partial to the Arty Cakes

It took me a year to figure out some of the color combinations like..peacock, and fire.

Blueangel is correct. Even different colors within the same brand...may not wear evenly. It depends on how much water is needed to activate the different colors within a cake.

So...with that being said, Arty Cakes wear just as well if not better than other brands

ttfn

rebecca
www.artybrushstrokes.com

peacock is a beautiful color

Peacock is on my wish list. I love my Arty cakes.

Sillyfarm has better shipping costs then they use to. I think I paid $4 or 5 for a bunch of brushes and some paints in october. It use to be more, but they offer USPS now.

I am hoping to try the TAG soon.

My mini-split cake fever of course began with Arty Cakes. But they were expensive to replace including the shipping $$.

Then I made a few of my own based on the Arty Cakes and realized that I hated cutting those little slivers out myself and they ran out too quickly to be worth my re-fill time.

Then I started buying DFX mini split cakes (identical to Arty Cakes but fewer design choices) from Metina & Kim Hatch. But they still ran out very quickly. I could get like four 1 hour long practice sessions out of each before they were useless.

Then I bought the Paradise Prisma Cakes. I loved how huuuuge they are and I loved the rose one b/c it has both rose & leaf colors on the same block. They don't behave identical to DFX & Arty Cakes - they are less crisp when it comes to white over other colors. I have stopped using them only b/c I wanted a more compact kit and they were much bigger than my TAG one stroke cakes. The downside I could see is that you use a smaller portion of these cakes' surface and so they will wear down completely on one side leaving a large chunk unused.

I then became a TAG distributor and tried the TAG one stroke cakes. They are much deeper and longer than the Arty Cakes, but smaller than the Paradise Prisma Cakes. I can get at least 3 or 4 one hour long practice sessions out of the one cake and then still have plenty to use it on gigs for several months.

So personally, I vote for TAG's right now. I'm sure every other company will be scrambling to find a way to outdo TAG in the near future so we shall see what 2011 brings

~Heff

I would like to know which one has more paint. tag split cakes or dfx 50 gram cakes..they look the same but tag splits are 15.99 and dfx 50 grams are 13.99 which has more paint?????????????

as the creator of the original split cake meant to be used with a flat brush...it's difficult to see my imitators recognized as favorites...when they just copy the color combinations it took me a very long time to perfect.

it took me almost a year to get fire and peacock to where they are now;)

so for those of you that don't know..[b].arty brush cakes sold through www.sillyfarm.com ]were the original face painting splitcake. they are made from wolfe and kryolan and wear just as evenly as any other brand!! diamond and tag just simply copied the arty brush cake color combinations and gave them new names....ugh!! at least come up with your own color combos....pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaze!!

i'm the one that came up with all the
original designs created with split cakes for face painting...butterflies, flowers, crowns, fire, peacock feathers, rose, tattoo rose,...etc

in fact i taught donna dewberry how to use the arty brush cakes!! she will be teaching at fabaic this year;) and...i showed jinny the pre arty brush cakes well over two years ago, i taught her how to use split cakes!! i actually like jinny very much...don't get me wrong.

but...for those of you that don't know the split cake story....90% of the color combinations out there are from heather and i via Arty Brush Cakes!

so...sorry if my frustration is showing...but, i hate seeing so many profit from heather's and mine hard work...with out recognition, and with out having to put in the hard work we did. just coping our color combos and giving them new names really doesn't compare

also...saying they don't wear as well as other brands is simply untrue

thanks for understanding, and letting me vent;) i'm really tired of one other certain brand claiming they are the first, or creator...ect...shame on them!!! and...shame on them for simply copying the arty brush cake colors!!!

also...seeing so many that i have taught...free at jams jump on the split cake band wagon of other brands and become distributors...with the skills and designs they learned from me...for free!! because we were friends!! is heart breaking.! i feel deeply betrayed by those individuals...and, i can think of several.

ttfn

rebecca
www.artybrushstrokes.com

Rebecca, I just wanted to send hugs to you!

I had an online biz for 4 1/2 yrs selling organic products. One of my customers made a pattern off of my product and sold them through PDF files. It broke my heart. She wasn't even a seamstress! I completely understand your vent!

Hopefully people will at least have the curtesy to say their products were inspired by you.

I love my ArtyCakes!

Barb,

Be sure you are comparing apples to apples. They are only three of the larger splits being made by TAG right now and they are more expensive than DFX because they are made with NEON and Metallix colors. If you look at the price of the TAG regular 50 gram rainbow it is almost the same price.

Both the TAG and DFX larger cakes are 50 grams. The minis, or Arty Brush cakes are only 10 grams of cakes and the TAG one stroke cakes are a HUGE 30 grams. They will last and last and are the best value out there. Here is my samples with the comparison. Best of luck.

Rebecca, I hate that you feel trampled on by so many in the face painting industry. Karma will catch up the them as it does us all.

Cotton Candy,

Thank you!!

you know...if they just said that...inspired by...that would make a world of difference!!

thank you for the hugs....i almost cried at your kindness;)

i'm sorry about your online business...i do understand...

giving you hugs back

i hope we get to meet someday;)

ttfn
rebecca
www.artybrushstrokes.com

Rebecca, I'd like to send you hugs too. I also understand about putting in hard work and getting it stolen from you. I have an online business and when I first started, a customer purchased one of my baby hats, looked at the tag, called the manufacturer and offered to sell the same hats to the same customers (some on-line discussion groups.) After that, I started private labeling them for my company. About a year ago, I started warehousing and selling through Amazon. I put the manufacturer as "private labeled for..." and sent my website customers to buy through them (so they did fulfillment.) Amazon started buying from the manufacturer becoming MY competition and re-naming the descriptions to show the manufacturer's name. Now, how could I compete with them when I have to pay them fees for the orders and still buy from the same place. There was a time when I was the only one selling those hats on-line and I'm still the only one with the whole line.

So yeah, ....I totally get having your feelings hurt by people stealing your work and your idea. Hugs.

Business is just cut-throat sometimes. On that note, maybe you guys should use some of THEIR ideas to improve your product (more paint, longer containers in the minis and square splits maybe?) Maybe think about distributing through some other retail outlets (like offer a discount for large quantity orders to dealers) They'd still be buying from SillyFarm, just maybe charging the same retail price and making a little profit. ...just a thought.

i am sorry about amazon...hugs back!!

i agree with your input and will pass it on to heather;)

i know that the nature of business is cut throat ...but, hey among us face painters and friends...i expected better;)?!

more hugs!!
ox
rebecca
www.artybrushstrokes.com

Hi Rebbecca,

I love the colour combos that Arty brush strokes have but living all the way in Oz the shipping just kills me and when, as most of us have to do, you work to a strict budget, its what is the best value for money that ends up on your shopping list. I have all TAG splits, they suit my need because they have lots of paint, are a familiar brand to me, the containers are easy to work with, they last ages and I get good value for money. If I could get Arty brush strokes to cover all of those points then I would get them. If I could get them in Oz without having to ship from Silly farm that would be awesome too.

Sam xx

P.S. Wow you have some mad skills with a paint brush, I am in awe!

thank you sam i am;)

i understand being in oz;)

thanks for the compliment!

ttfn

rebecca

ox

www.artybrushstrokes.com

I stated out with the Arty cakes and they didn't last long... I had to get the from Silly Farm and it just wasn't worth it. I mad my own for a while out of my paradise cakes, but I am so happy I discovered Tag split cakes.
I didn't like the little arty cake containers at all... if you use a little too much water you end up in a mess.
It must be really hard to watch something you worked so hard on get copied, I feel for you Rebecca - please don't get upset about us preferring other brands... As you can see sometimes location depicts what we can and cannot use, and to be fair I had a problem with you mixing brands so the ones that use only one brand of paint and come in 50g or 30g are always going to win out, regardless of color combos.
Does it upset you that we are all making our own? Or just that people are making money out of selling them? I think it would be very hard to lay claim to a color combination - someone will be telling you they have been using those colors together for years event though they weren't put into a split.
or maybe that they took your idea and went one better? with size, containers and sticking to one brand?
I cannot wait to get my hands on some Prisma cakes... but just to let you know how hard on us Aussies it is... you guys can buy a Prisma cake for around $13 each.... me.... $28 each..... YES that's OVER DOUBLE plus postage!! So a Prisma Pallet is $250! That's a lot of money to spend on splits. The more I use my Tag spits the less I use my paradise, I like the Tag because it's bold....mine looks a lot bolder then Metina's pics strangely enough..... Rebecca your beautiful work looks like water color paintings... which are lovely - but not my style - I like a more clean, bold design...
so I think it's good that you can get all sorts of split cakes from all companies.. to suit everyones individual style.
It sucks that you get no credit for coming up with the original concept, I think it maybe one of those things that give you inner strength to see your idea take off around the world and know everytime you see a split cake or onestroke design that you had something to do with it coming about.
I know an artist that has been splitting her cakes into two colors for over 10 years... I'm sure she is kicking herself for not thinking to add more colors, but I'm sure she doesn't think the concept is hers to own.

I love the new HUGE body cakes from Silly Farm. I like that bigger size.

About 5 years ago I was buying split cakes from Kim Hatch, Gary Cole, Jody Carr and those Wonder Pallets from SF. But, Kim's were all Snaz, which is hard for me to use. Gary's and SF were all the smaller size, and Jody only had a few colors choices. It is fantastic to see so many options now by so many companies. We have Rebecca T. to thank for that. Her vision has brought the concept of split cakes to a whole new amazing height.

I just bought the full kit of Prism cakes (from Mehron). Paradise is also not my favorite, but I am going to give them a try. Jinny even tried to take me by the hand to teach me to use them ... well, I am not posting photos yet, it is not pretty!! But, I really like the black, bigger boxes, and the way the paint is laid in the Prism cakes. Marcela mainly uses that now, Maybe I will get GOOD at them .... one day.

- Lilly Walters, 909-398-1228
Face and Body Painting http://www.funfacepainting.com

Rebecca, I can completely understand your feelings on the whole matter, and I sympathize. I would be very hurt too. I don't see how it could have been avoided - something so amazing and revolutionary to the face painting community was bound to catch and take off in all directions, but the amount of time and effort that you put into it's creation, well... must be a bitter pill to swallow.

If it is any consolation to you, any painter who has been around for more than a year and hasn't had their head in the sand knows who you are and what you did with one-stroke techniques. We remember the amazement of seeing something before almost unheard of - whole designs done with a single brush and a brilliant split cake. Your painting is so beautiful and unique that I can recognize it a mile away. It's just stunning! THAT can never be taken from you! I can't wait to meet you at La Fete! Your reputation as a generous, patient and sweet teacher precedes you from every direction.

I usually just make my own out of Snaz paints and i havent had a problem with them yet, its cheap and easy to do. good luck!