How do you decide how many brushes you need for a gig?

Okay, I have a kitty cat and puppy party tomorrow and I got everything packed and ready in 2 of the bags Metina gives a a gifs for spending a certain amount of money in he shop (don't ask ) except the brushes.
How do you decide how many and which ones to take? Ahhhhhh!
Thank you

I pretty much only use a 4 round, 6 round and a butterfly brush anymore.

Do you have one for similar colors, like one round for purples/blues, another for orange/reds etc? Thanks

ps: and a butterfly brush anymore? I am confused.

A couple of 4's, a 6, 2 x 1's, some small liner types (not sure of the size - but they come in pretty flowery packets from the shop ) a one stroke brush and a 3/4 inch - I prefer brush work (have used it more) than sponges... I gotta practice with the sponges more.

I have a butterfly brush and use it for cheek designs and masks, but not overly frequently - so it's one of those, 'just in case' items, I take

yeah ok I'll admit it ........I take them all.
I have a 2 and 4 round I use only for black and a 3 and 5 round I use only for white. Then I need all my wide 1 and 1/2 inches to use on my splits. i couldn't go with out my 12 filbert for dophins etc.... oh and the list goes on.... and on... there are very few i don't use for something specific.

Thanks guys!

Tash I hear you, I use flats, filberts, chisels, round, rakes, liners you name it.
I have a fan brush I got last year for making a butterfly brush but never did.
I don't use sponges a lot.

I am just trying to figure out how to keep my water cleaner, maybe if I have brushes designated for specific color range then my water would stay cleaner.

I have 4 1" flats
4 #6 rounds
3 #4 rounds. One for colors one for black one for white
and the 4-5 1's and 2's rounds which I probably won't need so much now that I have black and white Details and dotter wands.

Yes Maggie, Having some brushes set for different colours really helped me to keep my water clean.... that and having a spray bottle so I'm not going back to redip my brush. The same brush can be use for pink/red and blue/green , yellow and orange.
I have a brush holder from the artstore.... so my brushes start in a wallet style black folder thingy... and then when I have used them I put them in the holder so I can see which colour is on what brush.... it's a grey plastic grid- it has the whole top open in a grid and holds about 40-50 brushes... the whole thing comes apart to fit in my case and takes up no room.
hmmm.... wonder if I have a piccy of it.... I'll look...... oh ok I found one..
In the pic I must have only just started cause I haven't moved any brushes over yet... but you can see the grey holder... the little legs come out and it folds flat. Please ignore my not so clean brushes I had to do a quick maccas bathroom clean up between jobs!

whoops forgot to downsize!
in this one you can see it holding some brushes for me..... please ignore the look on my face... apparently I pull very bad looking heads when I'm concentrating..... oh well at least I don't stick my tounge out like my little one! lmao

friggin hell my kit looks grotty in these pics!!!! I promise my kit doesn't look like this unless I have three jobs in one day.... even then... far out thank-goodness I got better at cleaning it - it looks gross!

Nope, ONE no.4, ONE no.6 and ONE butterfly brush... Leaving ant paint on my brush between kids would make me ask why is it one sponge per kid then? Everything is thoroughly rinsed in between.

Even if I thoroughly rinsed out the black out of my brush it would still muddy up my white - and takes up precious time. I don't do one sponge per kid when I use the neon rainbow either... it takes a lot of paint to load the sponge and it actually works better,faster etc if you reuse the sponge.
The people who do nails don't crack open a new one every-time they paint and they do toes too which could be seen as very gross.
We already won't paint broken or stressed out skin - we don't paint in the eyes ears or mouth or up the nose - if we can help it hehe- so really the worst thing you are going to be passing from child to child is dead skin cells, which we pick up and deposit every-time we go out anywhere.
I do know there are rules a regulations in your part of the world that we don't have to contend with here.
You must have to change your water out quite frequently.... and what about when that one brush just won't behave? no back-ups?
Your made of tough stuff Perry.

Perry mind if I ask what you do when a kid wants a rainbow?

Hahaha I'm from Alberta, I take ALL of them. I have over a 100 brushes that I take to my big gigs, due to health regulations.

I also take a lot of brushes - basically to use whatever I need for whatever, without needing to use brushes I haven't cleaned (and dried).

Tash, thank you so much for the detailed info and pictures btw I have a picture of me painting and it looks like I am mad but that's the face I make when I concentrate.

I too agree that rinsing out a brush never gets rid of the paint entirely unless you use soap.

I don't use sponges a lot but my rainbow sponge is reused, I would be waisting so much paint if I use a new sponge each time.

Criss and Noella, is that a hint? Do I need more brushes LOL

What do I do if they want a rainbow? *gasp* I paint um a red stripe, an orange stripe, a yellow stripe..... I honestly don't get a lot of requests for rainbows and since I've never seen a Snazaroo rainbow cake and have no real inclination towards making one, oh well. Not joking, I've painted MAYBE five or six rainbows ever... Just not a big request, don't think it's even on my board anymore because nobody asks for it.

so really..... you paint a red stripe... wash your brush out completely..... paint a yellow stripe.... wash your brush out completely..... paint an orange stripe.... wash your brush out completely.... and on and on... far out brussel sprout! No-wonder your not putting a rainbow on your board.
I would say the rainbow with flowers is in close running with my rainbow butterfly as girls most popular design!
Can't imagine doing a whole gig without a rainbow!
Snaz has just brought out a make your own snaz rainbow cake thingy..... they just had a callout for designs to put on the packaging.

I had it on my board but nobody ever asked for it... cute little rainbow with a cloud and a pot of gold....

right now my top design is a flying unicorn thing... it's beating out my BUTTERFLIES. I don't even see the other painters around here using rainbows that much. I prefer to custom blend my colours as needed.

maggie wrote:
I am just trying to figure out how to keep my water cleaner, maybe if I have brushes designated for specific color range then my water would stay cleaner.

I have a 4 and a 2 round both dedicated to white. The same for black. Same for warm colors (red orange yellow) and the same for cold colors (blue, purple, green) . So thats four #2 rounds and four #4 rounds. (I also have a designated water glass for each.) There's a couple other odds and ends....extra 2s and 4s, as well as a butterly brush and a couple smaller chiselly type ones. About 14 brushes total. (I'm a sponger)

It sounds more anal than it really is, but it works a charm....I can go hours without having to change my water.

It is true having extras for each color its a time saver and keeps your water cleaner.
I do take them all...three 1'', four 3/4, four #12 all Flats use one of each for different one strokes cakes. 4 chisels one for white , one for black and the other 2 for any other color. One #8, two # 6 , four # 5, four # 4 , 4 # 3 , three #2, a script one and two whisps. Plus 6 smoothie blenders. All of them fit in one of those Ice cube trays from Walmart. They are color cordinated and I pack them ready to go on my rolling tote.

Thanks so much guys, that helps!

So my number one request for girls is rainbow, they want rainbow butterfly, rainbow princess, rainbow fairy, rainbow flowers, it is all about that rainbow, and the brighter the better

I have a love/hate relationship with my rainbow cake. I always keep it hidden. That way I don't have to deal with "I want a kitty....that color" (kid points at the rainbow cake.)

I love the rainbow cake for...you know...rainbows. And I've made it work for a butterfly, but thats about it.

I'd rather come home with 50 clean brushes that never got pulled out of my brush bag to use even once, than leave home without the "one" brush that I need at any given moment. If a brush drops on the ground, gets fondled, walks away, isn't drying fast, doesn't want to come clean, or just isn't behaving, there is a replacement at hand.

Clean still leaves stains, so I do mark many brushes with nail polish so that I know the typical color I use them for.

I haven't even lost a dozen brushes due to "walking away" over the years (makeup or face painting - that counts when with makeup I've had to leave parts of my kit unattended) - and never any makeup or paint or glitter - I am rather obsessive (not always a good thing) about everything in its place and counting. Some stuff has "walked" off of the table, but I noticed it within seconds and the line/crowd helped me quickly get it back.

I take all my brushes & I take a lot. I have fiddrent size brushes & types that I use for one thing or another. I have a filbert I use just for Sharp teeth that the kids get a kick out of... I call it my "tooth brush" & ask them if they want me to brush their teeth I also have my tongue brush for puppy tongues.

Just got back from the gig, I was there for 2 hours and painted about 35 kids.

Most of the girls got rainbow kitty, rainbow butterfly, painted 1 tiger, 2 spiderman and 2 batman. I got to use one split cake and you want to guess which one? rainbow of course lol btw did I mention it was a puppy/kitty party, didn't get to paint one puppy lol

I also forgot the fangs on the tiger and whiskers on some kitties LOL

Noelle, great idea to paint the handles, may I borrow that?

If it helps as a trick for you, you are welcome to it!

When I took a makeup class originally we all had the "same" brushes and palettes etc so we all had to mark our own items with nail polish marks that were unique to us - then later I was working with a team of people and we all continued to mark all of our items (easy to tell who's brush was on the table and who's palette was still out) - I took it a step further for myself and use different colors (in a different place than "my" mark) to indicate color or product I use a brush for typically, and I use a number dots to indicate *which* airbrush is which (faster to pick up one and not have to look at the contents or reassemble it and not have to guess or inspect closely which parts belong with which airbrush). I think I've mentioned I have obsessive tendencies....