The thing about sharing is you only think you are giving things away. But in many ways it all comes back to you and more, with people sharing back, and expansion of ideas and acts of kindness. You also feel good….and in some cases become someone’s hero or mentor!

The first year I went to FABAIC, I learned so much in class. And then I would go to lunch or to break or to a jam and I would talk to people. The people attending the convention also had so much to offer. I learned cool new marketing tips, saw new uses for tools, and new paint techniques and ideas. I knew there was a goldmine there if only we could tap it and showcase these people. I pitched the idea of Show & Tell to the FABAIC team and voila, we started something big!

For Show & Tell at FABAIC I request submissions from anyone with a great idea to share in the months leading up to FABAIC. By convention time, my presenters are set. Each year we have some of the best ideas that expand our knowledge, make our face painting life easier, and help us to promote our businesses even better.

One of the first ideas presented at Show & Tell 2004 were split cakes. It’s a commonplace item in most people’s tool kits these days, but Mary Earl from Toronto, Ontario, Canada was the first to present it that I know of.

The idea of blending colours and double loading of brushes and paint applicators of all kinds has been around since man was painting on cave walls….but this was the first time this was seen within the face painting world, to the best of my knowledge. The response was amazing. Mary got a standing ovation for that idea.
[clear]
Now here is where it starts to get interesting. The next year, my dear friend (the late) Pat Newton had an idea to take split cakes and make them narrower, about the width of a one-inch brush. She used empty round paint pots and only put in stripes of paint until the multi-colour blend was one inch wide. Then she added a strip of craft foam along either side of the outside colours, and filled in the outer edges of the round pot with kid’s clay. Later she found oblong pots that were just one inch wide.

See how the idea was taken a step further? Then later still, Rebecca of Arty Brush really started promoting the idea with lots of various colour combos and the whole idea really took off thanks to her diligence in demonstrating and sharing her techniques and painting style.

This is just one example of what happens when we share. In future blogs I will share more of the amazing tips and tricks we’ve seen at FABAIC over the years.

-Katie