Makin' the kiddies cry ;<

[AMAZINGface]

So I did a local county fair all last week.  Split a booth with a face painter and all I did was glitter tatts.  So, two things, really:

1.) None of the vendors did well at all.  Many spots were vacant, in fact.  Then went to our own local county fair the other night and the commercial buildings there had fewer vendors occupying spaces at all, not to mention no customers.  How are you all faring in this economy and/or are there fewer vendors at different venues than ever before?  I didn't even break even.  Whatever...

And, 2.) and more importantly:  So last week it was incredibly humid and really hot at the fair, too.  I was doing my usual thing: cleaning the skin with a cotton pad and alcohol, sometimes several times to get grime and perspiration off till the last cotton pad was clean.  Then I placed the stencil.  In this heat here's no real need to press it down too firmly.  So, on average of one child per day, I experienced that the stencil just did not want to come off!  All but the last child on the last day was a real trooper about letting me get it off as gently as I could.  The last little boy was crying and that darn thing just would not come off!  It was Super Man and I got the outside part of the stencil off but we wound up leaving the center 'S' part on.  The mom was great about distracting him.  You could see the short but STRONG whitish adhesive strings holding on!

Has anyone else ever had this experience?  Is it humidity?  Skin temperatire?  I got a bottle of Goof Off in case this ever happens again.  Yoikes!  It's getting to where I don't want to do glitter tatts any more.  I even turned away a couple of parents who wanted them on their 2 year olds.

[Sherry]

I haven't noticed a big difference from the economy on getting paid gigs, but I came here from a really tiny town, so now that I'm in a city with a big population, it seems to come easy.  But these are hired events.  I have a ppf tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes... plus it's been so hot and that has me a little worried.

I have the glue gunk up on me sometimes too, with the stringy, gunkiness.  I thought it was possibly older adhesive, but I do live in a humid area, so maybe that's playing into it.  I seem to have problems doing glitter tattoos if it's too hot and humid or if it's too cold.

[apriladventure]

I started making my own stencils and it has made a difference on the tack of the stencil transfer tape. The lower the tack, the less it sticks. I tried one transfer tape and I couldn't get the stencil off so I didn't even attempt to put it on the kid. It may have to do with the age of the stencil also, because I tested those same stencils out right away when I made them and they worked fine. Maybe with them sitting in the heat the glue did some funny stuff.

I also started taking a pair of tweezers along just in case I have that issue. Be prepared however, children usually do not like adults that go at them with a pair of tweezers. It must bring back sliver memories or something.

[AMAZINGface]

Hey April-

Thanks for the reply.  How are you making your own stencils?  Do you have a Cricut?

Anyways, I do take tweezers and use them to life an edge of the stencil.  Acrylic nails are useless to pick stuff off with!  In fact, that is what I was using to try to lift the thing off.

The craziest thing is that it doesn't happen often, and it only happened to children.  They have that wonderful young, fresh skin.  And it was only about one child a day over a period of a week.  Go figure.  So glad that last parent of the crying child was gracious enough with me and the child.  It was random stencils, too.

Has anyone used Goof Off or Goo Gone to get these things off?  Pros-Aid and the other one (can't remember the name) are seriously tacky and strong adhesives, man!  I really cover my left arm with them when I do public venues so people can see how wonderful they are.  However, when I'm done, they're a bear to get off.  We had Off bug spray on the counter recently and a toothbrush from under the sink made short order of the tatts!  I'm wondering if these other two products are strong enough to get through the adhesives in a hurry.