ALL THINGS FAT MAX

I've had my Fat Maxine for a while now, and when I got it I was in the middle of busy season and just kinda threw things in there and off I went to work with my shiny new toolbox. I never really put much thought into decorating or organizing it. I've seen threads all over the place on the forum with a few pics here and there, but I'd like to not only see pics of the way you organize yours, but maybe why you do it the way you do and how you made it more attractive. I can't believe it when I hear people have not only their face paint stuff but also balloons AND glitter tattoo stuff in there! I'm at "Max" capacity (pun intended ) just with my face painting stuff!
I'm going to set up all of my stuff after I get ready for the day today...so I'll take a current pic of my setup a little later to post here.

Ok, I just finally got around to uploading and editing my pics....

So here's a pic of my middle tier of Fat Maxine-


Here's a pic of the top tier, underneath the cases is a black foam core board to cover the open box-


And here's a pic of how I have it setup with my foam core menu board (I usually have a foam core word board that I use for parties, but it was damaged when MY HUSBAND brought it in from the car after my last gig so this is my PPF Christmas themed board to show where I place it)-


*I usually keep my chair and Fat Maxine parallel, and my chair is never that close, but I had it setup in a funky little weird corner in my dining room.

Anyway...most of the things I have and the way I have them setup are from a suggestion somewhere on this forum, but if you see something that I could be doing better, something I may not be thinking about...I really need to be able to fit a glitter tattoo kit in here by the time Summer comes around and right now I don't see how it's possible.
I'm also hoping to see pics of how you load up your Fat Max, I'll take a pic of it all packed up and ready to close when I get around to closing it, but it may take me a few days, cause I'm trying to make myself practice more this weekend since I suddenly have a lack of gigs .

I like it Stacia. What's in the largest, bottom section? How big is your glitter tat kit? Could you put your wipes elsewhere and store your GT kit there? Not sure about working from it out of your FM... As it looks like right now you appear to have a good use of space.

I'm still pretty partial to SuzySparkes's set up in the Menards toolbox (I think that's the name of the toolbox... or maybe the store?). I'm hoping one day when I'm ready (read: Graduated MT school and can justify the cost) to somehow get ahold of one from the US as they don't make them here (in Canada). I like that it's more upright, with thinner drawers and takes up less space. When I'm graduated and ready to start a business (hopefully in the next year), I'll be putting my resources into tracking one down.
In the meantime, your setup is drool-worthy.

I really like your chair!! Is it heavy?

You know, upon further reflection, if you move your tissue box down to the lowest level, near the mirror, and turn your brush holder sideways, and put your water next to it, you'd free up all that space for your GT kit (or vise versa - water/brushes closer to you and GT where tissue box was).

Great ideas! I guess part of the problem is that since I don't yet have the glitter tattoo kit I don't know how much space I'll need to accommodate it. How much space does yours take up? I guess a good starting point would be to start researching how I think I'll want to organize it.

The largest section on the bottom is where most of the things from the top tier fit when packed, when it's all unpacked it's like my own little locker...I keep my purse, sweater, an extra pkg of wipes and if it's a full day shindig I keep my lunchbox and a bottle of water and a spare soda for a caffeine boost .

The chair is THE BEST THING EVER!!!! It's SOOOOOO light! I can carry it when it's folded by putting my arm through the arm bar and rest it on my shoulder like you would a purse and pull my fatmax with my free hand. It's pretty tall too...the seat is 31". I got it on Amazon- it's the Earth Heavy Duty Tall Directors Chair.


PS-How is SCAL2 treating ya?

Oh my goodness I need to take a pict because my max holds about twice as much stuff as yours has. woah.

sweethavenarts wrote:Oh my goodness I need to take a pict because my max holds about twice as much stuff as yours has. woah.

See...I knew it. I knew I was misusing the space. I can't wait to see !

I did forget to mention that I also keep a cashbox (which has flyers, copies of my contract, extra business cards, model release forms, and of course when I'm doing PPF...Change), Zip Ties, Scissors, tape, a marker...yadda yadda yadda all in the top toolbox part...all of the stuff that I either unpack at the beginning of the gig or won't need till the end of the gig, again...mostly for PPF.

Welcome to my craft studio where my kit is currently. You can see el Max du Fat. My two chairs are from Ikea (because the Ikea that just came to Colorado is down the street from me!). I'm currently a sitter but I'm hoping as I get a little more in shape I can change that. And then I will need ANOTHER trip to ikea because there is a taller version of that chair. You can also kind of see velcro gone bad, I still haven't solved that one.

Looking at the max. My water tubs are yogurt containers that have been cut to fit. In the bottom is a peg board for pearler beads. BEST BRUSH WASHER EVER. I have two waters, one for lights and one for darks. I used to keep the business cards and swabs above one of the waters until I had to move my kit quickly at the last event and soaked my cards. Now sponges sit there because if they get wet, it won't ruin them. The cards will sit over with the cotton swabs. I prob have too much stuff there, but after hearing horror stories of forgetting brushes and paints, I don't mind leaving some extras in there!!!
And I keep the glitter tat stuff in the top box and pull it out when I get to an event. I will stick my wallet in the lower part to keep it safe.

Under the two paint holders is just random extras; granola bars, tat paints (great for finger 'staches), paper and pens, LOTION, hand sanitizer, etc.
I'm not 100% happy with my paint holders on top. They are both 12x12 scrapbook paper holders, one is really thin and one is thicker. The thinner one opens flat so it holds my brushes. Brushes are in an ice cube tray (another BEST IDEA EVER) though there is one draw back- it eats a lot of space in the bottom of the max. I should pack it all up and take a pick, but I'm tired. bed nao.

My glitter tat 'kit' is just odds and ends. There isn't much to it; under 30 stencils and about 8 small containers of glitter. So I'm not one to be able to help in respect to size or what space you'll need. Do you have a kit picked out?
I love your chair. Thanks for the info. I'll have to check it out. I love the look, and the fact that it is so light (I would totally carry it that way too) really sells it for me.

Good luck with the setup. It looks good to me as-is though.
Did you ever get your eCraft cutter? Are you planning on making your own stencils with it, or buying pre-mades?

Shannon! As always... You ROCK!

Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know.

...Very excited!!!

Ooooohhh...I'm getting some great ideas already! Thank you for sharing!
I think the thing I'm going to do immediately is get the sponge bags, and the basket and hooks! I never thought of expanding the space off of the fat max. Thank you for re posting that link Rebecca, I hadn't seen it before...and you're right-she is VERY good at organizing!

1HappyNut-
I haven't gotten the ECraft yet, I still plan on getting it but just haven't been able to spare the $200 quite yet. SOON though . I was planning on buying a starter kit for glitter tattoos, but I'm not even set on a brand yet. I'm open to suggestions . I really need to start reading all of the threads on that topic in the forum. I'll start making tattoos here and there once I get the ECraft but I don't know if I'll make ALL of my stencils, but I know I'll make custom ones for sure.