Thought on Safety of Dippy Pots

If you mean the vinegar, I don't think so - pretty sure if you had enough of it in the paint to kill any bacteria etc you''d a) not have a colour left and b) have pretty much a liquid to wet to paint with.

I would NOT do it. Gary of Snazaroo for one is always telling people not to add anti-anything to their paints and I've heard so many people/ companies insist that not even brush-rinsing water should have stuff in.

The squeeze-bottle idea, yes, as said thats what some Canadians have to do (with the purpose built pumps) and some painters working in hospitals etc have to use tiny bits of paint per person to avoid cross-contamination of vulnerable patients.

Its seriously NOT that big a deal, especially if you don't paint mouths or inner ring of eyes, which I don't!

Thank you!

It's probably safer not to add anything to your paint water, vinegar, alcohol, etc. In a concentration strong enough to kill bacteria and/or viruses, you wouldn't want it near your face unless you really like those salt-n-vinegar potato chips (NOM!).

Something else to consider is that we don't know that the dippy pot (or wet paint) is a consistent source of contamination without doing a culture. I can only speculate based on what I know about the kinds of preservatives in the products.

Cat, this is not intended to knock what you heard, just my own thoughts on how these threads have played out in the past:
I've never seen any conclusive evidence presented about any kind of reaction a client has had, but products get blasted either way and then that information gets spread as fact. Like how people *know* that Snaz is "safer" than Wolfe or the kids *must* have reacted to the hand wipes and not the paint. Or there was that one time on another forum where Wolfe black made everyone react...or was it Wolfe green and how my sisters third cousin always reacts to Paradise yellow near her eyes? It's really all speculation based on precious little evidence and lots of 2nd and 3rd-hand anecdote. (p.s. I don't have a sister)

It might be a fun and illuminating [geekfest] experience to have people at a convention subject their kits to cultures to see what grows and to see if the paint is routinely harboring any pathogenic strains. Everything we touch has a resident colony of bacteria, but only pathogenic strains can really hurt someone. The second part of that experiment could be subjecting the paint to various treatments to see what works for reducing the resident bacterial populations (brush wash, versus wiping off a layer of paint with a wipie, versus alcohol spritzers, etc).

Know exactly what you mean - only mentioned this one as it was 'officially investigated' by face and also is something that makes sense/ can be avoided.

Theres also a painter in the UK collecting all the verified reactions;not sure what shes going to do with them tho!

How DARE YOU diss the dippy pot!?!?!?

No just kidding. It is good to know. The mehron liquid paint is very good for what I use the dippy pot for. Just dots for the end of the brush-no line work.

-Metina

Haha, Metina... that's awesome.

Would that Mehron liquid paint work for flower petals? You know, when you load with white and then dip the end in pink for instance, so they come out with a pink center? How liquid is it? Or is it more like a gel?

Edited to add: The FPF shop doesn't carry it, or am I blind?

It is really liquid! Think cough syrup. I bought mine when I first started thinking I could use it for linework and save tons of time. No go on that one. So far the only thing I've used it for is practice and whitenening hair for a drama.

Yep its not great...I really do think that making dippy pots/ patches is the only way to get what we want - just not keeping the whole cake wet for years before we use it!

Hi. I use sanitiser in my water spray bottle (and change it reguarly) as well as in my brush water. I dont put a well in the middle of my black/white i cut a little off the side when its new and work my way across.
I also get real suspicious of some irritation claims as some people may also be allergic to babywipes or whatever they have cleaned their face with, so they should always finish their face cleaning with fresh water on their face cloth.
I havent bought a copy yet but silly heather at sillyfarm has a new dvd for beginners that apparently covers all this stuff

Yep we had a thing in the UK last yr that FACE was asked to investigate again and it seemed to be baby wipes not paint.

Snaz etc do say NOT to use sanitiser etc & that nothing should be added to water either

Oh..ok. Had a look on their web site and couldnt find anything to that effect. However they did have lots of tips on storage and maintenance of face paints, which was quite interesting

I think its at conventions I've heard him say it when teaching - just that as usual anything added to their paints means they can't help/ insurance won't cover if any reactions etc do happen.

I did the dippy pot but noticed it didn't dry out right & feared it might cause that reaction mentioned. I create the well in my paints, but my paints are also stored in plastic cases w/ the lids off. They get great air flow & dry fully. This seems to be the biggest issue... if paints are stored moist.

It's funny that I went to a very well known face painting convention where one instructor said you should only use water and never add anything. Another instructor said she uses a bit a alcohol in her water and you should always do that for hygienic purposes. I guess where laws determine what you must do, you should follow the guidelines but it is a bit confusing for those of us who are concerned.