The history of the rainbow cake + we have more!!!

In 2005 I saw my first rainbow cake put into action. Nick Wolfe painted a neon rainbow swipe on  my daughter’s cheeks at a class.                                                                                                                      Oceana checking it out!

I had seen a step by step on how to make rainbow cakes on the Snaz site before that, but I never thought of using them.  Once I saw that swipe, I went home and started chopping up my cakes of paint and making my own weird combos. My first ones were gradients, from dark to light to dark.   I was determined to figure out how to use these for other ways instead of the regular rainbow color combo and design.  I started making youtube videos in late 2006/early 2007 to show other people how to use them.

  I remember when I finally made it to FABAIC in 2007 I was loaded with rainbow cakes and held constant jams sessions showing people how to use them.  I used rainbow cakes in most of my contest entries…and I think those little monsters helped me get a million medals…and come in 2nd over all. I was able to get the colors down fast so that I had time to work on the details.  Most people at the convention had never seen so many combos used in so many ways. It was really exciting to see them use them and get more excited!

                                                     My original containers were very portable, but harder to use with the lids in the way.

                                                          First Place Monster Face at FABAIC 2007 using a orange/yellow rainbow cake gradient.

  In 2008 I met Rebecca from Arty Brush at a jam following a class in CA, and we discovered that we were using a lot of the same techniques. She has a lot of color combos and was creating beautiful designs.

In 2009 I opened JestPaint.com (it was also called rainbowpots.com) so I could sell these little cakes made with DFX.  Right as I was getting my store ready to open Rebecca’s Arty Cakes were announced at Silly Farm.  Since then, rainbow cakes have taken the face painting world by storm.  I was so happy when DFX started mass producing them, and even happier when TAG improved the packaging, and even happier when TAG made custom cakes for us. They are not always the funnest things to make …messy and time consuming, but we still make them too. There have been a lot of people playing with rainbow cakes over the past years, probably sooner than I know, and together, we have all put our heads together to create fun fast designs with these babies. If you haven’t tried them, you have to!!!

TIPS for Using Rainbow Cakes

If you are a dipper (add water to your sponge or brush by dipping it into a cup), load a little  water on your brush or sponge and then load the tool with the rainbow cake. Hold the cake with the stripes running up and down, not horizontally in your hand, or the water on the cake will run across all the stripes blurring the colors.  Add a tiny bit more water if needed.  Load both sides of  your brush or foam wedge.

If you are a sprayer, spray your sponge and then load it or spray the cake and load your brush.

What is this foam wedge? I use them a lot because they get all of the colors from a 1″ wide cake, better than a 1″ wide brush in my opinion.  I use them mostly for crowns and eye masks and one stroke cheek art butterflies. You have to be careful making sure that  your sponge isn’t too wet, just damp when loading.  I have a book out called Face Painting with Clash that shows you how to do a basic array of designs using rainbow cakes and foam wedges ( which you could substitute with a 1″ brush or sponge).

Apply the paint by swiping or bouncing the sponge on the face, making smooth strokes or a smooth base.

You can use half of a cake or just a few colors if you want to. See what Paradise has in their Prisma cakes. I have been using them like crazy this year too!! The HOT and Shadow, Flash and  Cool make me crazy!!

I used a handmade rainbow cake for this butterfly, but TAG Black Iris would be  perfect for making this design.

Here are some more  designs I did using all types of rainbow cakes.

Check out our new cakes TAG made for us!