Thou shall have a fishy

So this was a really fab project. It's always fun to create something out of the box with products you wouldn't have thought of using before. This was a piece I created for a sample to be shown on Hochanda. I had a nice mix of Powertex UK mdf shapes and embellishments and lace to use. And this is what I came up with...

https://www.powertex.co.uk/home/390-mdf-penny-washers.html

As usual I gave thought to the layout of the piece. This did change as I progressed but it's much nicer to have a dry run before everything gets messy and covered in Powertex.

Top Tip: When you're making your stone art clay make a job lot of moulded embellishments. This saves you more time to play and concentrate on your project when you come to it. I've used the daisy moulds from Powertex UK I just love them!
https://www.powertex.co.uk/moulds/367-fossil-mould.html

Then I took some structure paste and using some of my templates including my Powertex UK arty quote stencil, I randomly stenciled the base. Once dry I had a play with some lace and textured material to give the base some more depth. I love the woven mesh, it has to be my favourite product and you can find some here in this pack:
 https://www.powertex.co.uk/additional-products/238-mixed-media-texture-pack-2.html

Once happy with the layout and composition I coated the whole thing in Ivory Powertex and I totally forgot to take a picture of it. But then sprayed with black bistre. And when I spray my bistre I like to completely saturate the piece.

Top Tip: I added some bling. I would recommend you do this right at the end with some transparent Powertex as when you come to dry brushing you tend to go over the gems and then you have to try and scrape the varnish and pigment off.

I used a damp sponge to take some of the black away and leave whiter areas in places. This look gives a smoother, softer finish than just using straight black powertex. Then it was on to dry brushing with yellow ochre, red ochre, and burdgundy powercolor with varnish and then some gold and pearl colortricx and varnish to add a bit or sparkle.
Enjoy and have fun creating. ❤ Toodle Pip Anna xXx ❤

There and back again a Powertex tale

What an awesome experience to have been offered by Garry and Tracey of Powertex UK. I had the most amazing time at Hochanda. The whole team looked after me and made me feel right at home. I had so many ideas and techniques I wanted to share and didn't get through all of them. Maybe next time. If they will have me back :D

Now I can finally speak about my fabulous stamps that Tracey asked me to design for Powertex Uk. You will have seen me on the shows demoing them to you all. 

You can now buy these beauties on the Powertex UK website. 

We just love the power and romantic notions that Greek mythology conjours and so decided to use some of those figures for the names of our stamps. 

Aprodite's kiss being the first. She is certainly a lady full of grace, love and beauty.
https://www.powertex.co.uk/rosehart-studio-stamps/375-rosehart-studio-stamp-aphrodite-s-kiss.html

Then Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the queen Cassiopeia in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivaled beauty. We think this cosmic feel stamp lives up to its name.

 www.powertex.co.uk/rosehart-studio-stamps/395-rosehart-studio-stamp-cassiopeia.html

Welll, back to it now and creating more pieces to be able to share with you. I made sure to take photos of most of the samples I created for Hochanda and I've got lots more ideas that need to be created for the Birmingham NEC Hobbycrafts show at the end of June. Toodle pip Anna xXx 

Mixed Media Powertex Seahorse

PAINT THE TOWN RED POWERTEX SEAHORSE

 

 

I just had to share how to make this Seahorse Wall Plaque, which was shown recently on the Powertex One Day Special on Hochanda TV. 

 

Did you watch the shows?

 

This project uses the new MDF Seahorse shape & a whole bundle of gorgeous embellishments. 

 

I started by planning out where the embellishments & fabric would be placed on the seahorse shape.

 

NOTE: Take a few photos rather than trying to rely on memory! 

 I did took photos but I'm sure a few embellishment ended up in different locations anyway!!

 

 

Once you're happy with your design, move all the embellishments to one side, turn the seahorse pieces over & join them together with the square of MDF.  I painted the whole of the back with the Red Powertex to seal the MDF. 

 

 

Once dry, turn the Seahorse back over & paint the front with Red Powertex.

 

Now the real fun can begin!

 

Arrange your embellishments & fabric back onto your seahorse, using the Powertex to stick everything down.  Make sure everything is coated with the Powertex & leave to dry.

 

At this point I also added some 3D Balls in various sizes to add texture in the spaces between the embellishments.

 

Now it is time to bring out all that lovely texture using your choice of Powercolor & Colortricx Pigments.

 

I used Rich Gold & Terraviolet Colortricx, mixing each in turn with some Easy Varnish before dry brushing the surface with a 3/4" brush

 

 

 

Finish by attaching a hanger on the back & your seahorse is all ready to hang on your wall.

 

Enjoy!

 





 



 

 



Mermaid Tails.....

Hello there

Did you manage to get yourself one of the new mermaid mdf shapes from the latest Powertex UK shows on Hochanda?

I wanted to share with you a way of giving your girl a little more attitude by literally raising her profile.

Start by fixing the two mermaid pieces together using the small mdf square supplied

Then using tin foil create rolls of foil and lay them down the tail. Squeeze the foil as you place it onto the shape to create a sturdy base. 

 Continue adding rolls moving across the area until all of the mdf is covered and you have created the height and shape you want, make sure you keep the curved edges of the mermaid by squeezing the foil into the shape.

 Repeat this process with the tail fins.

Add another raised area to the centre of the head to create the back of the skull. As before build this out to the edges using rolled foil 

 When these are complete take flat pieces of foil and wrap across the whole foiled tail area and across the head to keep everything in place. Tuck the excess foil to the back of the mermaid ensuring that you mermaid still sits flat.

Finally cover all foil with a layer of masking tape

You can then apply a coat of Powertex to give everything a common base.  This is now ready for the application of your design whether that's fabric, stone art clay, 3D flex, Powertex and bister or any combination you want to apply.

Have fun creating your own Mermaid Tails.

Annette

Perfectly Pink Powertex Jellyfish

PERFECTLY PINK POWERTEX JELLYFISH

I'm loving the POWERTEX shows on HOCHANDA today and I hope you are too!  Tracey and Anna have done us proud and I am so inspired! 

A day without Powertex is a day...well let's not even go there!

So here's another project to help you create your own Powertex art work.  It's time for a Jelly Fish! 

I remember my brother being stung by one of these critters in Llandudno when we were kids and that was not fun at all!!!! This however was....

As before, I did a rough layout of where I thought I would place my embellishments and textiles.  

TIP: Take a photo!  Once we swipe them off to get started it's easy to forget!

I started with Ivory Powertex and spread this all over and in the joins between the top and bottom peices.  I then spread it all over the strengthening piece.  

I love the way these have been designed!

I dried it with a hairdryer (then picked up all the embellishments that were blown over the floor by the hairdryer - woops!!)



Once dry I turned it over and did the same on the front. 
I then poured a tiny bit of the Red Powertex into the Ivory and mixed it up. This gave me a soft to medium pink!

TIP: less is more in colour mixing as Powertex tends to dry darker!



I spread the pink Powertex all over the front and then started to add my texture.

First I started with some of the lace and ricrac braid.  Using the lace around the curved top of the jelly fish and moving down to the two outer tentacles with the ricrac braid.

Next the embellishments, circles and cogs.

Oh boy I had fun with this, it was kind of like karma thinking back to my unfortunate brother falling foul to their nasty sting!  

I have to say I haven't had so much fun in ages!!!


Once they were all in place, I used some of the Powercotton from the embellishment pack to add a bit more texture.

I then sprayed with black bister for a bit of dimension and dried with the hairdryer and left the piece to dry overnight.

NOTE: you can dry this in a drying box to speed up but it was more convenient to me to leave overnight.  I also find this gives the metal embellishments chance to dry to a really hard fix.


Once dry I had lots of fun colour to bring out all that fabulous texture and detail.

The first lot of dry brushing I did was with the Powercolour burgundy pigment with Easy varnish and my 3/4" Powerex Brush to go back over some of the areas I had covered with bister, this can be seen in the image above right.  

I then moved onto blue and green, as shown on the left.

Next one of my favourite colours, Yellow Ochre - you can seen this around the tentacles in the image to the right! 

As I always do, I added bits and bobs of colour in various places sometimes overlapping with what colour I had already laid down.  This really creates so much interest.

Finally I used my most favourite of the gold pigments Colourtrix Bronze Gold.

Here is my funky Perfectly Pink Powertex Jelly Fish in all it's glory!

Hope you like it and hope to see your Jelly Fish popping up on Powertex Addicts facebook page very soon!

Have fun and bye for now!

Fi xx

OH SO PRETTY POWERTEX SEAHORSE

So what did you think of the fabulous PowertexUK launch shows on HOCHANDA last night with our fabulous Ma Tex herself, Tracey Evans and my hugely talented Powertex DT teamy, Anna Amelia Howlett of Rosehart Studio?  What fabulous products they have bought us and oh my... their projects!!!!!

I love all the hustle and bustle that preparation for live shows bring with them and I have been very blessed to have been able to play with some of the gorgeous products they have bought you to create this rather pretty Seahorse and in a later blog today there is a perfectly pink Jelly Fish.

Before I started I spread out the embellishments and textiles on my workbench and came up with a rough idea of placement.  I chose to work mainly with the floral elements for my seahorse so that I could get two very different looks.

So to get started, I brushed some Ivory Powertex along the seam of the two main pieces and then brushed more Powertex onto the back of the square mdf piece and pressed this down over the join.  This gives great stability and you can also use this area to put the hanging loop on.

I then spread Ivory Powertex over the entire back and dried off with a hair dryer. I then turned it over and spread Powertex over the front and edges.

Next I started to put the embellishments into place having first coated with Powertex.  I tend to drop them into the Powertex and then rub with my hand.  This ensures that the Powertex gets into all the nooks and crannies and means we will get a superb bond ...you know the kind that Powertex is famous for!

I began at the head of the Seahorse, I used one of the circles that I snapped in half and placed in the nose area to accentuate the smile that I always think of when I look at Seahorse.

I also left some clear unembellished areas so that I could work with the Black Bister later.

I gradually moved down the body of the Seahorse adding some lace to the outer curve accentuating the spine and then some of the RicRac braid on the inner curve.

I pressed some flat and left some proud of the base as this will give extra texture and dimension.  I also left some overhanging the edge, again to add dimension.

I continued to build up the texture using the embellishments and under some of the metal pieces I rubbed some Powertex into some kitchen paper and scrunched up to raise them further and also to aid the bonding with the metal and Powertex.

Once I had added all my embellishments I added some more Powertex to the areas I had left empty.

I then sprayed liberally with the black bister and then used a hairdryer to dry off some of the bister and create a bit more textural interest with a bister split.

I then left the piece to dry overnight.

Day 2...let's get colourful and bring out the character using the various pigments that are in the pigment tray as well as the Easy Varnish.

As with the embellishments I made two colour palettes from the pigments in the kit so that the looks were very different. 

I used the Turquoise and green first and then moved on to burgundy and lilac.    

I don't add all the same colours over everything, I tend to pick out areas but allow some overlap so there is little or no evidence of a join.    

I carried on with the colours over the entire piece.




Once the main piece was coloured I decided to add a pop of colour.


So using the orange I hightlight just a few of the flower centres and the wings on butterflies.


Finally I used silver to add a bit of lustre to what I think is a rather pretty Seahorse!

Below are some close ups to show you how I created the detail, highlights and shadows.

I hope you like her and enjoy using your Powertex One Day Special and create a fabulous Seahorse of your own.

Please share your makes with us over on our facebook page Powertex Addicts United.

Keep watching Tracey and Anna on HOCHANDA and pop back later today and there will be another step project for you to follow using more of today's fabulous POWERTEX products.

Bye for now

Fi xx