What a hoot!

What a Hoot! - by Abigail Lagden

I have loved the owl templates since Powertex first introduced them, so imagine my delight when I opened my design team parcel to find not just the owl, but lots of extra embellishments and shapes too in the Project Pack Owl. Here they all are:

I wanted my owl to have lots of texture and ruffles, so I also used the following bits I had lying around (very little gets thrown away in our house if it is deemed to be powertexable and I judge just about everything on a texture rating) :

• Some part-shredded cardboard packaging (courtesy of my Powertex parcel!)
• Some zig-zag corrugated cardboard which had been protective packaging around a plant pot
• Some embroidered, stretchy peach fabric which those of you who have been to one of my workshops will know I affectionately call my 'hideous fabric' - I hate all skin coloured clothing and also know this would be a nightmare to sew with.
• Some t-shirt material
• Some flat cotton yarn
• Some cotton lace with a circle design
• Some elasticated, ruffled, cotton lace

This is how my owl was created:

1.   I used the wings as templates to draw around and cut the embossed paper to size. These were coated with bronze powertex and stuck onto the mdf wings and the top surface painted over.

2.  The owl shaped mdf base was fully painted with bronze powertex

3.  The ruffled lace was used in strips for the tail and the shredded cardboard laid across this to form the branch.

4.  One of the mdf rings was wrapped with the flat cotton yarn. One of the circles from the lace was cut out and attached to the other mdf ring.

5.  The corrugated cardboard was cut to make a shape to cover the owl's belly. This was attached using powertex and painted over.

6.  The 'hideous fabric' was used to add some ruffled texture around the corrugated cardboard.

7.  T-shirt fabric was used on the face and ruffled around the two mdf rings which became its eyes.

8.  The feet, beak, button and butterflies were then positioned, and finally the gorgeous eye.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... so I guess a video must be worth at least a thousand more. To prove that point (and also because it easier than stopping to take photos when 'in the zone') I have included a couple of time-lapse videos in this blog to show you my project's emergence.

This one shows the owl being 'built'.

And this video shows the colour being dry brushed onto the owl. I used different blends of burgundy, red ochre, yellow ochre, orange and white powercolor pigments, followed by some rich gold and bronze gold colortricx.

I hope you found the videos useful. You can see more of what I have been up to on my facebook page.

Take care. Until next time, Abs xx