Rainbo the Elephant by Abigail Lagden

An exciting design team pack arrived this month. Imagine my surprise to open it up and find an elephant inside!!

I love all the animal MDF templates by Powertex UK. But these new ones are a bit more exciting. They have been cunningly designed to fit across the pins of the large 2 pin metal stand which means you have the option to make a 3D, free-standing sculpture.

Now, you may have seen that we had the annual Powertex Tutor Retreat in July which was follow by a fabulous Abyssimo workshop run by Maria Fondler-Grossbaum. All of the projects we completed over the three days were all very different and all well away from my comfort zone. But I adore learning new techniques and mingling with other lovely creatives, so it was the most wonderful weekend. Anyway, here are my three completed projects...

Rosie Casselden's Fish Workshop

Abyssimo Workshop

Tracey Evans' Workshop

What I took away from the weekend was a need to do something bright and funky with my elephant project as well as (among other things) the three new, scrummy acrylic paints from The Secret Art Loft. I was also inspired by all the gorgeous unicorns created at the Secret Garden Party.

For this project you will need:

• MDF Elephant Template
• Large 2 Pin Metal Base
• Armature wire 1-2mm
• Masking Tape
• Tin Foil
• White Universal Medium
• Stone Art
• Stamps/shapes to impress
• Daisy Flower Mould
• White Paper Decoration
• Secret Art Loft acrylic paints - Plum Pudding, Blueberry Pie, Mint Jelly, Key Lime Pie, Lemon Meringue, Marmalade, Red Velvet
• Colortricx Clear Gold Pigment
• Easy Varnish

And here is what I did...

First I covered the base in cling film so it wouldn't get covered in mess!

Then I attached the MDF elephant to the large 2 pin metal base using masking tape. I used some 1mm armature wire to form the shape of the ears, which was fed through the two holes in the template and secured in place using masking tape.

  

I then built the elephant out using tin foil and masking tape, so it was no longer just a flat piece of MDF. All of the foil was covered using masking tape before being coated with a layer of white Powertex universal medium.

I mixed some stone art clay using white Powertex and StoneArt. I used about four fist sized balls of stone art clay for the whole thing. I prefer to leave my stone art clay overnight before using as I find it easier to work with after is has rested for a bit.

Taking small pieces at a time, I covered the elephant with the stone art clay and used a clear stamp and a wooden printing block to impress flowers and patterns into the clay.

I used the remaining clay to mould some daisies using the Powertex Daisy Mould and attached these with a little white Powertex.

For the ears I used white Paper Decoration to get a texture rich wrinkly surface.

I added some fish net fabric over the elephant's back and some flowers on the trunk but changed my mind at the colouring stage and removed them.

The project was left to dry. Where I have added stone art clay embellishments, I find it is a good idea to let project dry before colouring as the clay shapes can shrink a little and expose some of the white surface underneath them.

Once dry I used the Secret Art Loft acrylic paints to transform the elephant into a rainbow (Is this getting a bit predictable now?). I applied the paints using a mixture of a brush, a sponge and my fingers!

The paint was left to dry before using white Powertex to dry brush the surface to enhance the appearance of the textures, followed by clear gold colortricx mixed with easy varnish.

And, after my Abyssimo workshop, I couldn't resist adding a little bit of bling too!

I hope you like my rainbow bright elephant and will be inspired to get creating with Powertex.

Please feel free to have a look at what I am up to on my Curiously Contrary facebook page and website.

Until next time, Abs xx