Simple step by step to a cute Powertex Penguin

For this month's Powertex Blog we were given the theme of winter crafting.

As we are getting towards the end of the year, and I have obviously got lots of lovely new Powertex goodies on my Christmas list (and I have been a fairly good girl) I thought it was a good opportunity to also use up some spare bits I had from previously in the year.



Meet Quentin

Quentin (made using bronze powertex)

 Priscilla

Priscilla (made using grey powertex)

 and Paulio

Paulio (made using black powertex)

What I used:
Small amount of Powertex Stone Art 
Small amount of Powertex Fabric Hardener
Powertex Colour Pigments
Small amount of Powertex Easy Varnish
Small scraps of fabric
Small Polystyrene Eggs

How I made my Powertex Penguins:

I had a few small polystyrene Easter eggs left over from Easter crafting workshops and projects, and when I looked at these, the image of a cute little penguin appeared in my mind.

Having just finished a unicorn workshop I had a small amount of stone art clay left over, (which was made using bronze powertex) which was just perfect for covering the egg to create a penguin shape.

I had my stone art clay already mixed left over from my previous workshop (if kept in an airtight container it will last for quite some time once mixed up).  But if you are mixing it fresh it is very easy to do (it always reminds me of making pastry)

Simply pour a small amount of your hardener into a tub, and gradually add stone art, little by little, mixing with a pallet knife until a dough like subtance forms.  Roll it into a ball, and keep kneading and rolling until it comes away cleanly from your hands.

I made up three small balls, as I find it easier to work in this way

mix up small balls of stone art clay using Powertex Fabric Hardener and stone art

 From here I simply rolled small bits out and covered my egg shape with the clay. I like to create textures in the clay so I used a small stamp to do this as I went.  Be sure to make the base of the egg quite flat so that your penguin is able to stand steadily.

I rolled a smaller ball to create a head shape, then added small rolls flattened out to indicate the wings, and molded a beak which I added to the head.  For eyes you can use any small round beads.  I was making it up as I went along, and had some Powertex sand balls handy so used these, painted black which worked just as well.

Starting to look vaguely penguinesque 

 It is when you add the colour that the penguins start to come to life.  I used black, white, tequila sunrise and silver, but basically you can use any colour that takes your fancy.  These are fantasy penquins, so use your imagination.

I was quite pleased with Quentin, but something was missing.  My daughter had the solution.  'He needs a little scarf' she told me, and she was right, he did.  So I simply cut up an old scarf from my stash of material, soaked in transparent powertex and wrapped it round him to keep him nice and snug.  The final touch, and purely optional was some frosty glitter.

I was so pleased with him, and with how easy it was to make, that I made up some more stone art clay using some black powertex that had been lingering in the bottom of a bottle, and also some grey and made him a mum and a dad, so now I have my own cute little Powertex Penguin Family

Quentin, Priscilla and Paulio - keeping as snug as possible against that cold wind

These were genuinely quick and easy to make - and a great way to use up any last bits of stone art clay or powertex that you have lying around.

If you decide to make a Powertex Penguin we would love to see your photos over at the facebook page  Powertex Addicts United

You can see more of my makes on my website www.artandmurals.co.ukwww.artandmurals.co.uk 

Step by Step Powertex Zombie Hand

Apart from the time my daughter made me sit through Dawn of the Dead with her, I have never watched a zombie movie in my life, but this for this Halloween I decided to embrace my dark side and have a bit of fun creating a Powertex Zombie Hand.

  
What I used:

1 x Mache Hand (I got mine from Hobbycraft, but they are available in most craft stores)
1 x Powertex Wooden Base
1 x torn off cotton shirt sleeve
Masking Tape
Tin foil
Powertex Fabric Hardener
Various Powertex Pigments
Powertex Easy Varnish
Powertex Bister I used the ready made sprays of red and black, but again any colours will give a good effect
Bag of Halloween Spiders (or whatever else takes your fancy)
Small Tiles if you want to add a bit of weight to the base

What I did:

I made a hole in the base of the mache hand, and placed it over the top of the Powertex Wooden Base, securing it with masking tape.

I then bulked out the top of the base with tin foil so that there was not a sudden edge where the hand met the pole, and covered with masking tape and Powertex.  (It doesn't matter what colour Powertex you use for this as it will all be covered up anyway.

 

I painted the hand with Red Powertex Hardener, and then went to town with dribbling Black, Red and Green Powertex on top of this, spraying with my bister and blasting with a hair dryer to create lots of bubbles and textures.   

Top Tip: I keep my old Powertex containers that just have a few dribbles left in them for this purpose, I love a the effect of dribbling and spraying with bister, so absolutely nothing goes to waste by doing this.

I then soaked my torn sleeve in Black Powertex - being sure to keep the edges nice and raggedy, and also turning it inside out to make sure all of the inside of the sleeve was also thoroughly coated, before sliding it on over the base and playing with it to create lots of interesting creases in the fabric.

The sleeve took a bit of persuasion to stay in place, so I wrapped some clingfilm round it and left it overnight so that it would harden in the position I wanted it to be in.

Once the sleeve had set in place, I added some plastic spiders to really spook it up.  The spiders I used were plastic ones so I secured them in place with superglue.

I also wanted to add a bit more weight to my sculpture so I painted a couple of small tiles with Black Powertex and placed my Powertex Wooden Base on top of these.

Now it was time to add the final touch of colour.

I chose to use Red and Burgendy to give the effect of dried blood and fresh blood, along with the Golden Olive for the zombified hand.

The shirt I dry brushed with White and did the Spiders in Silver before going over the whole thing with the Wonderfully Spooky Terragreen to finish it off.

 

This was definitely out of my comfort zone, but great fun to make.  The Powertex Team would love to see your Halloween makes so please do post them on our Facebook Page Powertex Addicts United

You can see more of my makes on www.facebook.com/artmuralsbydonnamcghie 

or my website www.artandmurals.co.ukwww.artandmurals.co.uk

Step by Step Harvest Moon in Powertex

My Design Team Member challenge this month was to create something representing Autumn and Harvest. Immediately in my mind an image of a gorgeous Harvest Moon appeared, with vivid autumnal colours framing a simple  sillhouette.


Having a look through the Powertex UK website I was drawn to the large Styrofoam Circles and metal base as the perfect shape to work with.


To start off, I covered the entire circular base with yellow hardener, which I also sprayed with mahogany bister before drying with a hair dryer to create my first layer of texture.  I think it looks like a cake at this stage.

Now it was time to gently add a layer Stone Art to one side of the circle, to create some moon like texture.  I also added a bit of stoneart to the edges of my circle. Now it resembled a cake with a dusting of icing.

 

From here, I did one of my favourite things to do with Powertex, swirl it on.  I swirled on Red and Yellow, gradually adding more Stone Art as I went, to create some beautiful patterns on my sculpture.  After adding each swirl, I very gently rubbed in more stone art, building up lots of crater like textures in differing shades of colour.

  

I used some Powertex 3D Sand  to add some more subtle texture to the edges.

 

I was fairly happy with it so far, but wanted it to have a really deep sheen, and the best thing to help me achieve that was PowerWax 

I dipped a small sponge in some of the wax, then into my Autumnal Pigments (I chose Copper, Pearl Red, Clear Gold and Pearl White)  I gently rubbed in a circular motion all over my sculpture.  Making sure to work my way deep into all those lovely little crackles and crevices.  The Copper, Pearl Red and Clear Gold worked to enhance the swirls I had created, and I then went over the whole thing again with the Pearl White to blend them all in together.

My finishing touch for the front of my sculpture was to Paint a very fine lined image of some wheat sheafs in Black Acrylic for the sillhouette

To create the back of my moon, I simply swirled some more Red and Yellow Powertex over the layer I had already put on, added some bister and blasted with a hair dryer to create lots of beautiful textures.  Once this was thoroughly dry, I repeated the same process with the PowerWax and Pigments

 

I am really pleased with how this turned out, because it is so close to the image I had in my mind's eye.  It was really easy to do, and you don't even have to be great at painting because the wheatsheafs really are just very thin lines of black paint with a few whispy sheafs at the top.  

I would love to see what creations you come up with with an Autumnal theme - if you don't already know there is a facebook page dedicated to seeing all your lovely makes www.facebook.com/powertexaddicts

If you fancy seeing more of what I get up to, my facebook page is www.facebook.com/artmuralsbydonnamcghie

and my website is www.artandmurals.co.uk

Who Let The Powertex Out?

 Meet Englebert, the naughty Powertex Afghan Hound

I love dogs - so was delighted to open up my Powertex Design Team package this month and find this handsome chap waiting for me.  

Also included was a handy stand so that my finished sculpture can be displayed as a standing feature anywhere in the house.

I love using Powertex Powercotton in my sculptures, so decided to change him into an Afghan Hound, named Englebert (as you do).

After a quick google search I discovered that as well as having all that gorgeous hair, Afghan Hounds are quite different in their build.  They have completely different shaped back legs, and a different shaped nose and stomach as well.  Luckily this not a problem with powertex, I simply molded some good old tin foil over the parts I wanted to change, and then covered with masking tape. Once I had done this I painted the whole thing in Bronze Powertex universal medium.

As you can see, I also used masking tape to adhere my dog to the stand.

I love the effect of the crackles that form in Easy 3D Flex so decided to use this on the nose, mixing it with my bronze Powertex until it formed a clay and then shaping this around my template.   I used some wooden balls as eyes.  I was working in the garden on a hot sunny day, so I left it for the afternoon so that the heat would really start to bring out the textures and crackles in my clay.

I like the weight Powertex stone art can give to sculptures, so I then made up some stone art clay (by mixing powertex and stoneart to form a clay again), to cover the rest of my dog.  If you don't have any stone art clay no worries - the whole body gets covered anyway so you could just as easily cover it using material soaked in powertex.

Once this was dry enough, it was onto the part I had most been looking forward to - using the powercotton to create Englebert's coat.  I am a notoriously messy worker, so my one tip when using powercotton would be to cut it up into manageable segments and lay it out in small batches so that you can pick them up easily.  If I don't do this I end up with a whole bunch of powertexed powercotton from my messy hands before I am ready to use it.

I started off with smaller batches of powercotton by his feet, and then layered up with longer and longer batches.  Finishing off with really long sections for his gorgeous flowing ears.  I used a small strip of thin rope as his collar.

I think Englebert is beautiful, but also rather naughty. I like to imagine that he had jumped into a river to cool down, so is not quite up to Crufts standard of blow dry.  He also loves smelling flowers, so on the base I used an old tumble dry sheet soaked in Powertex (you can also obviously use a strip of material, but I am trying to recycle as much as possible), and some material flowers.

Once he was dry, it was time to pick out all the highlights using Powertex colours and dry brushing.

To dry brush you simply dip a flat brush into a small amount of Powertex Varnish, and then into the powder colour of your choice.  Wipe the brush off on a sheet of paper towel, and then, keeping the brush very flat, gently glide it over your sculpture, building up the colour as you go.

I used bronze colortrix for Engelbert's coat, and a small amount of black shaded in for his nose.  I wanted the collar to stand out so opted for one of the gorgeous new Secret Art Loft powders of Green Parrot.  I also used this colour for the leaves of the flowers.  For the grass I used Golden Olive, and     for the roses Berry Sour, before also giving these a very light covering of the bronze powder to tie the whole thing in.

Here is my finished Engelbert.  I hope you like him, and would love to see what you make with any of the wonderful templates available from Powertex UK

Don't forget you can post your makes at our facebook page Powertex Addicts United.  We love to see what you come up with.  If you're interested you can check out more of my makes on my website www.artandmurals.co.uk and my facebook page www.facebook.com/artmuralsbydonnamcghie 

Thanks for reading and see you next month :)

Products used are as follows:


Powertex Dog MDF Template
Powertex 2 Pin Base
Powertex Bronze Hardener
Powertex 3D Flex
Powertex Stone Art
Bronze Gold Colortrix
Secret Art Loft Pigment Powder Green Parrot
Secret Art Loft Pigment Powder Golden Olive 
Secret Art Loft Pigment Powder Berry Sour
Powertex Easy Varnish

This Boot Was Made With Memories

How Powertex Can Be Used To Create A Beautiful Memorial Boot

One of the things I love most about being a Powertex Tutor are the wonderful stories that unfold as people get totally absorbed in creating something beautiful and meaningful.

I have been priviliged to hear many really moving accounts of why people are making their sculptures, and who they are making them for, or, as is often the case, who they are making them  in memory of.

Obviously these are very personal stories, and I think the very fact that people feel comfortable to open up and talk, either within a group, or on a one to one basis speaks volumes about the therapeutic nature of creating with Powertex.

I have been given permission by one lady to share her story here.

S's dad had passed away recently.  He was a keen gardener, and she contacted me to ask if I would be able to do a Powertex Workshop using an old boot, which she could use to keep his ashes in.

Of course I said yes. It would be an absolute honour.

I love doing boot workshops anyway, but knew that this one was going to be something rather special.

We wanted to be sure that there was a suitable place within the boot for S's father's ashes, and we did this by covering a small plastic seedling pot with masking tape, before lodging it into the opening of the boot, and then putting a covering of powertex soaked material over this.  Ensuring that there was a good sized place for the ashes to sit in, but also ensuring it would be weatherproof as S thought she might want the boot to sit outside in the garden.  One of her father's favourite places.

Once we had done this, under my guidance, S covered the whole boot with powertex soaked fabric, scrunching it up to give lots of interesting texture and character.  S added a few appropriate bits and pieces from my ever ready stash of goodies I collect from charity shops etc, such as little material roses, and a heart taken from a piece of jewellery.

Then she added the piece, that I think makes the boot really stunning.  A small ornamental bird that she had brought along, to symbolise her father's love of birds.

We left the boot overnight to dry completely, before dry brushing, which really makes it pop as a work of art.

Although I had been keen to help S make her memorial boot, if I'm honest a part of me was also really nervous, about whether it would be a sad experience for her.  As it turned out the opposite was true.  It was a joyous workshop, with lots of laughter and memories recounted about a man who was obviously someone who lived life to the full.  And I although I didn't know him, I do think I got a feel for the man's character from S's fond and happy recollections over the weekend.

I think, I hope, that his boot is a fitting memorial of a man with a real  joie de vivre.

S tells me it caputres him perfectly, and that she smiles every time she looks at her boot.  Which in turn makes me smile as well.

If you would like to contact a tutor to help with making your own memorial for someone special get in touch with the guys at Powertex UK, or head over to our facebook pages powertex addicts united and the powertex studio

You can find out more about my Powertex workshops on my facebook page   or my website www.artandmurals.co.uk

Venetian Dreams

For this month's blog I was given the Venetian Masquerade Project pack to work with, and my goodness is there a lot to play with in this kit.  No less than three MDF masks, oodles of mdf embellishments, and some absolutely beautiful venetian rice paper.

How gloriously decadent.

I'm not lucky enough to have ever been to Venice, but I always imagine it to have a slightly surreal air about it.

I decided to create a triptych using three long canvasses.  Because of my perceived idea of what Venice is like, I was aiming to create a dream like feel. I don't know about you, but I always find Venetian masks gorgeous, but also slightly ominous, and I also  wanted to convey this in my final piece. 

To start off with I laid out my three canvasses, and placed my Powertex goodies on them to get a rough idea of how I was going to do this. I always do this in the full knowledge that my ideas will change once I get going, and I'm absolutely fine with this.  Go with the flow is my motto.

Once I had a rough plan, I set about creating a watery feel by pouring ivory powertex and blue powertex onto the canvas, and swirling them together with a scraper.  I then added some blue bister in patches to add a feeling of depth.

Now it was time to add the absolutely beautiful Powertex Venetian Rice Paper, which I did by tearinground the bits I wanted to use, and then carefully adding them onto the canvas using easy varnish.

I then painted my mdf masks in the Secret Art Loft Acrylic Paint Blueberry Pie, before adding some Easy 3D Flex on top of this.  I like to add a bit of colour underneath 3D Flex so that you get glimpses of it coming through once the cracks start to appear.  To make 3D Flex I mixed in in with Ivory Powertex to create a clay texture and then put this on top of my masks.  I left them in a warm place to dry overnight, which is when the cracks develop.

Now it was time to start putting the whole thing together.  I used the gorgeous inteference pigments to add an ethereal sheen to my masks, and for the lips I used red powertex sprayed over with brown bister to create an end of the night decadence to them.

Ages ago I had picked up the black lacy masks knowing that at some point the perfect opportunity for using them would arise, and here was just that opportunity.  I soaked these in transparent powertex before adding them to my masks.

I wanted my smaller mask to have a bit of bling to it, so added some chainmail junk jewellery I had in my stash to the beak. I then made a headress using more jewellry and the mdf feathers.  I  toned the whole thing down by spraying with brown bister before using my fingers to rub in more interference pigments and also turquoise throughout the whole piece where I felt it needed a bit more light and shade.

Finally, I felt the need to add actual feathers to my smaller mask.  I always know once I get my feathers out that it is time to stop, so I downed tools at that point.

If I'm perfectly honest, I did find this project a bit of a challenge.  But I'm really pleased with the end result.  I'd love to see what you do with your project pack.  Please do post them onto our Powertex Addicts Facebook Page.

You can see more of my work on www.facebook.com/artmuralsbydonnamcghie  and   www.artandmurals.co.uk

Here Comes The Bride

As Prince Harry and Meghan prepare to walk down the aisle, here at Powertex we're feeling pretty loved up as well.

This month I decided to use up a battered old canvas I had lying around to create a 3d picture of a fairy tale bride.

To do this, I used the back of the canvas.  Almost like a ready made box frame to work within.

I started off by mixing Ivory Powertex hardener with a very very small amount of Lead Powertex, hardener as I wanted to give a slight illusion of depth to my picture.  Once I had the shade I wanted I painted the entire canvas, and frame with this colour.

Once this was dry, I used wire covered with tin foil and masking tape to create an archway for my fairy tale bride to be walking through.  I adhered this into place and mixed some Powertex Stone Art with the remainder of my ivory and grey mixture to create some a clay to cover the arch with.  Once it was covered, I used a pallet knife to make some rough marks to indicate brick work.

To get the effect of  stone wall I then mixed up some Ivory hardener and Powertex Easy 3d Flex into a very wet clay and pretty much slapped it on the area between the archway and the frame.  I wanted this very rough and ready as my fairy tale bride is getting married in an old fairy tale castle.

As it was a very hot day, I then put this outside in the heat to allow the cracks I wanted to develop.  If you are not lucky enough to have a hot day then a good blast with  a hair dryer will work just as well. If you can it is best to leave Easy 3d Flex overnight to give the cracks a really good chance to develop.

Next I started to work on my bride.  I chose the Esther head available from Powertex UK  European selection as as I wanted my bride to be very delicate and pretty.

I used some tin foil and masking tape to make the shape of her bodice, making sure that I indicated where her arms would be also.  I then covered the top of her bodice with some gorgeous lace soaked in ivory powertex.

I wanted her dress to be flowing out of the picture, so used tin foil and masking tape to help create this effect, then put layers upon layers of lace.   I stuffed used rubber gloves up inside of the layers to help them stand out from each other.  I tend to keep most of my used rubber gloves for this purpose.  They work perfectly, and are easy to remove once you have got the effect you are after.

I was really pleased with the cracks in my Easy 3d Flex, however, when I looked closely I could see that some of the clay had moved away from my arch.  To disguise this I used some fabric flowers that I had picked up from a charity shop some time ago, and trailed them up the cracks.  I actually think this enhances the design.  I tend to find this with 'mistakes'.  With a little imagination you can usually use them to your advantage.

I used some hessian to cover the wooden frame as their were ugly staples showing through.

I didn't want much colour at all for this design, as I liked the simplicty of the colour scheme, so just used the new interference range to give a very slight hint of translucent colour on the Easy 3d Flex. Almost like the sun glistening on the stone.  I then drybrushed some clear gold colortrix to give a very subtle depth to the hessian frame.

I am really pleased with how she came out.  My fairy tale was pretty much all experimentation, but I love to experiment, and I love finding ways of turning mistakes around.   I hope that she truly will live happily ever after.

You can see more of my work on my facebook page or my website www.artandmurals.co.uk  

Also, don't forget, here at Powertex we love to see your makes so please do post them on The Powertex Studio Facebook Page.

Powertex Fairy House Step by Step

Making your own Powertex fairy house wall hanging is as easy as ABC when you use the Powertex MDF project pack.

Here are my simple step by step instructions.  Feel free to use your imagination and come up with your own versions.

1.  Lay out your template and whatever embellishments you choose to decorate it with.

2.  Use black Powertex hardener to paint all the mdf pieces.  Then attach the roof to the main body of the house.  You can use Powertex to do this as it acts as a very strong glue.

3.  I had originally planned to use some textured wall paper for the body of the house, but as I was using corrugated cardboard for the roof, I decided to use this for the body of the house also, but added variety by turning it sideways.

Draw around the shapes you want to cover and cut them out of the cardboard (or textured material/paper of your choice.)  Then soak the this in the powertex and place it onto the mdf.

(I don't know why, but I always imagine fairies living in quite ramshackle houses, so before soaking my cardboard, I tore off random pieces of the ridges to reveal the smoother underneath card, just to add a feeling of wear and tear.)  I also added some thin string in sort of hash tag shapes to give a slight patched up feeling to my house.

4.  Now place the embellishments where you want them to go.  For my design  I also soaked some pieces of thin material to add texture to the door, and added some little buttons just because I thought they looked cute.

5.  Allow the house time to dry off completely.  This process can be speeded up by using a hair dryer.

6.  Once it is dry, and the fabric feels hard to the touch you can dry brush your design.

Dry Brushing

7.  Dip a flat brush into a small amount of Powertex Easy Varnish.

8.  Now dip your brush into a small amount of Powertex Colour Pigment of your choice.

9.  Wipe the brush off on a piece of paper towel before sweeping it gently over your design.  The aim is to pick up the highlights of your texture, not cover the whole thing completely.  It is advisable to start off lightly and build up the depth of colour you are aiming for, as a little goes a long way.  You do not need to use a huge colour palette.  For this design I used Burgundy, Silver and a tiny bit of White

And there you have it.  A gorgeous little Powertex fairy dwelling that any of the little folk would be proud to live in.

Please note, the little sparkles are my own little resident fairies courtesy of the KiraDroid photo app.

Step by Step Powertex Owl

How about making this gorgeous Powertex Owl as a wall hanging.  He will watch over you wisely, and is a real hoot to make:

You will need:

1 x Powertex MDF Owl Kit
Bronze Powertex Hardener
Strips of natural material (Powertex does not like synthetic material)
1 x Button
String
Corrugated Cardboard
Lace Cut Offs
Powertex Colour Pigments 
Powertex Easy Varnish
1 x flat brush
Whatever you want to use for eyes - (I used a glass cabochon eye, and a false eyelash from one of the bargain beauty shops).

Here is what you need to do:

1.  Paint all your MDF pieces with the Bronze Powertex
2.  Cut a shape for the tummy area out of corrugated cardboard, and soak it in the hardener.
3.  Soak strips of material in the hardener, and scrunch them up to cover the remaining area of your MDF template, including the wings.

  

4.  Soak the large button in powertex, and place it where you want the beak to go.  Once in place, stick the mdf beak on top.  (The powertex will act as a glue).  Now place the circular shapes where you want the eyes to be.  (For my owl I also added two tiny strips of fabric to act as arms for his glasses.  I also soaked my false eyelash at this stage and put it in place. Although the eye is also in this photo, I did not add this until right at the end.

5.  I added little mdf butterflies on each ear as I thought this looked cute.
6.  On the branch, I added string soaked in Powertex to give the appearance of wood.
7.  Finally, add his little feet on top of the branch, and if you want to soak some lace cut off pieces in Powertex and place on his tummy area.
8.  Allow the whole thing to dry off thoroughly, so that the material feels hard when you put your hand on it.
9.  Once dry, use Powertex colour pigments of your choice to dry brush*.  I used Rich Gold, Bronze Gold and Silver.  There is no need to use too many colours, as sometimes less can be more with a colour scheme.
10. Last but not least, put a tiny amount of Powertex onto the back of the glass eye, and put it in place.

What a handsome chap he is!!

*  To dry brush simply put a small amount of Powertex Easy Varnish onto a flat brush.  Dip this into the colour pigment of your choosing. (You will not need much pigment at all, it is far better to start off lightly and build up if you wish to).  Now, wipe the brush off on a piece of paper towel so that it is not very wet at all, and gently skim the brush, keeping it as flat as possible, over the textures in your design.  The idea is to simply pick out the highlights, not paint into every nook and cranny.

And that is it.  Simples. Use your imagination to come up with variations on the design, and if you wish to then we would love to see a photo over on the Powertex Studio Facebook page.