Northern Lights

Well here we are Autumn is almost over the dark nights are with us.  I love crisp cold dark nights when I can see lots of stars twinkling in the sky after the stunning colours of the setting sun.  Here in the UK there a only a handful of places where, if the conditions are right you might spot the Northern Lights. Going to Norway or Iceland to see the Northern Lights is high on my bucket list but until then, I have created my own abstract Powertex painting to stir or feed that dream!

So grab a coffee and relax while I take you through some very simple steps to create your own version.

First I took a canvas that had been part used on a demonstration and it already had some texture at the bottom.  I had created the texture using a mix of Easy Structure and Powertex sand balls which I put down on a white 30x30 cm canvas.  

I then made up some Easy 3D Flex with some white powertex and using a metal artist pallet knife I spread the 3D Flex mixture vertically on my canvas. As the base texture was already dry, I painted over a good coat of White Powertex.

Next I mixed up some blue bister granules using a teaspoon of granules to 30 mls of warm water from the kettle with 30mls of white vinegar.  This gives a crisper look when sprayed on your canvas as can be seen in the image below.  I also sprayed some standard black bister at the top area of the sky section

To give more depth I sprinkled some blue bister granules onto the area representing water and rocks and sprayed this with water.  

I then left the whole thing to dry and crack over two or three days.

Once it was dry I washed back the black area of bister using a damp sponge. I then used a mix of the Aqua blue and Deep Sea Secret Art Loft acrylic inks to create the dark water and sky. I then used Secret Art Loft acrylic paints in Key Lime, Blueberry Pie and Plumb Pudding on a very dry brush to create the colours synonymous with the Northern Lights.

I then added some metallic highlights using Golden Metallic and Viola Metallic inks as well as Green Ginger, Limoncello Gold and Colortricx Pearl pigments mixed with Powertex Easy Varnish.

I can't tell you exactly how I added the pigments and colours as I use loads and loads of very light layers, just experiement and have fun!

Here is the finished piece

See you in December where I have created a Powertex Christmas Ornament!

Bye for now

Fi

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November...

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November. Gunpowder, Treason and Plot!

I love this time of year as the autumn moves towards cosy winter nights. Halloween has passed and bonfire night awaits before the count down to Christmas. And a cup of hot soup in front of a big bonfire takes me straight back to my childhood and my childhood bonfire nights wouldn't be complete without a Catherine Wheel - the inspiration for this project.

I started with a 20cm square canvas and painted it with black Powertex. I then used Easy Structure to stencil a swirl design onto the canvas and once dry painted over this with black Powertex. 

Although very little of this pattern would be visible on the final pieces it also provided me with a basic shape to follow when adding the paperdecoration.

First I used small pieces of white paperdecoration which I laid slightly randomly but following the swirl pattern and painted over it with black Powertex. (You could use any colour paperdecoration for this part as it is completely covered with the black)

Once this was dry, I mixed rich gold colortricx pigment with Powerwax and gently applied it over the raised parts with a sponge.

To add some extra depth and texture to the corners of the canvas, I mixed some red Powertex with Easy 3D Flex to make a paste and applied this roughly to the corners and left it overnight to crack. 

I then carefully painted the top surface of the cracked area with black Powertex. Using the red Powertex with the Easy 3D Flex made sure that there would be nice bright red colour in the cracks.

Next, it was time to add the gorgeous coloured paperdecoration - burgundy, light pink, red wine and red.

I tore off long thin pieces of paperdecoration and fanned it out towards the end. I laid these onto the canvas following the swirl pattern and painted over them with a good coating of transparent Powertex. Although this goes on a milky white, it dries clear allowing the original colours of the paper dec to show through.

Once I had added enough paperdecoration I left it to dry overnight.

The final part was to add some gold and copper tones to give it the warmth of fire. I did this by mixing colortricx pigments (copper, bronze gold and rich gold) with Powerwax and applying it over the tops of the texture with a sponge.

I am still undecided if I need to add anything into the centre. I am keeping my eyes open for a nice bit of fiery bling...

Until next time, Abs xx

Let's Get Organised by Abigail Lagden

It's been a magical summer for me running many workshops for children (and adults) during the holidays. I've helped budding wizards create over 100 wands and 50 spell books!

But now, as they all head back to school, I felt it was time to treat myself to some special storage for my everyday essentials. And this fantastic MDF storage caddy by Candy Box Crafts fits the bill perfectly.

As it comes flat packed, I started by trying to work out how all the pieces fit together to make the organiser and I have to say it was quite a bit easier than I expected.

Once I knew where all the pieces were going I used bronze Powertex to glue them together by painting a very thin layer on the joining surfaces and fitting them all together (I also painted all of the inside surfaces with bronze Powertex as I wanted a dark interior). 

Top tip - I used elastic bands around the outside of the organiser to hold all of the pieces tightly together whilst the Powertex dried.

I confess, with this project I didn't really know where I was going with the decoration at the start, I just knew that I wanted it not to be too bulky so that it would fit onto my already jam packed work surface. So I started by using Easy Structure paste through stencils to add an embossed pattern to all four sides - as well as some other stencils from my stash, I used the fabulous Fossilized and Wonderland stencils by the Secret Art Loft.

The structure paste was allowed to dry before all four sides were painted with Lead Powertex and small 3D Balls sprinkled into the wet Powertex.

I then mixed a paste using Lead Powertex and Easy 3D Flex which a spread over some of the blanker areas of the sides using a palette knife and pushed some pieces of a jigsaw puzzle into the paste on the front. This was left overnight to allow the paste to dry and crack.

I then used Powerwax mixed with Powercolor pigments to apply layers of colour using a sponge. I used the following pigment colours - turquoise, green, white, blue, burgundy and lilac. And finally dry brushed using Rich Gold Colortricx mixed with Easy Varnish.

To brighten up the centre piece I decoupaged it using EasyCoat Mat and pieces of this gorgeous rice paper.

Once it had all dried it was time to put it to use. Apologies for the state of my bottles and brushes but was made to be a working storage caddy so it would have been unbelievable for everything to be brand new and spotless. Two 1kg Powertex bottles fit into their compartments perfectly and then there is still plenty of space left for brushes, and your other crafty essentials.

Hope you have enjoyed this month's project and have been inspired to get organised. 

You can see more of my work, my workshops and my antics on my Curiously Contrary facebook page and website.

Until next time, Abs xx

Dream, Wish, Create a Beautiful World (by Anne)

This lovely image of a young girl (Victorian Photographs Rice Paper) really called to me and inspired me to make this piece. To me she portrayed a young girl that had experienced in her life far more than any child should.  Alone she would dream and wish for a better world. Her creativity would enable her to escape from the trauma and open the door to a world full of beauty.

I know that many can testify that using imagination and creativity really does take them to a happy place and can increase wellbeing. Sorry, maybe a bit heavy? I hope that you like the ‘beautiful world’ that I have created.

I first collected together lots of elements from my stash; a small wooden pallet (15cm square), a thick greyboard panel with frame (13.5cm X 5cm, 6cm X 2cm centre) plus smaller panel, silicone moulds to create flowers and fern, MDF Heart Keyplate, Penny Washer and Heart Flower (Powertex), scraps cotton fabric and lace.

I created the flowers and ferns using silicone moulds and Stone Art Clay. Stone Art was mixed approx. 50:50 with Ivory Powertex plus a little Transparent Powertex. Ivory Poweretex was also used to coat the inner greyboard pieces.

The wooden pallet and remaining greyboard and MDF pieces were coated with a leftovers mix of Powertex (mainly Lead and Ivory). I keep any leftover Powertex in recycled little takeaway sauce pots (plastic with fully airtight lids). My mix gave a lovely warm grey colour.

I spread Easy Structure Paste across the centre of the pallet and then spritzed with Green Bister.

The rice paper images were applied to the Ivory Powertex coated panels using Easy Coat Mat Medium. Note: the sentiment is actually snipped from the ‘Creative Paper’ branding down the side of the paper. I also used some small leftover snips from a floral paper.

Cotton fabric was treated with Ivory Powertex and draped diagonally across the middle. More texture was added using 3D Sand & Balls.

The flowers, ferns, Heart Flower and Penny Washer were coloured with Acrylic Inks; Palm Leaf, Viola, Viola Metallic and Golden Metallic. A little gold colour was also applied to the edges of the keyplate and image panels, plus drizzled onto the texture paste. The fabric was spritzed with a little Green Bister.

A strip of thin fabric braid was treated with Powertex, coiled tightly into a spiral, and added to the MDF flower centre (coloured with gold ink when dry). A sheet of Angelina fibre was created by ironing heat fusible sparkly fibres between sheets of baking parchment. I collected together a few snips of lace plus some Powercotton.

Next I put it all together. I hung a small metal ‘wish’ charm from the base.

I used Easy Structure Paste through the Duo Arty Quotes Mini  Stencil to add the ‘Dream’ sentiment.

More Acrylic Ink colour was dry brushed over textured areas.

I love the new Acrylic Inks. The fluid formula enables you to drizzle areas with intense colour too.

I was really pleased with my ‘Dream, Create, Wish’ mini artwork. I think that I might just have to keep this one for me.

Off to get busy as I have so many ideas. I will share more soon. Hugs all xxx.

Steampunk Jewellery Plier Stands (by Anne)

I have been meaning to decorate my jewellery plier stands for ages and finally got them finished.

I had a bit of a problem with these in that they started off as a plain varnished wood surface. I initially coated them with white Gesso with a view to painting them with acrylics. However, the Gesso did not bind well to the varnish layer – eek! All ideas were halted. These need to be fairly robust and a tonne of flaky chips after a short use was not what I wanted!

I then discovered Powertex and yay, I would be able to rescue and decorate my plier stands after all. Coating the entire surface with rice papers and torn kitchen towels would create a tough protective skin over the surface and prevent the feared chipping off of the base layers.

HOW IT WAS DONE

I first collected together lots of embellishments; die cut cogs and pipework (Sizzix dies), MDF Keyplate (Powertex), metal clock hand and chains, old light bulbs and screws.

I tore out images from Creative Rice Paper (Powertex). This particular sheet seems to be out of stock but there is a similar Victorian Steampunk Paper available. I also separated layers of kitchen paper and tore them into pieces to coat the surface. This would add texture and a protective layer.

STAGE ONE

First I applied the torn decorative papers using Easy Coat Mat Medium. Ivory Powertex was then painted on to blend in the image edges.

STAGE TWO

Next layers of kitchen paper were bonded all over the surface. Some were glued down with Ivory and some with Terracotta Powertex. Die cut card embellishments were also coated with Powertex and glued down.

Texture was added by applying Easy Structure Paste through a texture stencil.

I also had a try at the rust technique. I mixed some Rusty Powder into Ivory Powertex along with a few drops of white wine vinegar. This was painted and dribbled over the surface (extra powder sprinkled on top) and spritzed with water and vinegar before leaving overnight to develop. I spritzed at intervals, several times. I avoided the areas that will be in contact with my pliers. 

STAGE THREE

Next I brushed over and added colour using Acrylic Inks in Tangerine, Egg Yolk, Aqua and Metallic Gold.  

STAGE FOUR

I also applied a little gold Pebeo Gilding Wax on some areas. When fully dry and cured (I left them for 3 weeks) I coated the surface with Easy Varnish to fully seal and protect.

I have included lots of images of how all the surfaces were built up.  

Texture and die cut cogs have been added. 

Rust and colour added. 

Side finished with stronger thick greyboard embellishments. Any large embellishments protruding from edges need to be strong (thinner card would be prone to warp and bend).

I started with a larger clock image on the other side. 

Die cuts and texture added plus a metal clock hand for dimension. 

Finally finished with thicker embellishments and more dry brush work and gilding wax.

Love this character. 

Texture and layers built up. Waiting for the rust to develop. 

Building up the layers of transparent colour makes so much difference.

The second plier stand started off in the same way. 

At this stage you might feel like giving up. What a mess! 

Just keep going, adding layers of rust texture and colour. 

Just loving the gorgeous layers of texture and colour.

I used several layers of the die cut pipework together to make them thicker and stronger on this side.

Wooohooo – this is soooooo yummy (or is it just me – tee hee).

Another end panel. 

I used an MDF keyplate (Powertex) to embellish this end. 

The final colouring makes such a difference.

The final side had a couple of little storage wells. I won’t really be using these so a perfect place to embellish with larger items. 

I had fun adding recycled light bulbs, screws and bits of chain etc. I used structure paste and Powertex treated kitchen paper as a 3D glue to hold things in place. 

Initially I had added a thinner die cut cog to the end but it wasn’t really strong enough. Here I added another thick greyboard cog over the first. Much more practical. I also added a small MDF Butterfly.

Here you can see more of the Steampunk treasures added. I also added some 3D Sand and Balls. 

Love this Steampunk birdie peering out.

Well I hope that all these pictures have not overwhelmed you. I wanted to show how all the stages were built up. It also shows the stages that look awful, perhaps where a beginner might give up! Remember, if it all goes wrong just keep applying colour, inks or coloured varnishes. If this fails and you are really not happy – just paint over the whole thing with a base colour of Powertex and start again.

Hugs, Anne xxx.