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

Halloween Nightmare or how not to make a craft video!

I bet I am one of the few people who have a dread of Halloween. It's not that it scares me or that I don't like the art of it all, it's just that for some reason every time I try to create what's in my head, it turns into a Halloween Nightmare!!! 

I had this grand idea that I would use Powertex and some of the super Secret Art Loft bright acrylics and the Gothic Arches.
It has all worked out just fine except I had it all planned in my head that I would create my very first Craft Video!

As you may know that as well as being on the Powertex DT I am also a Resident Tutor on the Mixed Up Creative education platform, so in my infinite wisdom and being filled with oodles of enthusiasm I got myself all set up to create the video for them.  Bearing in mind I also have lots of experience demo'ing on TV craft channels this should all be so easy...well believe me it isn't!  

In a TV studio there is a crew, superb lighting and a presenter who asks the questions viewers want answers too; you have your step pieces prepared and you have everything laid out ready to head in the order you want to use them. Oh and with filming, all you have to think about is product placement and which camera to look at.

Hmmm this is where it all goes belly up!  I didn't have steps planned this was going to be a one shot product.  I had just one small light; I had to operate the camera in my very small studio - just 3 meters by 1.5 meters but every mm is packed tight rather tardis like!

I had it all planned though so it would run like clock work.  

I made sure my long suffering other half knew what I was doing and he was primed to stay well away.

OMG it was a total nightmare!!!  

Not at all the slick professional looking video I had imagined, planned for and not at all fun! It was my Halloween Nightmare and then some!  Dropping various bits, forgetting I had wrecked the first arch and the second had sticky tape on etc. etc.  Worse still is that that what you don't see or hear at the end of the video is my husband walking in on me, talking loudly about tea, apologising profusely, then me slinging the paintbrush and who knows what else across the worktop and sighing so loud I have every expectation even a Ghost would have shrieked in fright!

After all that I decided while it was a rubbish video I would share my experience with you because at the end of the day we all have to start somewhere.  Hat's off to all those highly polished artists and crafters who have mastered the intricacies of video, I am learning, I will not be defeated and I will master it.  

In the meantime have a laugh with me, share my pain and I hope the resulting Powertex Halloween tag is slightly OK.

Bye for now, Fi xx

ps Here's the link to the video

 Halloween Nightmare or how not to make a craft video!..

Scarecrows in September

Wow, it's September already! I love September the start of autumn and all those fabulously rich warm colours.  As a farmers daughter the harvest was always such a special time, I loved helping dad bring in the harvest when the whole countryside appeared to turn rich rusty gold, snuggly nippy nights, warm mellow days...oh and scarecrow trails!

Did you know that scarecrows have been around for over 3000 years? The Egyptians were the first to use Scarecrows along the Nile River to protect wheat fields from flocks of quail (see link to a great source The  History of Scarecrows). The Greeks, Romans and Japanese all had a form of scarecrows.  I think the scariest story of scarecorws was from medieval Britain who use living Scarecrows!!! 9-year old boys and older patrolled wheat fields carrying bags of stones to pelt the crows if they landed in the fields.  

I hope you find my interpretation a lot friendlier!

To get started I needed to make an armature, now forgive me here because I was doing it all in a rush and didn't remember photographs until it was made ready to StoneArt.  I will try to explain...  

First I used a wooden base and some 2mm aluminium wire.  I pulled off around about a meter and starting from the centre I made a circle for the head by wrapping the wire around a jam jar. I extended out each side to made shoulders and arms and then wrapped the tail of each around the pole on the wooden stand.  

Once this was done I used masking tape to secure it in place and padded out the body, arms and head with a lot of cheap kitchen foil.  I then masked the whole thing with masking tape.

I then made up a quantity of StoneArt Clay - around 150ml of Ivory Powertex - once this was made I painted Powertex onto the masking tape to give the StoneArt clay something to key onto and then added pieces of clay that I had flatted between my fingers.  Once it was covered I used the end of a paintbrush to mark out eyes, mouth and nostrils.  I then painted a thin layer of Powertex over the clay and gently rubbed in more dry StoneArt Powder.  I left this quite rough as I wanted a rough weather work finish. I then set aside to dry.

Now it was time to dress the Scarecrow.  I used Transparent Powertex which I worked into some ivory paperdec to cover the the arms and head to give the impression of being stuffed with straw.   Next I used two similar sized pieces of natural paperdec and worked transparent Powertex in. Tip: it uses a lot more than you think but once dried it is clear and hard.  I draped them over the shoulders and about two thirds of the way down on both front and back.

I used additional pieces to cover the wooden pole and base to give the effect of a tree trunk.  I also covered a little mdf mouse that was left over from another Powertex MDF kit. Finally I added some more ivory paperdec to make a scarf.  I then left it to fully dry, it took about 3 days!

Now to add colour! I could fill the whole blog with the very many colours and layers I added. However I wont but I will say that i started with Powercolor ultramarine blue and a tiny spec of black pigment mixed with Easy Varnish.  to colour the blanket coat.  I used dark green for the base, orange and red for the scarf.  For the straw, I used yellow and red ochre in varying degrees and used red ochre on the mouse.  I then built more layers of colours to get a well weathered look on his coat using Colortricx in pearl and copper.  I coloured the tree trunk with Secret Artloft Pigment in Golden Olive.

I then made up a small quantity of StoneArt Clay using Bronze Powertex Fabric hardener. I used a golf ball sized ball of the clay and pressed onto the top of the Scarecrows head

 I rolled this with a craft rolling pin and shaped into a circle and draped over a yogurt pot to shape

Then I layed it over the powertex ball on the head and finished the shaping.  I also pressed a little butterfly into the hat that was left over from some other project.

I added two mdf ravens which i painted with Powercolor Black mixed with Easy Varnish. Once they were dry I used Secret Art Loft Pigments in Interference Lilac to add some shimmer and Tequila Sunrise to colour the beak. I stuck these on using some matte gel for speed and added some tiny rhinestones for the eyes on the mouse and ravens.

Hope you like my rather friendly but scruffy weathered Scarecrow! 

Have a fabulous autumn and don't forget to share your makes with us over in The Powertex Studio and Powertex Addicts United.

Bister Mister Spray Tray

A crafter can never have too much storage and what is nicer than decorating your own?  I'm making quite a few bits at the moment in an effort to make my tiny weeny art space more colourful and more organised.  My latest piece is done with Powertex.

I made the kit up and then coated all over with Ivory Powertex.  I then added a texture paste, made up from Powetex and 3D flex. I roughly spread it over the two ends and in patches on the top of the storage caddy.  
On the longer sides I used Easy Structure to push through two of the artist quote stencils.  I then sprayed with blue bister and left to dry.
I also stencilled one side of the carry handle and on the other I roughly spread some of the 3D flex texture paste and pressed a plaster piece into it.
Once dry I washed back removing the surface bister and leaving a nicely stained base.  The bister had encouraged some great crackles on the ends and some nice fine ones on the top.
Next I used Acrylic inks from The Secret Art Loft to build up layers of colour and to bring out the crackles.

I used Aqua, Viola, Palm and Deep Sea which I applied randomly with a brush, wiping back with a wet wipe. This enabled me to build a colourful piece with a nice splodgy arty vibe.


Over the handle I added the colours and let them drip down, this gave a nice deep colour in the corners where the handle met the top of the tray.

Finally I mixed up some Bronze Colortricx with some Easy varnish and dry brushed the art quotes.

I also used some Secret Art Loft Blueberry Pie acrylic paint and dry brushed over the rough textures to add further depth.  

That's all for now

Fi xx

Frame it with Love

We have some really great challenges on the Powertex Design Team and here's another back to basics one from me using the May Wedding Theme Project Kit.  I have to say I love the challenge of working with minimum materials and as you will find out, this one really did challenge me!

As I always do, first I unpack the kit and play around until I get a good idea of what I want my finished piece to be.  I'm clearly heavily into the beautiful bluebells at the moment, well it is spring at last in the UK and our woodlands and hedgerows are full of them.

This is the layout I came up with originally and I used every part of the kit.  

As you can see from the finished piece I did make a few composition changes and as I hinted at, there was a stage when it didn't appeal to me...read on!


I started with the back.  Using Ivory Powertex I joined the three spacers and the back of the aperture.  I also gave a nice coating of Powertex over the entire back.

I also added on the hanging pieces. Now unlike me, think about this before you add them!  There is a spacer bar that you snap off the bottom of the hanger, this means you can completely hide the hanger, which I didn't do.  My excuse was it was the hottest May Bank Holiday for 50 years!!!
Once it was on, there was no getting it off so it is what it is!  Leave it to dry before turning your attention to the front.

 I used the textured paper to form the background of my composition, I also added a very small length of leftover lace from my stash to create a bit of interest in the heart aperture and also on the top right of the frame

I coated the base generously with Powertex, then added the various embelishments a layer at a time.  Each time coating them well with Powertex.


When everything was in place I checked all over adding Powertex where I felt it needed it.

This is how it looked once I finished this stage....

After leaving the piece overnight to dry (you can speed it up using a hairdryer) I started to colour using Powertex Easy Varnish with Ultramarine and White Powercolour from the Powercolor Pigment Tray. I built up the colours using the dry brushing technique until it looked like this....

....oh boy I hated it so much I was ready to bin it!!!!

But Stop! Wait! This is Powertex you can change it completely with a bit of patience!

So after gathering my composure, drinking a nice cuppa and cooling off , I got out the Ivory Powertex and took it right back to this stage

But now I had a better plan. So this time I used just Ivory Powertex and Powercolor Ultramarine Blue.  I carefully mixed a little Powertex into about half a tsp of Ultramarine pigment adding more Powertex until I had the colour I wanted.  Starting from the bottom I painted the Powertex mixture onto the bottom third of the frame, I then added more Ivory Powertex to the blue that was on my pallette and painted the middle section, I added more to the pallette and painted the top third.  

Now it looked like this and I was happy at last!

I walked away and left it to dry.  Later I added a further layer of blue pigment with Easy Coat Varnish to the bottom before adding a pop of Easy Varnish with Bronze Gold to highlight some of the top layer which added a nice bit of dimension.

Here is the finished piece

I hope you like it and if you ever get to the "I hate it" stage with your Powertex piece, you now have a bit of an idea of bringing out the otherside.

Happy 'texing!

Fi xx

Sweet Beautiful Music

Hi there, as I write this blog we are having the most glorious weather for the first May Bank holiday in the UK and it is fabulous!  I'm listening to the Peaceful Guitar play list on Spotify and there's a lovely breeze wafting through the house....mmmmm... to top it all I love this guitar project pack! 

Powertex has taken this one right back to basics to show how you can create some really super projects by using just the magic of Powertex, a nicely constructed kit and the basic pigment kit.

So first I joined the 2 main pieces together with Bronze Powertex and added the hanging bracket as show in the two images below.



One the back was dry I used the textured paper to cover the front of the guitar, again using Bronze Powertex - there's no need to use any other mediums as the magic of Powertex covers so many uses.


You can see how I made two pieces to cover the body if the Guitar.  I also laid out the main design of my piece.  The only parts of the kit I didn't use were the two paper flowers. I used more of the Bronze Powertex to stick the embellishments in place, the only thing I added was some jute string. Once everything was in place I left it to dry overnight.

Next I used PowerColor Pigments and Easy Varnish  to build an Ombre shading moving through from Yellow Ochre to Red Ochre.  I repeated this shading several times until I got the effect I was after.

To build the colour and shading I also added in some Titanium white in the latter layers.

I coloured the embellishments as well.

Once I was happy with the main colour I mixed up some silver Colortrix and cloured the strings.

I then added Burgundy PowerColor to the heart/flower embelishment and finally added some Rich Gold Colortrix to the centre of the two main embellishments and a faint brushing over the textured paper.

Below are some close ups to help you see the effects.

Hope you enjoy the Powertex Design Teams take on this project and we inspire you to have a go yourself.  Don't forget to share your makes in the Powertex Studio on Facebook.

Happy Crafting 

Fi

Mad Mad Hatter by Fi Potter

Just a quick blog today to share my Mad Mad Hatter project with you.  This is the second of the pieces I created for Tracey's Hochanda show on 30th March.

We had a very colourful kit to choose from which is just perfect for these Alice Theme project kits.

As always, I played with some layout ideas before I for the Powertex out. First I used some Easy Coat Matte to attach the Queen of hearts rice paper on the hat base and on one of the mdf card blanks. 

I then coated everything in black Powertex.  I then made up some stone art clay for the band and added some lace at the top and bottom of the band. I also added stone art clay to the top hat for depth and texture. 

Next I coated and placed the embellishments.

  

Once everything was totally dry I got the Secret Art Loft acrylics out and added several layers of colour.  Next I used a variety of The Secret Art Loft and Powercolor pigments mixed with easy varnish to really make the embellishments pop.  Below are some close ups of some of them.

Here's the finished piece. 

Hope Tracey and the Design Team have inspired you to have fun with your project kits.

Look forward to seeing your pieces in the Powertex Studio Group.

By for now

Fi