Sassy Seahorse's day at the beach

Hello there

Welcome to my Sassy Seahorse project, getting her ready for her day at the beach.

For this project I used the Seahorse project pack available at Kirsties handmade fair at Ragley Hall with Black Powertex and a child's old skirt.

Don't forget to cover your work surface with plastic, wear an apron and gloves. 

Start off by joining the two halves of the seahorse together with the rectangle of mdf and at the same time add the hanger.  Use a layer of any Powertex to do this. Allow this to dry.

Place a layer of Powertex onto the front of the seahorse and place the wallpaper directly onto this.  Don't worry if you have to piece isn't big enough to cover in one go, piece it together as once it is all coated in Powertex it will not be noticeable.

Once dry cut around the shape and then coat the wallpaper with a layer of Powertex.

Now take your chosen fabric and dip it into the Powertex, I pour mine into an old plastic container a little at a time.  Dip your fabric and work the Powertex through it making sure it is completely covered but not dripping.

Then place it onto the seahorse wherever you decided,

I used the pretty edging as a bikini skirt and the ties from the waist as the bikini top.  Any fabric buttons or metal ties can also be used to add more interest to your design.

        

Next I took the mdf embellishments and coated them in Powertex

I layered up the two heart bursts with one of the flowers to make an eye.

The paper flowers became her headdress.

Three fabric buttons from the skirt had mdf flowers placed on top of them to make her necklace

The final flower became her belly tattoo.

Now set aside to dry, if you can't wait you can always use a hairdryer to speed up the process.  I used my gloves to prop up the skirt so that it dried in a wave shape.  Powertex doesn't stick to plastic so its great to use to help form shapes as you simply pull it out once the piece has dried

Finally, I used the easy varnish along with turquoise, burgundy, white and rich gold to dry brush the colour into the piece.

To dry brush, place a 5p sized amount of varnish onto your plastic work surface,  dip your brush into the varnish then straight into the pigment (work from the pot as the varnish does not contaminate it).  Now mix to a thick paste on a clean area of your work surface.  Take a piece of kitchen roll and wipe off the excess colour, then holding the brush flat to your work brush across the raise areas.

To add a more opaque covering hold the brush loosely at the end and dust across the area.  The more times you go across the deeper the colour will be.  

Don't be afraid to mix your pigments together to create different shades and effects, the combinations are limitless.

If you want to place this outside, make sure that you coat the back and sides with Powertex to complete seal the mdf then allow it to dry in the house for three weeks.

Well Sassy is ready for her day at the beach and she hopes your sea horses will be along to join her.  Don't forget to post your makes on the Powertex Studio Facebook page, we love to see what you create.

Until next time Happy Creative Adventures

Annette

Simple but effective

Hello, one and all. Me again, this time sharing with you a couple of easy, fun and elegant projects.

The first piece I want to share with you is the seahorse project pack.

Please excuse my  Powertex covered workspace.

( I really need to clean this )

I opened the pack and looked at all the yummy stash in the pack.

Keeping this project simple was the key and I only used some cardboard and a piece of lace, which was from an old top from my Daughter.

I firstly glued to the two pieces of seahorse together with ivory Powertex both sides and dried it using my faithful old hairdryer.

I then soaked a piece of lace in the ivory Powertex and laid it down on my seahorse and again dried it with my hairdryer, to speed up the process, as I was eager to move on.

I found some different lace and thought it would make a good fin shape. I also added the same lace to the top part of the seahorse, after adding some cardboard, as this was my original thought process but decided that the lace effect looked way better.

Now for the best part, the colour transformation. I chose my  POWERCOLOUR and my general idea was to try an do an "ombre" effect but as you will see, sometimes the Powertex has other ideas!

BUT that is the beauty of this product, you can paint it whatever colour you like and if you get bored of it or it does not go with your colour scheme, then you can just change it! 

(I really, really, must clean my workspace) 

I added the yummy bits from the project pack and again glued with Powertex and decided to highlight in the RICH GOLD pigment and also WHITE the two colours of which I do love to highlight.

I titivated a bit more with pigments and varnish until I was happy with how she looked.

So here she is, all done and using just the project pack and a little bit of lace.

I think she turned out rather well myself.

Oh, and I added a small black bead on the eye area. A brilliant project if you are new to Powertex and not much other materials used to create this (I think ) beautiful Seahorse.

Thank you for reading and I hope I have inspired you to get some Powertex and give it a whirl, you won't be disappointed.

Till next time 

Jinny 

POWERTEX.CO.UK

'Always' Powertex seahorse

I think that there is something to be said for Seahorses they really have got it right! They mate for life and the males have the babies. Sounds good to me! So if you hadn't of guessed it already my blog this month is a little bit valentines.

I asked on my Facebook page what everyone thought about valentines and the resounding answer was that we should love each other through the year and not just on one day. I agree and for the most part the other half and myself generally forget to celebrate on the day. We don't make a massive fuss over it cause we have every other day of the year to show one another we love each other. A very important thing when you have been together for 13 years! 

I was going to do a journal but being as I have a few of these guys sitting in my craft stash I couldn't resist. And it was a perfect fit for my theme. This seahorse mdf shape is still available on the Powertex UK website. So if you wanted to make a little valentines creation for your loved one you can! 

You get a small square back plate to hold the pieces together as they arrive in two sections. I started by coating the back of the seahorse making sure it was dry before covering the front. 

 I love the mdf shapes I tend to throw every piece of detail and texture I can at a piece I work on. I also like to cut the shapes, I have a pair of jewelry pliers which cut through. If it's a thicker piece of mdf I tend to use my little craft saw. I lined the mdf heart flower up on the seahorses belly and drew lines as a guide for cutting.

 TOP TIP: Have an idea of where to place your pieces before getting messy. Take a photo to aid your memory, or lay the pieces next to your design as a rough guide.

 The left over hearts I cut from the mdf shape were placed on the tail and fin of the seahorse.

 I used some of the mdf letters on the mane, a daisy I had premade from the daisy mould, some old buttons from my nans button tin. Everyone has got a button tin right? and some of the drop outs which are my absolute favourites. 

 I decided I wanted some extra texture underneath all the embellishments so cut wallpaper and dishcloth to size to fit the shape of the seahorse. For the head and neck I used a palette knife and liberally coated in easy structure, make sure this is thoroughly dry before covering in powertex. It will hold embellishments in place should you wish to stick them on before it dries. 

 Then I place all the embellishments on and coated everything in bronze powertex.

So I was going to reach for my go to turquoise. But as I have already created a seahorse in this colour, I felt it would be fun to do burgundy and lilac powercolour with a hint of the new pearl pigments mixed into the varnish.

 I loved the colour of the button on the eye, so left it uncoated and stuck it, and the flatback gems and pearls I had in my stash with some transparent powertex.

 Hope you have been inspired this little project. Toodles Anna xXx

From Skye to Sea

From Skye to Sea by Abigail Lagden

I'm so excited to be part of the 2018 Powertex Design Team and for my first blog I wanted to share with you a place that is very special to me - the Isle of Skye.

It is a place of awe-inspiring beauty and diverse geology, from the looming Cuillin mountain range, across the bleak peat bogs, to the rugged cliffs and the many and varied beaches. The weather can be wild and changeable, but that is just another part of the beauty and inspiration of the place.

Glenbrittle Beach (that's me lurking on the right with my lurcher, Benson)

On every visit, my other half (Tom) and I spend many a day exploring the outdoors, particularly the coastline. As a photographer, Tom is captivated by the light on the waters and takes stunning and emotive landscape pictures. I, on the other hand, mooch around, head down looking for treasures. 'Treasures' are what I call the things I collect from beaches and they can be anything from shells to stones to driftwood to glass.

Me, collecting treasures!!
(Excuse the attire - it's cold in December)

Our last visit was just before Christmas and as usual I collected some treasures whilst out and about, so I thought I would incorporate a few of them into a sea-themed plaque. This is just one of the things I love about Powertex - how you can repurpose, recycle and reuse so many things to create something unique and beautiful.

The shells and grass roots were collected from Glenbrittle beach (above) and the coral pieces were collected from coral beach at Claigan (below). 

Coral Beach, Claigan - the yellow beach is made up of little bits of coral as shown in the insert

But enough of the beauties of Skye, let's talk about my little project. The base ingredients for my Skye to Sea Plaque design were:

• Powertex MDF journal cover (A5)
• Powertex Easy Structure
• Bronze Powertex Universal Medium
• Powertex White Paper Decoration
• Small Powertex MDF seahorse (from set of 3)
• Powertex 3D sand and small balls
• Shells, coral and grass roots collected from the beaches on Skye (all washed and thoroughly dried)

I often use the journal covers to produce hanging plaques, and just cover four of the holes to leave two to hang it with. Although of course this design would also have made a gorgeous cover for a journal.

I am obsessed with texture and don't like any plain, flat surfaces in my creations, so first I used structure paste to create some coral-like patterns on the MDF cover, before painting it all with bronze Powertex. 

Rough layout of design (unsurprisingly in changed)

Next I laid out a rough arrangement of the bits and pieces I wanted to include - it is a good idea to do this at the start even if the layout changes as you progress through your projects.

Hollow shapes like shells can be tricky to attach securely to a project, so I like to mix a bit of 3D sand into some of the Powertex to produce a thicker paste which will hold them firmly in place. In this project I spread some of this paste over the areas where I wanted to place the shells and the coral. The shells were then filled with the paste before being positioned and the coral was just sprinkled directly onto the paste. To fill the gaps between the coral and the shells I sprinkled some small 3D balls over the area.

I added some pattern and texture to the seahorse using structure paste before attaching to the plaque and painting everything with a coat of bronze Powertex.

Left to dry before bringing to life with colour!

I coated the grass roots with Powertex and added them to make a sea plant. The texture was fantastic and I really wish I had picked up more of this stuff - I know what I'll be looking for next time I'm at a beach - although care had to be taken when colouring as it was still rather fragile.

Then finally I used pieces of white Paper Decoration coated with Powertex to make some stringy seaweed around the sides.

Now time for some colour!

To produce a lovely blue-green multi-tonal sea colour I mixed blue, green, turquoise and white powercolors with easy varnish, in different quantities to get different shades and tones. This was applied using a dry brushing technique, layering the different colours gradually to blend the tones. Once I was happy with the result I couldn't resist adding some shimmer so I used terragreen as well as the amazing new interference powders (blue, red and lilac) to give the scene some iridescence.

Then just a piece of t-shirt yarn tied through the holes for hanging and there you have my Skye to Sea Plaque.

From Skye to Sea by Abigail Lagden

I hope you have enjoyed my first Design Team blog, I know I have. 
You can see more of what I am up to on my Curiously Contrary website and Facebook Page.

Until next time, Abs x

OH SO PRETTY POWERTEX SEAHORSE

So what did you think of the fabulous PowertexUK launch shows on HOCHANDA last night with our fabulous Ma Tex herself, Tracey Evans and my hugely talented Powertex DT teamy, Anna Amelia Howlett of Rosehart Studio?  What fabulous products they have bought us and oh my... their projects!!!!!

I love all the hustle and bustle that preparation for live shows bring with them and I have been very blessed to have been able to play with some of the gorgeous products they have bought you to create this rather pretty Seahorse and in a later blog today there is a perfectly pink Jelly Fish.

Before I started I spread out the embellishments and textiles on my workbench and came up with a rough idea of placement.  I chose to work mainly with the floral elements for my seahorse so that I could get two very different looks.

So to get started, I brushed some Ivory Powertex along the seam of the two main pieces and then brushed more Powertex onto the back of the square mdf piece and pressed this down over the join.  This gives great stability and you can also use this area to put the hanging loop on.

I then spread Ivory Powertex over the entire back and dried off with a hair dryer. I then turned it over and spread Powertex over the front and edges.

Next I started to put the embellishments into place having first coated with Powertex.  I tend to drop them into the Powertex and then rub with my hand.  This ensures that the Powertex gets into all the nooks and crannies and means we will get a superb bond ...you know the kind that Powertex is famous for!

I began at the head of the Seahorse, I used one of the circles that I snapped in half and placed in the nose area to accentuate the smile that I always think of when I look at Seahorse.

I also left some clear unembellished areas so that I could work with the Black Bister later.

I gradually moved down the body of the Seahorse adding some lace to the outer curve accentuating the spine and then some of the RicRac braid on the inner curve.

I pressed some flat and left some proud of the base as this will give extra texture and dimension.  I also left some overhanging the edge, again to add dimension.

I continued to build up the texture using the embellishments and under some of the metal pieces I rubbed some Powertex into some kitchen paper and scrunched up to raise them further and also to aid the bonding with the metal and Powertex.

Once I had added all my embellishments I added some more Powertex to the areas I had left empty.

I then sprayed liberally with the black bister and then used a hairdryer to dry off some of the bister and create a bit more textural interest with a bister split.

I then left the piece to dry overnight.

Day 2...let's get colourful and bring out the character using the various pigments that are in the pigment tray as well as the Easy Varnish.

As with the embellishments I made two colour palettes from the pigments in the kit so that the looks were very different. 

I used the Turquoise and green first and then moved on to burgundy and lilac.    

I don't add all the same colours over everything, I tend to pick out areas but allow some overlap so there is little or no evidence of a join.    

I carried on with the colours over the entire piece.




Once the main piece was coloured I decided to add a pop of colour.


So using the orange I hightlight just a few of the flower centres and the wings on butterflies.


Finally I used silver to add a bit of lustre to what I think is a rather pretty Seahorse!

Below are some close ups to show you how I created the detail, highlights and shadows.

I hope you like her and enjoy using your Powertex One Day Special and create a fabulous Seahorse of your own.

Please share your makes with us over on our facebook page Powertex Addicts United.

Keep watching Tracey and Anna on HOCHANDA and pop back later today and there will be another step project for you to follow using more of today's fabulous POWERTEX products.

Bye for now

Fi xx