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

Time flies by Annette

Hello Everyone

I hope you've kept yourselves safe in the recent bad weather and have used the time to get an extra bit of Powertex play in.

This month I've used the new Powertex UK Pocket Watch Project Pack to create a birthday card with a difference.  I've made it for Granny Smyth at the age of 75 but you could create this for any age and just move the hands to different positions and use different numbers.

I hope you have fun and remember to post your makes on the Powertex Addicts United Facebook page, you know we love to see what you create.

To complete my piece, I used the kit along with texture paper, Rusty Powder , Yellow Bister, Easy Varnish and pigments.  I mixed my bisters with a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water to make the colours pop.






Start by laying out the pieces to see which ones you want to use.  The photograph is a laser copy cut to size.










Take a piece of textured paper and draw around the inner circle, cut this out and place to one side






Now coat the front of the base of the watch with Ivory Powertex and stick the texture paper to the centre. Attach the front of the watch to the back (you may need to add a little more tex around the edge then coat the front with the Ivory Powertex also.





Now spray with the blue and yellow bister mixes
and dry with a hairdryer.







When dry turn it over onto a clean work surface and coat the back with Ivory Powertex, I then used and old credit card to add texture by lying it flat on the surface and lifting it up (bit like making your snow peaks in royal icing).  Spray with the blue and yellow bisters and dry with a hairdryer.  By raising the base from the table whilst doing this step, it will help to stop any stray colours from seeping onto the front.

When dry use a slightly damp sponge to remove the excess colour from the watch.







I choose to colour my embellishments separately.  Coat them all with a layer of Powertex Ivory.

Randomly add extra Ivory then drop on some Rusty Powder and spray with the bister mixes, leave to dry on one side.





You can keep spraying these with pure white vinegar to get the rust to develop further.




These pictures show the cogs,  I repeated the same process for the other embellishments (except the heart) varying the amount of rust and colour I added.






For the heart, I painted a layer of Easy Varnish over the front of the photograph, by holding the paper taut whilst it dries it doesn't wrinkle,  once dry repeat on the rear.  Now using the heart as a template cut out the photograph and using the Easy Varnish attach it to the heart and coat with several layers of varnish to seal it.

Place a small amount of Ivory Powertex into a pot, sprinkle on the
Rusty Powder then spray with the bister mix.  Now stir








Using a paint brush apply this around the photograph then sprinkle on more Rusty Powder and spray with the bister mixes.  As you can see the bister will wipe away from the photograph as you have previously sealed it with the varnish.  Again spraying with more vinegar as it dries will encourage the rust to form.




Now add all the embellishments to the base using Powertex, make sure you clean up any excess as you go,  I used some of the spare pieces in the kit to support the heart in the centre.

When it was all dry, I used a combination of Bronze Gold, Copper and Silver pigments to add a little sparkle.

I hope you have great fun creating your own Pocket Watch and until next time Happy Creative Adventures

Axx