Memories are special moments that tell our story

This month the Design team has been given free rein to create a piece of keepsake art. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to take some bits and pieces rescued from my nans button box and various pots of broken bits she has kept over the years and not thrown away from her house. Last year we had to clear out my nans house because she has dementia and could no longer look after herself, so had to move her closer to us. I think she had kept everything she had ever owned. There were so many memories in bin bags in the loft. We saved some things but we couldn't possibly save them all. Lots of memories came flooding back when we entered the sewing cupboard of summers spent in Devon at my nans sewing and creating book marks. Raiding the button tin mostly just to look at the wonderful assortment rather than use any of them. 

I had prepared the base of a blank canvas a while ago with White Powertex and Easy 3D Flex. I then sprayed black bister into the cracks to make them more prominent.

 I took an assortment of elements  I had taken from my nans house. I kind of thought that they deserved to be used somehow after all she had spent her whole life keeping all these little bits and pieces. Old keys, broken watch straps, buckles, buttons, brooches, broken christmas decorations. 

 I found some textiles that would compliment the layout, lace, power cotton and some netting. And created a composition. 

 Now was the time to stick everything into place and coat with Powertex.

 I then resprayed with black bister just to some extra depth in the colour. 

 I then took the new Secret Art Loft acrylics and painted up the left side of the canvas in Plum pudding and right side in Mint Jelly. Adding some highlights with white Powertex.

 To finish off the piece I decided to use some of the Powerwax with the Limoncello Gold pigment powder from the Secret Art Loft. 

Then I hand stamped a bit of card with some alphabet letters and black ink to form the word memories. So here it is a modern take on a lot of well kept old bits and pieces from my nans, and every time I look at it I will be reminded of her. Not sure she would quiet understand what its all about mind you. Toodles Anna xXx

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

Alice in Wonderland Clock created (by Anne)

I have had so much fun joining the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party with Powertex UK. I love fantasy themes and wanted to make a working clock full of bright fun colours and sparkle. Hope that you like my Alice Clock. It certainly fills me with cheer and makes me smile.

I had an old heart shaped MDF working clock that really needed a revamp. I combined it with the Pocket Watch Kit to create my crazy clock. The kit contains a stand, solid back and frame to make up a 3D pocket watch. Also included are lots of smaller embellishments for decoration – great kit.

The stand was put together using Black Powertex to coat and glue everything together.

The open watch frame was coated with Black Powertex.

The back and outer rim of the solid pocket watch shape were also coated with Black Powertex. The central area was painted with Ivory Powertex ready for adding images. When dry, pocket watch images from a decorative Rice Paper were applied using Easy Coat Mat decoupage medium. The sheet I used does not appear to be in stock at the moment but the Victorian Steampunk sheet is similar. The surface was spritzed with a little Green Bister to knock back the harshness of the Ivory colour. 

I coated my recycled MDF clock with Ivory Powertex on the front, Black on the back. Again Easy Coat was used to add Rice Paper images. You can still see the original painted numbers on my old clock face.

A layer of Crackle Accents (Ranger) was added onto the clock face images to give an aged crackle effect. When dry, more Green Bister was added to emphasise the crackle (the wet colour seeps into the cracks). Texture was then applied using Easy Structure Paste through the Wonderland Stencil. I dabbed over with a little black Powertex to cover some of the bright white colour. Easy Structure Paste was also used as a strong 3D glue to attach the watch to the stand.

Rice paper images were also applied to my recycled heart clock. Layers of kitchen paper were applied around the decoupaged images using ivory Powertex to give added texture. I also added Easy Structure Paste through the stencil to add hearts.

Several of the new Acrylic Inks and Paints were used to add colour to my project (Acrylic Inks in Egg Yolk, Tangerine, Golden Metallic, Viola Metallic and Aqua Metallic; Acrylic Paints in Raspberry Sorbet, Orange Marmalade and Key Lime). The inks are gorgeous fluid transparent colours ideal for painting over other colours or patterned papers. The medium bodied acrylic colours are semi-translucent and are great for heavier colour and layering. I LOVE them.

A piece of tree bark was treated with Transparent Powertex. I have had this piece in my stash for years (so it was fully dried out) just waiting for a suitable project to use it on.

The pocket watch frame was glued in place with Transparent Powertex ensuring that it was well centred. Easy Structure paste was used to glue 3D elements onto the base stand. Bronze Powertex was used to cover and colour the Easy Structure Paste where needed. At this stage I checked that the clock hands would be able to move freely around the clock face (once it’s all glued and dry it’s well and truly glued!).

The small MDF heart (from my recycled clock) was treated with black Powertex. I added some 3D Sand and Balls into the wet Powertex for texture. When dry I coloured with Easy Varnish and Interference Lilac Pearl Pigment. Have you seen these new Pearl Pigment colours? WOWeeee!  I rubbed over a little Pebeo Gilding Wax (gold) to cover the edges and highlight the texture more.

Gilding Wax was also rubbed over the Pocket Watch tops and tree bark. A thick greyboard frame and rectangle was coated in Black Powertex to create a table. A piece of lace and scrap of knitted cotton was also coated in Black Powertex to fill in the base of the ‘tree’ and to create the table cloth. I started placing other MDF elements from the Pocket Watch Kit (but not glued down yet).

More colour was added with the Acrylic Paints. The metal clock hands were coated with Jade Patina (Ranger).

….. and yes my craft stash is encroaching inwards – tee hee.

I continued to build the scene, coating elements with Black or Ivory Powertex then colouring with Acrylic Paints before gluing down with Powertex.  

The MDF sentiments and Flamingoes were from the Alice Collection; the butterflies, dragonfly, numbers and spirals from the Pocket Watch Kit. The sentiment plaque was a greyboard piece from my stash. I added some 3D Sand and Balls to the Flamingo wings for extra texture.

A layer of Glossy Accents (Ranger) was applied over some of the painted elements and fine crystal glitter dropped into the wet surface for added bling and sparkle. The piece was then left overnight, propping it in a horizontal position.

I also added an MDF Heart Flower, Lion, cat and small bird from Mini Hieroglyphs, MDF flowers and leaves plus greyboard flowers (from my stash). The little signposts were made from recycled wooden canvas stretchers and black alcohol marker used to write.

Then I had fun with my dies. Each element was built up using 4 layers of either black or Kraft card and layers glued together with Powertex to make them thick and robust. Coffee Archival Ink (Ranger) was used to stamp the chairs (Sizzix). The cake stand, cupcakes, small cup & saucer, spoon & fork and teapot cut (Intricutz); the larger cup & saucer and top hat (Sheena Douglass); the chandelier (Crafters Companion) were built and glued in place with Easy Structure paste where needed to give added depth. More Glossy Accents and glitter were added over some of the elements.

Finally a little dry brushed colour was added over some of the textured surfaces using Easy Varnish and the Pigment colours (Iridescent Lilac, Violet Valentine, Rich Gold).

I will leave it for around three weeks for everything to fully cure, then finish with Easy Varnish to fully seal everything and give added protection to painted surfaces.

I’ve popped in some close ups for you. Ooooh sparkly flamingos.

I am always running late so this sentiment is perfect for my clock – tee hee.

You can see that crackle texture on the watch faces here.

Lots of layering and sparkle.

I absolutely love my new clock. I hope that you love it too, Anne xxx.

It's always time for tea

Hi there, did you see Tracey on Hochanda? Have you got your Alice themed projects yet?  

I had such a lot of fun creating this colourful piece.  I'm popping some photos below so you can see the steps I took to create it.

First I added rice paper using Easy Coat matte and did a loose layout

Next I covered everything in Ivory Powertex and sprayed with blue and red Bister,  and then left overnight to make sure it was thoroughly dry

I then washed back the bister to leave the nice soft blues and pinks 

Next I used Easy Structure and some stencils to create extra texture  once that was dry I used the gloriously bright Secret Art Loft pigments and inks as well as some Powercolor

Finally I drilled holes with a 2mm drill bit and threaded through some paper string to hang my tea shoppe sign with

Hope you like it and have loads of fun and hope we are inspiring you to create your own unique pieces

Bye for now

Fi

Cheshire Cat on the Mad Hatter's Hat

Hello there,

I had a great time with the Top Hat kit that I wanted to share with you how I created the Cheshire cat on the Hat that was shown on the Hochanda show with Tracey Evans.

Along with the kit I used the mdf Alice and Grin embellishments.

To start with I assembled the hat using the hat band on the back and front to secure it, then I prepped all of the embellishments so that they were ready to place in the fabric whilst it was still wet

I started by using clear domes to create the eyes.  Using Powercolor black pigment mixed with Easy Varnish I painted the iris onto the flat side of the dome, let that dry completely then cover the whole of flat side with the Key Lime paint repeat this several times to get the depth of colour but let it dry between layers. Set aside.

Using the beautifully bright acrylic paints coat the letters, grin and Alice.  Don't forget the sides. Set aside.

Take the mdf playing cards and using a craft knife carefully cut the shape from the top of the card and use this to fill in the gap in the centre.  Coat the card with a layer of Ivory Powertex, let it dry completely.  Using a wet paintbrush draw around the image on the rice paper and gently pull away the areas not needed.

Coat the mdf playing card with varnish then lay the rice paper image on  top,  using more varnish go over the top of the image and sides of the card pressing gently to adhere.

When dry coat the edge of the card with Powertex Black.

 For the ears, mix up Powertex Black and Stone Art into a clay (when it no longer sticks to your hands its ready).  Shape two ears and set aside to dry.  Make sure you have a flat area that will sit nicely on the hat.

Whilst everything was drying I laid out the stripes on my cat, here is is shown using tin foil however as I had extra Stone Art clay I used that to make the stripes.





For the tail, I removed the quill part of the feather and used the Stone Art to depict the stripes.

Once I had them in position I painted the whole of the hat and tail in Black Powertex.


Using gauze and Black Powertex I then covered these making sure you press around the raised areas to get definition for the stripes.  Place the eyes and use a small piece of gauze to create eyelids.

Whilst this is wet place your letters, ears ( you may need to add additional Powertex to the flat part to ensure a good bond), Alice, Grin, Playing cards and the tail.  Use additional gauze to build underneath any embellishments that need more support.  Let dry

I then dry brushed the stripes and ears with a combination of the Blueberry Pie paint, Raspberry Sorbet paint and white pigment to get the shading.

I hope you have as much fun with the kit as I did and don't forget to post your makes on our Powertex Studio Facebook page.

Happy Creative Adventures

Axx