Stolen days and Powertex acrylic inks

Hello Everyone

The other day I bounced out of bed ready for a morning of clearing leaves off the deck before it got so slippy that I ended up doing my Dancing (!) on Ice impression( other shows are available)!!

I came downstairs to this

Mmmm well that put paid to that idea so I found myself with rare thing......time.....that unexpected time that you get when your plans can’t be fulfilled, that time that feels like its been stolen as you shouldn’t really have it,  that magical time.......what would I do with it.

For a while I have wanted to play more with the range of acrylic inks brought to Powertex UK by the Secret Art Loft.  Now was the time...

I decided to narrow down my choices and stayed in the cool side of the shades and only allowed myself to use inks to bring in the colour.

I opted for Palm, Aqua, Viola and Deep Sea from the translucent range and metallic Viola.

The inks are so beautifully vibrant that the photos really don’t do them justice.

For my base I chose items from the Powertex UK MDF fairy door range






The inks work beautifully with all of the Powertex product range.  As these are very liquid I used a dropper to add small amounts to my base products allowing me to have more control over the colour and consistency.

I based the door with a coating of Powertex Ivory then added Stone Art clay, made with Powertex Ivory.  I used a rubber stamp to imprint an impression into the clay and whilst it was still wet, I used a damp paintbrush to blend the inks onto the surface,  I let this dry and then reapplied more inks to intensify the colours.

For the mushrooms I applied Powertex Transparent onto the MDF then dropped the inks from the dropper onto the wet powertex, as these were drying I added more layers of ink to get the intense glossy effect.


















With the door and window I applied a layer of Powertex Ivory then randomly scattered a selection of the 3D small and medium balls.  I decanted some of the inks into bottles and sprayed them on.

Finally for the lock I used Powertex Transparent as the base before applying the balls and ink.












I finished off my project by dry brushing with the Viola Metallic ink to give a slight sparkle.  Unfortunately the camera hasn't picked that up too well.

Now my fairy door is complete I can open it up and escape through into a lovely sunny Spring day.....oh well I can but dream.

What wonderful places will your door lead to?   Don't forget to post your makes on our Facebook page - Powertex Addicts United.  And don't forget to try the inks with all of the other Powertex Products for even more exciting results.

Until next time.......

Happy Creative Adventuring.

Axx

Pixie's Powertex Palace

Pixie's Powertex Palace by Abigail Lagden

I absolutely love all things magical, so I was ridiculously excited when my fairy house project pack arrived and couldn't wait to get started. Here's what's included:

First, I laid out a rough design so see where all the bits looked best whilst I had a little think about texture. I like my pieces to have loads of texture and depth and I don't like to leave any flat surfaces plain if I can help it.

I wanted to give my little house a natural feel, like it had grown from a woodland. So for the texture for the roof and toadstools I went for a rummage through my pieces of embossed wallpaper. I drew around the MDF pieces on the wallpaper to cut out the perfect size and shape.

The paper decoration included in the kit gives a lovely natural stringy texture, so a piece of this was perfect to cover the base of the house.

Once I had all my bits prepared, it was time to get house building...

I painted the top surface of the house base with black Powertex and the bottom part of the back of the roof, and attached the two pieces together (Powertex is one of the best glues I have come across!!). I wanted my fairies to have a shorter, more squat house so I attached the roof quite low down leaving a bit of the base part poking up out of the edge of the roof - not a problem as I had an idea to disguise it.

I then painted the front of the roof with black Powertex and whilst wet, placed the pre-cut piece of wallpaper onto it and painted it over with the Powertex. I did the same with the toadstools using some different wallpapers.

To cover the base of the house I worked black Powertex into a piece of natural paper decoration and gently stretched it out to produce a stringy sheet which would give texture across the wall.

On the MDF door, I used the stencil from the kit and Powertex Easy Structure to add the word 'dream'. (This is after all going to be the dream house.) 

Once dry this was painted over and attached to the house using Powertex along with the toadstools.

Now it was time to add all the windows, lace and embellishments. As well as the embellishments included in the kit I also added a moulded fairy door and a few buttons and hessian covered hearts from my hoards. To cover up the sticking up corner of the base, I added a hessian chimney - fairies love an open fire you know.

Whilst I wanted my house to have a natural feel, I couldn't resist a magical rainbow roof using a mixture of powercolor pigments and varnish. Once coloured, I felt it needed a little bit more magic so I used the interference powders in the kit to give it some iridescent highlights. 

These powders are truly magical and can appear quite different depending on the base colour - so have fun experimenting.

Can you spot which extra embellishments I snuck on before adding colour?

It's always tricky to know when to stop!!

If you like this project, you can have a look at what else I've been up to on my Facebook page and my website.

Until next time, Abs x