Showing posts with label gothic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gothic. Show all posts

Monday, 22 October 2018

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


Tuesday, 3 October 2017

Hipsters and Lattes


Hipsters and Lattes

Autumn; a beautiful and retrospective time of year. I love winter best but that means I appreciate autumn all the more because we’re one step closer to the magic season. I don’t normally get excited about Halloween (too British, too boring, too old maybe?) but Powertex has worked it’s charms; who wouldn’t be excited when faced with the dreamy new gothic goodies on the Powertex website?!

So I momentarily forgot my stuffy Englishness and threw myself into the autumn vibe. Hello October

A trendy friend came to visit and we were heading out for a walk around the lake. The autumn sun was shining, massive sunglasses were on and I pictured us clutching a cup of something hot and delicious strolling through the red and gold leaves. 

“Lets go to Starbucks!” I suggested, determined to try a Pumpkin Spiced Latte (I’ve seen them on Instagram, it’s what the cool people drink apparently). I honestly don’t know what possessed me. I am not adventurous with food, (ditto drinks). I like a cappuccino or if I’m feeling really wild, a mocha with cream. Trendy Friend ordered a ‘flat-white’ (seriously) and I nonchalantly ordered a Pumpkin Spiced Latte, as if I, unfashionable and rural as I am, always order such exotic drinks (of course I added a bacon roll too).  

Let me tell you it was singularly the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted (aside from Pernod, and no-one wants to know how that story ended). Of course, I couldn’t throw it away, I’d look like a provincial nerd. I wanted to continue with my vision (which was already slightly marred by the bacon roll), so I bravely finished the lot. 

For the next 24 hours, that Pumpkin Spiced Latte reminded me I had drunk it; everything else I ate that day was laced with Pumpkin Spice (not as pretty as it sounds) and I had to admit to myself that I am not a hipster. Never mind, I need reminders every now and again that my vision does not always equal my reality, especially when it comes to all things hipster. But there’s always Powertex to comfort myself with! 

                        The Vision                                                                     



The Reality!