A Powertex Masquerade Ball by Abigail Lagden

A Powertex Masquerade Ball

by Abigail Lagden

Well, as someone who loves an mdf embellishment or two, thismonth's project pack had me drooling over the number of lovely pieces included. Just look at all these flourishes, florals, feathers and fans:

Add in Easy 3D Flex and this is almost my ideal kit!

As this kit contains so much to play with I was easily able to make two projects and had a few bits left over at the end. This blog will describe how I made the Mask on a Canvas project.

Project 1 - Mask on Canvas

Products used in the final version of this project:

• Elements from the masquerade mask kit
• 40cm x 30cm canvas
• Easy 3D Flex
• Ivory Powertex
• 3D Sand & Balls (small)
• Brown bister
• Venice rice paper
• Easy Coat Mat
• Secret Art Loft acrylic inks - violet, egg yolk and aqua
• White powercolor pigment & Easy varnish

I wanted my mask to sit on a canvas and decided the beautiful cracked effect of the Easy 3D Flex would make a lovely textured background. So I painted the canvas with a coat of black Powertex first to make the cracks look darker - although this isn't necessary.

I then mixed Ivory Powertex with Easy 3D Flex to form a fairly thick paste and spread it around the areas of the canvas that would show around the mask. I varied the thickness of the paste to give different texture and depth of cracks across the canvas. 

Brown bister was then sprayed over the canvas and it was left overnight to dry and start cracking.

I used Easy Coat Matt to stick some of the Venice rice paper onto the full face mask. This was positioned to show through underneath the half face mask. Some lace was then coated with ivory Powertex and ruffled up along the side of the base mask.

For the half face mask, I cut a piece of swirly wallpaper to fit over the whole surface. Ivory Powertex was used to attach the paper onto the mask and to coat the top surface of the paper.

I changed my mind a few times throughout this project. Initially I painted the feathers with different colours of Powertex and used bister and a hairdryer to create a crackled look. I also painted the flourishes and florals with red & blue Powertex. Here are the feathers.

However, when I came to put it all together I felt it looked a bit disjointed so I painted all of these bits over with ivory Powertex and I also sprinkled 3D sand and 3D small balls onto the florals and flourishes while they were wet. I love that the texture of the bister crackles is still visible on the feathers.

All of the florals and flourishes were then added to the half face mask using ivory Powertex.

I covered the rice paper on the base mask using cling film to protect it, and then positioned the half mask over the top. To get nice vibrant colours to blend with the rice paper, I used the violet, egg yolk and aqua acrylic inks from The Secret Art Loft and sprayed them onto the layered masks.

A lesson learnt! - I put the project out in the sun between sprays to dry - sadly a bad idea as the cling film ended up welding itself onto the Easy Coat Matt and did not peel off nice and easily as expected to real the lovely paper. Hence, if you look closely you will see some wrinkles of cling film still left in places.

Once I was happy with the colours, I removed what cling film I could from the base layer and attached the half face mask on top using transparent Powertex (any colour Powertex can be used to stick the bits together if applied with care). 

The dried bister was gently wiped back off the cracked canvas with a sponge to lighten the colour before the masks were attached using transparent powertex.

Then just a touch of dry brushing using white powercolor pigment mixed with easy varnish to give it some highlights, and it was finished.

As mentioned I also made this second project using the MDF from the kit, black Powertex, and Easy 3D Flex. Coloured using red ochre powercolor pigment and the beautiful pearl pigments from The Secret Art Loft.

And I had these bits left over!!

To see more of my creations and workshops, pop over to my Curiously Contrary facebook page.

Until next time,

Abs xx

Teatime in wonderland, wearing my best hat!

Hello lovely people.

I hope you enjoyed the show on Hochanda and it has got your creative juices flowing.

I was lucky enough to try out the project packs before the show and I have to say I really enjoyed doing them.

I created the hat first as my muse was screaming at me to do that one.

Sadly I did not do step by step photos as I was way too excited to crack on and play.

I had a piece of quite chunky crochet material I wanted to use and this was just the job.

I first laid out all the parts of the kit and decided how I was going to display them, before getting out the Powertex and going for it.

My muse already knew what colour theme I was going to do, so first I painted the top hat in the BLUEBERRY PIE and MOJITO LIME

Paint and Powertexed my crochet material and laid it on the hat.

I used the green and did a bit of blending with the blueberry and dry brushed with the white pigment to highlight.

I added the rice papers to the playing cards and added texture in the form of sand balls to the top part of the cards.

I took the feather and added texture to that using stone art and Powertex and used a pokey tool to make it look like a feather, dry brushed with black.

I used more of the crochet material to the bottom part of the hat and then measured and soaked some material to give it a more 3D effect to the middle part of the hat.

I used easy 3D FLEX on the tag and gave it a crackle effect using some brown bister and added the MDF numbers and painted them with easy varnish mixed with black pigment.

And my mad hatter's hat I felt was completed.

The next kit I found more of a creative challenge and my muse was stumped on how to go about this one, I think as the rice papers are so pretty, it kind of threw me a little, as this is not more normal style!

 I sat and played around with combinations for a while until I decided upon a design my muse liked but once I started, I did not stop until it was done.

Firstly I wet ripped the rice paper, by this I mean if you dunk a fine paintbrush in water and run it around the part of the rice paper/tissue paper you want to use, it comes away quite easy and looks a better finish when laid down on a structure.

I then added lace to other parts of the teapot and cups and saucers and decoratively painted the flowers and flamingo and the little mouse on the top. I added a piece of string dipped in transparent Powertex. I painted the MDF wording in the blue paint and stuck down using Powertex as my glue.

I forgot the mention I added a few lace butterflies as well.

It turned out very pretty (for me) and I loved incorporating the rice papers into my design.

I hope all the design team blogs on this theme have inspired you all.

Until my next blog .... Go be creative

Jinny x

It's Owl a bit punky

Hi there Fi here having some fun with the January Owl project pack from Powertex UK.  

This kit is a bit of Owl-right! Lots of luscious embellishments and a super MDF base kit that will be a great outdoor decoration once the spring comes and the owl has had time to fully cure (about 4 weeks).

So let's get started!

First I tipped out the embellishment kit onto a plate, then did the same with the added mdf dropouts - I just have to say how much I love the dropouts! Lots of circles that will be ideal for steam punk and grungy styles and loads more that will help to give depth on other creations.

Next I laid out a basic idea for where I was heading.  I was given the challenge to go for a more steam punk look so I wanted to suggest a re-cycled re-used look and also went with the Owl being King of the Night!

Even if this hadn't been for a blog, I would have taken a photo of my layout for reference - even though I might change a few bits as go ahead.

Once the photo is taken move your pieces off the owl.

Tip: When I removing my lay out, I laid them out in little groups so I didn't waste time or get frustrated looking for each piece.

Next I painted both sides and all the edges of the main owl piece with Powertex Bronze.  I dried off with the hairdryer.  

Next I ripped up a sheet of kitchen paper and separated the layers. 

I poured some Powertex onto the body and worked in to pieces of the kitchen paper, moving the kitchen paper into position with my brush.
 

I then moved on to the wings.  I painted with Powertex, cut the narrow lace in half and worked Powertex into it. I then shaped the lace around the outside of the right wing and the inside of the left wing - I like mixing things up and felt it added to the theme.

Next I worked on the eyes and the crown of my majestic owl.

I raised the left eye proud of the base by placing 4 of the dropout circles behind the main eye circle using Powertex. 

I added a metal embellishment inside the eye and then one of the glass pebbles, I moved on to complete the right eye and and the crown.

Remember Powertex is paint, glue, fabric hardener, pigment all in one so no need for additional mediums

Once this was done I completed the wings by adding layers of embellishments and referred to my photo when needed.

I used some more kitchen paper, that had Powertex worked in, under some embellishments to give it extra purchase.

Once the wings were complete, I worked on the main body, tail and branch areas.

I did change things around a little here from how I had originally laid it out. 

Don't worry about getting Powertex on the glass and resin embellishments as these can be wiped off gently with a baby wipe



Once I was happy with the placement of embellishments, I loaded my brush with Powertex and stippled over some areas where the embellishments were heavy for extra sticking power.  I then left it overnight to fully dry.

Once the night was over it was time to bring King Owl to life adding colour to enhance his gorgeousness!

First using Easy Varnish and Dark Green PowerColor I added colour to the lower sections of the wings, branch and body.


I then added a little white to lighten to a sage green and added this to some areas.

Next with a clean brush I added Yellow ochre and then Yellow Ochre and White.

I added highlights of Copper Colortrix to finish.

Because my owl is King and is altered with a nod to Steam Punk, I added an odd bit of chain and some Copper coloured glass glitter from my personal stash.

Here is my completed King Owl - I hope you agree he is a bit of an Owl right punky King of the Night!

Grab yourself and Owl project pack while they are still available and have some fun.  If you want to hang him outside, make sure all the edges of every piece of MDF have been well coated in Powertex and left inside for 3-4 weeks.

Below are some of close ups of my finished owl, left over embellishments and dropouts and a photo of my mixed up palette.

Until next time...

Fi xxx