Beautiful Nellie

Hello, hello

It is once again that time of the month, for me to show you my latest Design Team project and what a project this one is!
This project, MDF ELEPHANT TEMPLATE had been sitting on my creative table for ages waiting for me to work some magic.
I love being part of the Design team and love all the projects I have done but this one I really, really enjoyed :)
So here is my process on this gorgeous project, I like to call "Beautiful Nellie"

I first started by making a plinth for Nellie to stand on and that is the beauty of Powertex, anything and everything can be used. I used a spare piece of MDF from a previous project and some kebab sticks. I had some garden wire and cut to length and posted them through the holes on Nellie.

 I then used some kitchen foil to give Nellie some shape and definition and make the less 2D and more 3D.

When I was happy with her shape, I then taped her all over using masking tape so my Powertex would have something to adhere to.

I made a little tail out of tin foil and added this to Nellie and started adding lots and lots of layers of pretty lace type material. I thought BLACK POWERTEX  would be the order of the day for Nellie. Have to confess I got a little carried away at this stage as I forgot to take photos of the process, this quite often happens as you get so engrossed into what you are doing, I apologise, my bad!! 

I draped some thin material over Nellie's ears.

I also made up some easy 3D flex and added this to Nellie's legs.

I continued adding layers of material until I was happy with how she was looking.

I had a look in my embellishments and decided she needed a little bit of bling and found some beaded material and added this to her head as a headdress (I knew I was saving it for something special) and I added some plastic gold bling along her back.

I let her dry for a few hours, which gave me time to think about what colour/colours 

I decided on my colours 

GOLDEN OLIVE, Green Parrot, Limoncello Gold and VIOLET VALENTINE  from the Secret Art Loft. 

When I dry brushed the colours on, my word Nellie popped and looked beautiful.

I am very pleased with how she turned out

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

This Boot Was Made With Memories

How Powertex Can Be Used To Create A Beautiful Memorial Boot

One of the things I love most about being a Powertex Tutor are the wonderful stories that unfold as people get totally absorbed in creating something beautiful and meaningful.

I have been priviliged to hear many really moving accounts of why people are making their sculptures, and who they are making them for, or, as is often the case, who they are making them  in memory of.

Obviously these are very personal stories, and I think the very fact that people feel comfortable to open up and talk, either within a group, or on a one to one basis speaks volumes about the therapeutic nature of creating with Powertex.

I have been given permission by one lady to share her story here.

S's dad had passed away recently.  He was a keen gardener, and she contacted me to ask if I would be able to do a Powertex Workshop using an old boot, which she could use to keep his ashes in.

Of course I said yes. It would be an absolute honour.

I love doing boot workshops anyway, but knew that this one was going to be something rather special.

We wanted to be sure that there was a suitable place within the boot for S's father's ashes, and we did this by covering a small plastic seedling pot with masking tape, before lodging it into the opening of the boot, and then putting a covering of powertex soaked material over this.  Ensuring that there was a good sized place for the ashes to sit in, but also ensuring it would be weatherproof as S thought she might want the boot to sit outside in the garden.  One of her father's favourite places.

Once we had done this, under my guidance, S covered the whole boot with powertex soaked fabric, scrunching it up to give lots of interesting texture and character.  S added a few appropriate bits and pieces from my ever ready stash of goodies I collect from charity shops etc, such as little material roses, and a heart taken from a piece of jewellery.

Then she added the piece, that I think makes the boot really stunning.  A small ornamental bird that she had brought along, to symbolise her father's love of birds.

We left the boot overnight to dry completely, before dry brushing, which really makes it pop as a work of art.

Although I had been keen to help S make her memorial boot, if I'm honest a part of me was also really nervous, about whether it would be a sad experience for her.  As it turned out the opposite was true.  It was a joyous workshop, with lots of laughter and memories recounted about a man who was obviously someone who lived life to the full.  And I although I didn't know him, I do think I got a feel for the man's character from S's fond and happy recollections over the weekend.

I think, I hope, that his boot is a fitting memorial of a man with a real  joie de vivre.

S tells me it caputres him perfectly, and that she smiles every time she looks at her boot.  Which in turn makes me smile as well.

If you would like to contact a tutor to help with making your own memorial for someone special get in touch with the guys at Powertex UK, or head over to our facebook pages powertex addicts united and the powertex studio

You can find out more about my Powertex workshops on my facebook page   or my website www.artandmurals.co.uk

Sweet Beautiful Music

Hi there, as I write this blog we are having the most glorious weather for the first May Bank holiday in the UK and it is fabulous!  I'm listening to the Peaceful Guitar play list on Spotify and there's a lovely breeze wafting through the house....mmmmm... to top it all I love this guitar project pack! 

Powertex has taken this one right back to basics to show how you can create some really super projects by using just the magic of Powertex, a nicely constructed kit and the basic pigment kit.

So first I joined the 2 main pieces together with Bronze Powertex and added the hanging bracket as show in the two images below.



One the back was dry I used the textured paper to cover the front of the guitar, again using Bronze Powertex - there's no need to use any other mediums as the magic of Powertex covers so many uses.


You can see how I made two pieces to cover the body if the Guitar.  I also laid out the main design of my piece.  The only parts of the kit I didn't use were the two paper flowers. I used more of the Bronze Powertex to stick the embellishments in place, the only thing I added was some jute string. Once everything was in place I left it to dry overnight.

Next I used PowerColor Pigments and Easy Varnish  to build an Ombre shading moving through from Yellow Ochre to Red Ochre.  I repeated this shading several times until I got the effect I was after.

To build the colour and shading I also added in some Titanium white in the latter layers.

I coloured the embellishments as well.

Once I was happy with the main colour I mixed up some silver Colortrix and cloured the strings.

I then added Burgundy PowerColor to the heart/flower embelishment and finally added some Rich Gold Colortrix to the centre of the two main embellishments and a faint brushing over the textured paper.

Below are some close ups to help you see the effects.

Hope you enjoy the Powertex Design Teams take on this project and we inspire you to have a go yourself.  Don't forget to share your makes in the Powertex Studio on Facebook.

Happy Crafting 

Fi

Mad Mad Hatter by Fi Potter

Just a quick blog today to share my Mad Mad Hatter project with you.  This is the second of the pieces I created for Tracey's Hochanda show on 30th March.

We had a very colourful kit to choose from which is just perfect for these Alice Theme project kits.

As always, I played with some layout ideas before I for the Powertex out. First I used some Easy Coat Matte to attach the Queen of hearts rice paper on the hat base and on one of the mdf card blanks. 

I then coated everything in black Powertex.  I then made up some stone art clay for the band and added some lace at the top and bottom of the band. I also added stone art clay to the top hat for depth and texture. 

Next I coated and placed the embellishments.

  

Once everything was totally dry I got the Secret Art Loft acrylics out and added several layers of colour.  Next I used a variety of The Secret Art Loft and Powercolor pigments mixed with easy varnish to really make the embellishments pop.  Below are some close ups of some of them.

Here's the finished piece. 

Hope Tracey and the Design Team have inspired you to have fun with your project kits.

Look forward to seeing your pieces in the Powertex Studio Group.

By for now

Fi