'Always' Powertex seahorse

I think that there is something to be said for Seahorses they really have got it right! They mate for life and the males have the babies. Sounds good to me! So if you hadn't of guessed it already my blog this month is a little bit valentines.

I asked on my Facebook page what everyone thought about valentines and the resounding answer was that we should love each other through the year and not just on one day. I agree and for the most part the other half and myself generally forget to celebrate on the day. We don't make a massive fuss over it cause we have every other day of the year to show one another we love each other. A very important thing when you have been together for 13 years! 

I was going to do a journal but being as I have a few of these guys sitting in my craft stash I couldn't resist. And it was a perfect fit for my theme. This seahorse mdf shape is still available on the Powertex UK website. So if you wanted to make a little valentines creation for your loved one you can! 

You get a small square back plate to hold the pieces together as they arrive in two sections. I started by coating the back of the seahorse making sure it was dry before covering the front. 

 I love the mdf shapes I tend to throw every piece of detail and texture I can at a piece I work on. I also like to cut the shapes, I have a pair of jewelry pliers which cut through. If it's a thicker piece of mdf I tend to use my little craft saw. I lined the mdf heart flower up on the seahorses belly and drew lines as a guide for cutting.

 TOP TIP: Have an idea of where to place your pieces before getting messy. Take a photo to aid your memory, or lay the pieces next to your design as a rough guide.

 The left over hearts I cut from the mdf shape were placed on the tail and fin of the seahorse.

 I used some of the mdf letters on the mane, a daisy I had premade from the daisy mould, some old buttons from my nans button tin. Everyone has got a button tin right? and some of the drop outs which are my absolute favourites. 

 I decided I wanted some extra texture underneath all the embellishments so cut wallpaper and dishcloth to size to fit the shape of the seahorse. For the head and neck I used a palette knife and liberally coated in easy structure, make sure this is thoroughly dry before covering in powertex. It will hold embellishments in place should you wish to stick them on before it dries. 

 Then I place all the embellishments on and coated everything in bronze powertex.

So I was going to reach for my go to turquoise. But as I have already created a seahorse in this colour, I felt it would be fun to do burgundy and lilac powercolour with a hint of the new pearl pigments mixed into the varnish.

 I loved the colour of the button on the eye, so left it uncoated and stuck it, and the flatback gems and pearls I had in my stash with some transparent powertex.

 Hope you have been inspired this little project. Toodles Anna xXx

It's owl about the mixed media!

I love visiting Powertex UK hq I always get a sneak peak on the new ideas and products coming and going. I also sometimes get a chance to give a little input too! Which I think sometimes gives our Tracey a  bit of a headache! Yes, I do have a lot of ideas brimming in my head constantly.

When I saw the new Mdf owl kit I instantly had to make a sample after all we were going to the NEC and did need something to inspire everyone with! Well that was my excuse right? 

As usual with most of my designs the 'keep it simple' motto we like to say at Powertex UK hq doesn't really apply to me. I seem to be that rebel that breaks all the rules and throws everything at it. I actually struggle when I am trying to create a simple piece.

But that's the fab thing about Powertex there is no right or wrong, so you can make it as simple or a complicated as you like. And your style will always shine through when you create. I always tend to go the mixed media route with a lot of the pieces I create. 

I've used some acanthus mdf pieces on the branch, above the eye and on the wing. A feather above the eye. And a couple of cogs on the body and branch. And some of the MDF dropouts scattered around here and there.

Then an extra helping of embellishments from Powertex uk and some stencilling and patterned wallpaper which is my favourite go to texture.

All coated in bronze Powertex dried and then dry brushed with red ochre, yellow ochre and turquoise power color and varnish.

Enjoy and have fun creating your owl!  Toodles Anna xXx

Product developement day at Powertex UK

It is very important to us at Powertex UK hq that we make sure we use the products to the best of our knowledge and what better way to do this than having a product development and experiment day! 

This was no way at all, just a jolly and play day! It takes hard work and tons of dedication and effort to push the boundaries of products and ideas, it's a tough job but someone has to do it! ha, ha, ha. 

We did have a fabulous amount of fun, pushing the products in every direction so that we can learn and pass on that knowledge to our tutors and Powertex addicts. 

Here's some of the new inks in use, they come in a fabulous variety of colours. 

 

 It would have been rude not to have tried out the new rice papers and on a big canvas too! We were really going for it and learning new techniques.

 We can't wait to see what you create. Toodles Anna xXx

PowerWax

What's all the fuss about this PowerWax I hear you say? 

Well, imagine a manufacturer bringing out one single product which, when combined with many other products from your stash will give you a beautiful water based wax to use with your mixed media work? How silly, surely they could make much more money if they premixed it with pigments etc and sold you LOADS of different colours? 

Well that's not how Powertex works they have gone and produced that one product with so many uses, you can mix it with pigments, paints, and micas from your stash. You can use it on furniture, canvas, mixed media work, statues to name just a few. You can wash it off your hands and tools with warm soapy water. It's environmentally friendly. It contains no VOCs.

What's not to love about it?

So how do we get started? 

Well rather than me witter on here's an instruction sheet I wrote up earlier

There's a YouTube video too!

Have fun! TraceyX

Some of you will remember that for our Hochanda show in August we had some incredible rice papers available, well it has taken a while but we are now the proud UK stockists of the full range of By Creative rice papers! We have been very excited here at HQ and I've been itching to get creating with some of the papers but........ there are so many to choose from!

I started by painting my canvas with Ivory Powertex and then used this enchanting Victorian photograph which I laid over the new Powertex handwriting silk paper, I love how the writing came through the image. I applied the papers and sealed each layer with Easycoat mat, there is a tutorial showing you how I apply rice paper on YouTube.

 

I then painted around my image with Black Powertex, I applied some scraps of music paper at this stage but you will see by the end that I ended up covering them up.

Once everything was dry I added StoneArt, 3D Sand and Powertex mixture and Easy 3D Flex in a fairly random way. I also added some fabric and MDF inclusions for detail. Once I was happy with this layer I sprayed with red and yellow bister

Once the bister was dry I began to wipe it away from the areas I wanted to lighten.

I used 3D sand mixed with pigments and Powertex to add some stencilled words. I then used PowerWax mixed with pigments to add soft colour to the texture. There is a quick tutorial showing the basics of using the Powerwax on Youtube

I also added a subtle hint of extra colour to the image using my PowerWax and pigments

I then left the piece overnight, as much as I liked the softer pretty shades when I was touching up the edges of the canvas with my black Powertex just I knew that I needed to darken the bottom of my piece so I got out my black bister and hey presto!

I will need to do a little more blending but I feel much happier with the overall look however we all know that our work is never truly complete and the beauty of Powertex is that we can totally transform our work by adding different pigments, wax or maybe even using some of our new acrylic inks... inks..... now there's a thought... I will keep you posted! Tracey XX

Art Nouveau Canvas

Art Nouveau Canvas by Liz Dixon

Hi Everyone.  Have you seen the beautiful new rice papers & all the lovely MDF shapes that Powertex UK now have in stock?  I couldn't wait to get making as there are so many Mixed Media possibilities (as if there weren't enough already within the Powertex range!!)

I particularly love the Art Nouveau papers - elegant ladies in flowing gowns, which go perfectly with the swirls & curls of the Acanthus MDF shapes.

The canvas was given a base layer of Ivory Powertex & once dry, the Rice Paper was applied with Easy Coat Mat.

I raided my stencil collection & added texture to the canvas & MDF using Easy Structure, before getting busy with the Bisters.  The Rice paper was a great place to start for colour palette inspiration!

Paper trim, more MDF, paper flowers & some self-coloured Stone Art clay Ivy leaves completed the complilation, before dry brushing with Easy Varnish & Colourtrix Pigments 

I wonder what your Powertex inspiration will be today?

UPCYCLED CABINET TO EGYPTIAN TREASURE

UPCYCLED CABINET TO EGYPTIAN TREASURE

This cabinet had served us well in our spare bedroom but had become redundant when we redecorated however I still loved the design and the shape of the legs so I hadn't let it go

 and thank goodness I hadn't because when it came to finding interesting surfaces 

for creating for our Egyptian themed shows it was a perfect candidate. 

It was an incredibly difficult item to take photographs of so I have included the one above which was taken on the show and then below I have included snapshots of individual areas. 

You will see I have used lots of different techniques, Powertex products, MDF pieces, the 

"Wonderful Things"stencil and rice papers to get the effects I wanted. 

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