Sophies Summer Superhero Project - Part 1

Sophie's Summer Superhero Project - Part 1

Hi there I hope you are having a great summer with lots of creative fun!  I am having fun with my granddaughter Sophie and this weekend we have started on a major Powertex project.  Let me introduce you to Sophie aged 7 and a half!  [She told me the half is very important because that means she is nearer 8 than 7!]

Sophie has a wonderfully vivid imagination and loves crafting and creating with her mum, her sister and me.

When she is with me we do lots of Powertex.  So far she has made some fairy houses for the garden and also a bird house.  She loves watching films and reading comics with her dad and her brother and writes lots of stories about her own superheros.

Stage 1:

Recently I acquired an old tailors dummy from a car boot sale and that gave me the idea of a super summer project for Sophie.

Together we are going to create her very own full size superhero!

Sophie was very excited when I showed her the dummy and talked about my idea.  Within half an hour she had come up with her superhero...

Rosalina, also known as Ace the Teleporter!

Ace has lots of superpowers - 

• Strength
• Supersonic Swimmer
• Hypnotic eyes (apparently we will make her head too)
• Superb speed
• and on her costume there will be buttons. One of the buttons will release a hidden superpower...she will become camouflaged!
• On the base she will have fast release rocket boosters too!

I have promised that we will mix different colours of Powertex so that she has her own unique colours to match Ace's design.

So I think I have my work cut out to help her create her dream character!

We will be working in short sessions so it is fun, and Sophie has lots of creativity to look forward to.  Also for her mum and dad, the mess will all be here and not at their home!!!

I am going to blog the whole process so I hope you have fun joining us along the way. 

 Getting Started!

We popped on some small vinyl gloves and held them on with masking tape.  I made sure Sophie was well covered with a big apron.

We mixed up Ivory Powertex with a little red and some yellow to get the colour Sophie wanted for the base.  To that we added a small amount of Easy 3D Flex to make the mixture just a little thicker.  

As the dummy is made from some sort of foam we wanted to give it a really good base cover, and did 3 layers.  Over the upper body that we added some kitchen paper for additional strength.  Only the arm socket and neck will not be dressed but I felt this would give us a good base to start with.

This all took about an hour.  We left it at this stage to dry while we went off to search for fabrics and other interesting goodies to add next time.  

So join us next time when we start to create the clothes and look for Ace - the Teleporter!

Bye for now
Fi and Sophie

Mermaid with a Message by Fi Potter

Hi there hope you are having a great summer so far...I have been loving this gorgeous warmth!

My favourite place is the beach, I love beach combing and seeing what's been washed up that can be used in art like bits of wood and sea glass.  But more and more I feel sad that our oceans are being cluttered and devastated by plastic, discarded fishing nets and so much more, and it is damaging marine life.  So I created a Mermaid with a Message for a recent Mannequin's and Mermaids workshop.

I used a polystyrene torso and and wood/metal base from Powertex UK .  I then used some 2mm aluminium wire to create the tail shape and extended up her body.  I secured using masking tape and used cheap tin foil to create the tail shape and then wrapped with masking tape.  I used Powertex Lead  and Stone Art to cover the torso.  I used knitted scrim for the tail on the reverse as this gives the impression of scales.  

I added Powertex to some lace trim and placed around the top of the tail fabric and added small  3D balls to the body and tail for texture and to imply those little balls of plastic that are found in cheap cosmetic scrubs that find their way into the water course and out into out oceans.  I then painted the base with more Powertex and embellished with tissue paper and more 3D balls in varying sizes.  Finally I rubbed Powertex into some net fabric and draped over her, as if she were caught while swimming.  I then left her overnight to dry.

I then used Easy Varnish with Powercolor and Colortricx pigments to add colour, I didn't go too far with this as I wanted to help her to get her message across, plastic and waste are damaging our oceans!

Finally I used some rusty wire to make some barbed wire and added to her body. This will be available in my etsy shop once I've had time to create one!

Hope you like this project and want to have a go yourself.  Post some photos on Powertex Addicts United  if you do we love to see what you create.

Bye for now

Fi xx

Something in the style of an artist I admire

‘Something in the style of an artist I admire.’

Hi Birdy Heywood here again with another Blog.

As a member of the Powertex Design Team 2017 we were asked to pick 4 subjects to cover for our blogs. One option I chose was ‘something in the style of an artist I admire.’

There are many, but 2 artists appeal to me the most. Those are both Gaudi and Dali. Probably because my own style is more surrealistic rather than realistic. I love all things organic.  Gaudi’s art simply oozes with a connection to growth, movement and to the earth itself.

Creating helps me to bring to the fore, my deepest feelings. Some are happy and others are more thought provoking, both allow me to release them and set me free.

Art is all about expression. I see it as a language. A language that can be interpreted in several ways according to the person who creates it and those who observe it.

 

Gaudi’s buildings grow out of the landscape

as if they had been there for hundreds of years.

Dali, well I just love his work too. He dared to leave reality behind

and express himself in the most peculiar of ways.

 

Now to my own particular work of art

First of all I want to tell you how this came about.

Many years ago, an ex partner of mine was jealous that he had not been part of my past. He showed dislike for my much treasured paintings and drawings dating back from the time I was a teenager. I dreamed then of becoming and artist. Stupidly, as a token of my affection, I made a fire and threw all of my paintings and sketches on it to be consumed by the flames. 

This picture is the only one that survived. I sketched it with a ball point pen on a scrap of paper when I was 13 years old whist on a visit to Germany.  A relative scanned it and sent it to me a few years ago.  Seeing it again bought back all sorts of emotions.

Teenage years as we know, are difficult. As a victim of abuse when I was seven I often felt trapped, dirty and useless. Drawing helped me to express myself and I drew many such heads growing out of the ground. Heads with no arms, no bodies. The surrounding landscape was hostile and barren. Somehow these bodiless heads survived, silently observing the destruction of what had once been a beautiful world.  My family called me ‘weird.’

I see now that what I was expressing, was that feeling of being helpless and trapped.

As I took this idea further my POWERTEX Creation released me.

‘The Release’

Dali created, heads growing out of the ground, strange creatures with long spindly legs, melting clocks that defied space and time. Gaudi erected the strangest but also the most beautiful of buildings, each with a life of its own and a message with each of them.

I decided to use my strange bodiless heads from childhood to set me free.

One of the heads had to break free and I felt it was to be me.

I knew that with Powertex this would be possible, more effective and enjoyable than just a drawing.  Besides, each month all Powertex Trainers have a challenge set. This is just for enjoyment so no pressure.  During the month where a ‘Collage’ was the subject, I decided it was my chance to tackle the subject of letting go.

As with everything created from the heart and deep subconscious, I was very emotionally charged.

Apart from the heads themselves which I created out of polymer clay using my own moulds, the rest of the creation was made using only Powertex products.

The heads trapped on the ground were rooted on the rocks.

I created the rocks using natural fabric soaked in Bronze Powertex.

The background was created using Easy 3D Flex. 

This is great as it cracks whilst drying revealing crevices.

I created the heads out of polymer clay

I used an old t-shirt for the rocks, then when dried I used lighter colours and

dry brushed it to bring out the texture. (More on dry brushing later.)

Easy 3D Flex  is great for creating the texture of the dry, cracked, earth

Gaudi’s style influence me whilst creating the rocks with strange shapes. For these I used torn up egg  cartons. The foliage was created using Paper Dec and the little berries using Sand and Balls. Both Powertex products.  I used Powertex Hardener Green for the foliage and Bronze Hardener for the rocks.

I love the texture of egg cartons. Hah, Hah, little things please little minds

​and I am easy to please.

I mixed a tiny bit of Bronze  Powertex with some Ivory to create a clay like shade then added Stone Art to create a clay that I could form. With this I created little rock formations.

Powertex Stone Art

Dry brushing really brings out the texture. The egg cartons have a natural stone like surface.

I began first of all to brush a lighter shade of brown over the surface gradually mixing lighter

and lighter  shades until I ended up with just the Ivory.

Once I have finished a canvas using the Powertex

I find such wonderful textures to play with

in a photo editing programme called Picassa. (

A free programme)

Anything is possible

CREATE YOUR DREAM

Powertex UK

have a wonderful range

of trained tutors

So take a look to see who is

from your area.

WE HAD FUN WITH FOSSILS!

We recently had some shows on Hochanda and shared our fossilised ideas with everyone, we had moulds and we had stencils - oh when I say had you haven't missed out they are still available on the website, we have moulds and stencils  so that you can join in the fun! I mixed various colours of Powertex with 3D Sand for all of the fabulous effects, we send out instructions with each mould so don't worry! Watch out for Fiona Potters blog about how she incorporated fossils into her jewellery designs, they are incredible!