Flower Girl Figurine Garden Sculpture with Powertex

This is my first attempt at a figurine. She took me a long time to finally get finished, having started her over a year ago at my Level 1 Powertex Tutor Training! Now that she is finally done I love my Flower Girl – and I call her ‘Bestower of Beauty’.

She stands approx. 49cm high.

Materials used:

• Powertex Fabric Hardener: Bronze
• Wooden Base
• Grace Plaster Head – European Collection
• Recycled Textile Yarn (T shirt Yarn), mixed recycled crochet and cotton fabrics, Stockinette and lace strips
• Tin foil, masking tape, toilet roll inner card tube
• Powercotton
• Stone Art
• 3D Sand and Balls
• Silicone Moulds: Daisies and Leaves Mould Set, small daisy and fern (from my stash)
• Powercolor Pigments: Ultramarine, Green and Titanium White
• Colortricx Pigments: Bronze Gold
• The Secret Art Loft Pigments: Lipstick Fizz, Green Ginger, Blue Curacao, Interference Blue, Mojito Lime, Interference Lilac, Violet Valentine, Limoncello Gold
• Easy Varnish

How it was done:

The body was shaped over the wooden pole using the card inner tube stuffed and wrapped with foil and covered with masking tape. The plaster head was taped onto the top.

T shirt yarn was then wound tightly around the torso and down to the base of the pole. I made a bit of a decorative wrap over the torso to create the dress bodice. The whole thing was then given a coat of Bronze Powertex, working it well into the fabric.

 

Fabrics were then coated with Powertex and draped over the body to create the clothing. I used a knitted fabric (Stockinette) to create the illusion of arms by allowing the knit to curl around on itself to give dimension.

A small amount of Power Cotton was added to make small hair plaits draped over her shoulder, and fine lace added to make a headdress. Another piece of T shirt yarn was used to create a tie belt and helped to hold the skirt securely in place. The crochet skirt was draped down and over the base.

During the training course I started the dry brushing technique, mixing pigments into Easy Varnish, to add some colour and bring out the different textures. I used Bronze Colortricx to colour the face, shoulders and hair, plus to add colour around the base. Blue and green Powercolors were used (mixed with a little white) to dry brush and highlight clothing texture.

I was delighted with what I had achieved but came home with my figurine always intending to add more colour (you know how I LOVE colour) and floral embellishments to turn her into a gorgeous flower girl. Sadly she sat in the corner for around a year before I finally pulled her back onto my work bench!

I began by adding much more colour, intense in places, to colour her clothing using the new colours from The Secret Art Loft. I tried to keep most of this colour to the top layers of texture so as to keep depth in the fabric folds. I also added more colour to her face and lips, plus a little shading over the eye lids.

Flower and leaf embellishments were created using Art Stone mixed with Powertex to make a clay which was pressed into silicone moulds. When dry they were coloured with Secret Art Loft Pigments mixed with Easy Varnish and glued in place with Powertex. I also created a suggestion of arms and hands using Stone Art clay. The bad modelling was disguised by carefully placing the bouquet of flowers in her arms – ha ha.

The flowers were also applied onto her dress and down around the base. More texture was added to the base by sprinkling 3D Sand & Balls into wet Powertex.

I spiralled the flowers down and around the hem of her skirt.

Here you can see lots of textures in her outfit, and pretty coloured flowers in her hair.

Another view showing her back.

She looks beautiful standing in the garden. Although she is weather proof I would definitely have to add extra weight (e.g. a concrete base) or add a small garden spike to the base, as she is very vulnerable to toppling over in the wind. I am going to be keeping her indoors so she will be ok as she is.

 

However, she does look gorgeous alongside my unicorn! I might change my mind and adapt the base for outdoors – sure that I have a bit of broken paving slab somewhere – that would do the trick.

I hope that you like my ‘Bestower of Beauty’.

Bye for now, Anne x.

Mixed Media Floral Canvas

Hi all. Today I am sharing a floral mixed media canvas. I started it just over a year ago and it had been sitting as a ‘UFO’ ever since. I usually continue with a project until it is finished, but must admit that if it gets put away before finishing I find it very difficult to get it back on track. So pleased that I dug it back out and got inspired to complete it.

I started working on this at Powertex Headquarters as part of my Level 1 training. I have to say that it was a fabulous couple of days where Tracey took us through a whole host of fabulous techniques.

Black Powertex was used to coat a 12 X 12 primed and stretched canvas. Various fabrics, pieces of lace, kitchen paper and Paper Decoration (White) were coated with Powertex and laid onto the canvas. Small polycarbonate test tubes were covered in cling film (to protect) and incorporated into the canvas. The layers were left to dry before working on the next stages. I also coated the little wooden canvas stretchers to make am area for maybe adding text.

Various pigment colours were mixed and applied with Easy Varnish (Powercolor: Burgundy, Ultramarine, White; Colortricx: Rich Gold and Powerpearl). Initially I was unhappy with the results as everything appeared too dark. I am definitely a colour girl. After some thought I drizzled on some Green Powercolor in Varnish diluted with a little water to make more of a wash. Oooh – much happier.

This was the stage at which it was almost finished but I still wasn’t happy with it – hence it sat in the cupboard for a year. I really thought that it needed more decoration and building up with embellishments. I collected together some MDF cogs (already treated with Black Powertex and rubbed over with gold gilding wax), die cut birds, silk flowers and air dry clay flowers created with silicone moulds from my stash. I also had a stash of moulded flowers created with pearlescent acrylic modelling paste (I put some turquoise glitter in the moulds while making these – yay bling).

I added more colour to the canvas using the new Metallic Inks from the Secret Art Loft (Aqua and Golden).

The paper clay and card embellishments were coated with Black Powertex before sticking down. Where needed I used Easy Structure Paste tinted with Powertex to make a 3D glue for sticking down.

The sentiment (from Chocolate Baroque) was stamped onto card with Versamark (Onyx Black) and applied with Easycoat Matt Medium to glue and seal. The pine cones were treated with Bronze Powertex and rubbed over with gold gilding wax. Beginning to love it now.

I continued building layers of embellishments and also added some created with yellow tinted clay and treated with Transparent Powertex. I liked the pop of complimentary colour. More colour was also added to Varnish and dry brushed over the textural surfaces. I really love the new Secret Art Loft Pigments (Interference Lilac, Limoncello Gold, Violet Valentine), they are so vibrant over dark backgrounds.

The silk flowers were treated with Black Powertex and dry brushed with Violet Valentine and Interference Lilac Pigments. Clear varnish was applied over the yellow flowers and the acrylic embellishments to seal. A little Glossy Accents was applied over the sentiment to emphasise.

I was really chuffed with the final piece. I hope that you like it too.

The great thing about this canvas is that the faux flowers can be removed and replaced with real ones (the tubes are removable and can be filled with a little water). I was initially planning to hang the canvas at an angle but I rather like this orientation with the flowers going at 45 degrees.

Well that’s all for today. Back with more creations soon, Anne x.

Unicorn Blessings

Hi all, today I am sharing one of my projects created during the Powertex Garden Party in July. It was an amazing weekend and I went along with my ex’s lovely daughter Marie. Living far apart we rarely get the chance to be together – so it was extra special to have a whole weekend creating together.

Others also came along with friends or family but many came along on their own. Some were familiar with Powertex and some, like Marie, were completely new to the medium. Whether experienced or not, travelling with friends or alone, the Team at Powertex were wonderfully inviting and everyone soon felt relaxed and eager to get started. Tracey gave us all fabulous instructions to help us along the way. It was a wonderfully relaxed weekend and we made many new friends.

One of the projects was to create a Unicorn (or pony if preferred). We were taken through the process and instructed on the appropriate media to create a fully weatherproof piece that could be used as a garden ornament.

We were all give a Metal Base with attached MDF Unicorn Template which had already been wrapped with masking tape ready for working.

The first step was to paint the whole with a base layer of Bronze Powertex. Then layers of Powertex clay (created with Powertex and Stone Art) were built onto the surface and texturised using wooden print blocks and various tools. The Team had kindly mixed up the clay ready for us to use.

We then had a choice of floral silicone moulds to use to make pretty clay embellishments. I chose the lovely Daisy Moulds.

Next we treated Powercotton fibres with Powertex to create the mane and tail. Pigment colours were used to add colour. I chose to blend a mix of Ultramarine and Titanium White, plus Burgundy and Titanium White Powercolors, mixed with Easy Varnish and a little water to create a blended colour wash.

Next we dry brushed more colour over the surface to pick up and emphasise the texture. I used Colortricx in Silver.

When I got home I added a bit more colouring by dry brushing with Rich Gold Colortricx and Interference Violet (Secret Art Loft Pigment).

If you know me you will know that I cannot resist a bit of bling. I just had to try adding glitter to the varnish and painted this onto the tail and mane. I used a holographic silvery glitter designed to be added to household paint. In theory it should be weatherproof when embedded in the Easy Varnish (will see how it holds up after she is installed in the garden). Oooooh I love her.

Note: There is a Unicorn Dreams Project Pack available which contains everything needed to create your own magical Unicorn – includes metal base, MDF Unicorn, Powertex, Art Stone, Flower Mould, Pigments, Varnish and instructions.

I also decided to add a little more texture to the base. I added a rough layer of clay and pressed in a crackle textured rubber stamp. I also added 3D Sand and Balls. Finally I treated a few stiff hessian threads with Powertex and pushed them into the clay to create grassy fronds. Various colours were dry brushed over the surface to blend in the base colours with the rest of the project.

Here is Marie’s amazing Unicorn. Truly fantastic.

We all had so much fun and between us created an amazing array of very different takes on this theme. All wonderful.

Sending Unicorn Blessings, Anne x.

Egyptian Canvas Duo created for Powertex UK

I so enjoyed helping out with samples for the Egyptian themed shows recently on Hochanda – and WOW the set looked amazing with so many wonderful creations from the team. I think that we all had a huge amount of fun. It really did look like an archaeological set.

I created this duo of canvases featuring Nefertiti and Tutankhamun to tell a little of their story. Although their likeness was well known to me I really had little idea of their history, so I did a little research. I really enjoyed finding out more about these characters and I had so much fun immersing myself into their mystical world when creating these canvases.

I hope that my creative journey gives you some inspiration for your own ideas. There is a full materials list at the end if you need links to any of the specific products used xxx.

The creative journey:

The canvases were first coated with a layer of Ivory Powertex, and the plaster busts with Bronze Powertex.

 

The textured embellishments were made with air dry clay and small clay cutters from my stash. The Hiero Heaven and Scarabella stamps were pressed into the rolled out clay to add texture. Additional texture added to some pieces using a texture mat, and I made the little snakes using a mould (both from my stash). Strips from corrugated card were used to create pillars. I laid out all my elements to get a rough idea of placement and to assess space left for adding text.

 

Note: I used an air dry modelling clay that I had in my stash. It is fairly strong when making chunky items but I did find it very brittle when rolled thin. I left it to fully dry overnight and coated it with Ivory Powertex. The Powertex did sink in well (as it remained porous) and considerably strengthened my embellishments. So I was happy to use them on my canvases. However, I would fully recommend using Stone Art Clay if you want hard wearing items, and certainly if you need them to be weather proof (it is designed for this).

Following my bit of historical research I decided on some text to add to my canvases. Nefertiti was the chief wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten who was the father of Tutankhaten (later named Tutankhamun). Originally Akhenaten was named Amenhotep IV but he changed his name when he banned the worship of the old Egyptian gods and instated Aten (Sun Disc – an aspect of the sun god Ra) as the one true god. I therefore depicted the Aten symbol (Sun Disk with rays in gold) on Nefertiti’s canvas.

I used gilding wax around the edges of my canvas and on the Sun Disc (Atan) and gold relief paste to create the Atan rays.

Nefertiti was also known as ‘the beautiful one has come’ (translation of her name) and ‘the lady of the two lands’ – I included this in the gilded text.

Nerfertiti may have ruled for a time as Neferneferuaten, and for a short while alongside Tutankhaten (later named Tutankhamun) but there is some debate on this. She disappeared not long after her husband’s death and it is unsure where her body lays. Although interestingly there is some evidence that she may be in a secret chamber behind the tomb of Tutankhamun. Still a mystery.

Tutankhamun became king when only a boy (‘boy king Tut’) and as mentioned above he was originally named Tutankhaten (‘the living image of Aten’). After the death of his father there was an uprising and the old gods were eventually reinstated. He reinstated Amun-Ra (fusion of the gods Amun ‘the hidden/invisible one’ and Ra the ‘sun god’) and changed his name to Tutankhamun (‘the living image of Amun’). There is a lot of debate around the identity of his mother but it is fairly certain that she would have been a close relation to Akhenaten (sister or cousin, maybe even Nefertiti?).

I hope that I am not boring everyone with history but I found it all fascinating (but also very confusing with all the name changes and the various gods worshipped at the time).

The sentiments were printed on a laser printer (copy paper) and foiled with gold sublimation foil using my laminator. I stamped over the background using Memories Ink and the Hiero Heaven stamp. I then scrunched up the paper and further aged with distress inks.

The background textured paper and sentiments were glued to the canvas using Easy Coat.

The card pillars were coated (back and front) with Black Powertex. Bister was used to add depth to my textured embellishments. I also mixed various Powercolor pigments into Ivory Powertex and rubbed over the top of the embellishments to give the effect of faded chalk paints.

Elements were glued in place using Powertex and a little Easy Structure for some of the more uneven textured pieces. A little Easy Structure paste was also applied with a palette knife for filling and more texture.

A little Ultramarine Powercolor was mixed with Ivory Powertex and painted into the crevices of the pillars. Gold Colortricx pigment mixed with Easy Varnish was dry brushed onto the surface ridges.

The busts were also coloured with gold varnish, applied fairly liberally for an opulent effect. Where I wanted areas of strong colour (blue, red, green) I applied a base of Ivory Powertex first and then painted over with coloured varnish. Black Powertex was painted into the eye area.

Materials:

• 2 stretched and primed canvases (30 X 22.5cm)
• Powertex Hardener (Ivory, Bronze and Black)
• Easy Varnish
• Easy Coat
• Easy Structure
• Bister (Black and Brown mix)
• Colortricx Pigment (Rich Gold)
• Powercolor Pigments (Ultramarine, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Titanium White, Turquoise and Green)
• Hiero Heaven and Scarabella stamps (Rosehart Studio)
• Nefertiti and Tutankhamun flat backed plaster busts (or use the Nefertiti and Tutankhamun moulds to make your own)
• Recycled corrugated card and copy paper
• Laser printer, laminator and toner sublimation foil (gold)
• Air dry modelling clay (or Powertex Stone Art)
• Acrylic rolling pin and Teflon mat
• Snake mould and acrylic texture mat from my stash (weave texture)
• Clay cutters from my stash (rectangle, circle, triangle, square)
• Distress Inkpads (Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo)
• Memories dye based archival inkpad (waterproof when dry – Sand)
• Pebeo Cerne Relief Paste (Gold)
• Pebeo Gilding Wax (Empire Gold)

Sneak Peek of my first show samples for Powertex on Hochanda tomorrow

Tracey Evans and Powertex are back on Hochanda tomorrow at 6pm and 8pm (Freeview channel 85). More shows on Tues 9am, 1 and 5pm. Here is a sneak peek of my first set of samples.

 

There are fabulous new stamps, stencils and more. I cannot wait to see the demos and Design Team samples.

 

 

Excited to be joining the Powertex Team as a guest blogger

I am so excited to be joining the Powertex Team as a guest blogger and am really looking forward to sharing my new creative journey with you all.

I am an ex medical scientist now self employed in jewellery and textiles. I also enjoy mixed media and card making too and am on the Design Team of a stamp company and a textile trimmings maker, so regularly blog my projects. I really enjoy helping people along on their own creative journey.

A couple of weeks ago I ventured up to Powertex UK HQ to take my Level 1 training. Tracey, Garry and the lovely team were all so welcoming and made me feel instantly at ease. I met some lovely people on the course and we spent a wonderful couple of days creating in Tracey’s studio. There were many wonderful projects on display from Tracey and the Design Team. Amazing talent and such an inspiration.

I managed to catch a pic of myself and Tracey in the garden. Tracey is the attractive one – tee hee.

 

 

 

The course was very intensive and we each created a wide range of projects, ranging from mixed media canvases and journal covers right up to a figurine. We were also given masses of useful guidance and information on setting up workshops for ourselves too. I learned so much and we all had a lot of fun and plenty of laughter along the way.

I have had a busy couple of weeks on my return and still have to put the finishing touches to my Level 1 projects. I will share them soon. In the meantime I thought that I would share my first ever ventures into the world of Powertex, following one of Tracey’s shows on Hochanda.

 

 

I created a couple of 30 cm square fossil themed canvases and a covered bottle – I hope that you like them. I was really pleased with the natural organic feel. Some of my friends thought that I had used real fossils. Being my first projects I hope that you will see what a beginner can achieve.

 

Below I have included a materials list and the step by step of techniques used to create the canvases, including some hints and tips to get the best results. The embellished bottle was created in the same way.

Happy crafting, Anne x.

 

Materials used:

• Powertex Fabric Hardener (Ivory, Terracotta and Lead)
• 12 X 12 inch stretched canvas and 12 X 12 inch canvas board
• Texture Media (3D Sand & Balls)
• Pebeo Gilding Wax (gold)
• Easy Varnish
• Powercolor (white, ochre) and Colortricx (copper)
• Bister (Black)
• Fossilized 30 X 30 cm stencil
• Glass seed beads (gold)
• Recycled potato sacking (hessian/burlap)
• Kitchen paper towel

 

How they were made:

1. The canvases were already primed with gesso so I first gave them a coat of Powertex to colour and create a good surface for adhesion.
2. I mixed up some Powertex with sand to make a thick paste. When the canvases were dry to the touch (it doesn’t take long) I applied the paste to the background using a palette knife through the stencil to create fossil textures. I then left them overnight to dry.
3. I mixed more sand with Poweretex, this time to make a thicker drier clay. I think that the mix was about 50:50. Basically I gradually added sand until I had a workable clay that wasn’t too wet and sticky. I then pushed the clay into the silicone moulds to create the 3D fossils. I left them to dry for several hours until they could easily be released from the moulds without distorting. Some of the bigger ones needed to be left overnight. I then placed them on a drying tray (old kitchen wire grill tray – so air could get all around) and left them overnight to dry and further harden up. I made the clay up in small manageable batches so as not to waste reagents. Any clay that wasn’t being used straight away was wrapped in cling film to stop it drying out.
4. Next I worked the Powertex into rough strips of hessian, and some pulled threads. I did struggle a bit with this at first as I used far too much Powertex. If you overdo it, like I did, grab another strip of fabric and use it to dab and squeeze out the excess. These were then ruched and applied to the canvas using a little extra Powertex as a glue where needed.
5. I then applied my fossils using Powertex to glue. In some of the more textured areas I dunked some of the kitchen towel in Powertex to make a 3D glue ‘gel’ in which to embed my fossil embellishments. I also used strips of kitchen paper to create more areas of texture. I found that it was best to separate the paper into a single ply (i.e. split the double layered tissue into 2 sheets) to ensure that it fully coated and soaked up the Powertex more easily.
6. Next I drizzled Powertex onto the canvas and sprinkled with texture balls and sand, plus a few glass beads. It is best to apply the largest balls first, then work down to the smaller sizes which fill in the gaps between the larger ones. Oh so much fun. I then left them to dry overnight ready for colouring.
7. My canvas board was a cheap cardboard type and I found that it did warp quite a bit. When dry enough I clamped it down on my rigid art board to help straighten it out while drying. A thicker strong board (MDF type) does work better. It needs to take a lot of wet media. This was obviously not an issue when working on the stretched canvas.
8. I was then ready to start adding more colour and depth with Bister and coloured varnish. Here is where I did have a slight panic. I first sprayed over my canvases with black Bister. When dry I then used a damp sponge to lift away some of the colour from the top layers. The idea was to emphasis the deep crevices and texture. Eeek – I thought that I had ruined it! The soluble Bister did lift off some areas but it was difficult to remove from others. My texture balls soaked it up and the hessian held onto quite a lot of it too. So where I had planned my colours and light areas got covered in darkness! Oh dear I thought (me swear? Tee hee).
9. After I had calmed down, it then came to me. I could go over some of the areas using the Powertex as a paint. In addition I had opaque white Powercolor in my stash so I could use that too at the varnish stage. I over painted some of the areas with the coloured Powertex. I also used the Powertex to dry brush over areas giving more highlights. So all was not lost after all. Some of the Bister dissolved back into the Powertex as I worked giving a lovely natural organic look. Ooooh happy again.
10. When the Powertex was touch dry I then dry brushed with the pigments and varnish. This stage takes a little practice. You need to mix just small amounts of varnish with the pigments (just a drop on your craft mat), remove most of it from the brush (brushing off onto tissue), then apply to the top layers lightly and gradually building up the colour. I mixed a tiny bit of ochre into white pigment (so not a harsh white) to dry brush some areas. Other areas I dry brushed with copper colour.
11. To fully seal my canvas I mixed a 50:50 mix of varnish and water and sprayed it over the canvas. Spraying enabled me to get it in and around all the crevices and 3D embellishments. I applied several coats (leaving to dry between coats). This then makes the canvas easy to clean as it can simply be run under the tap (where cleaning with a duster or cloth would be tricky). If mounting your piece behind glass this stage would not be needed. Note: Coloured Powertex is weatherproof so complete sealing with varnish is not essential unless you have used Bister (remains soluble so would wash off unless sealed with varnish).
12. Finally I added a bit of gilding wax around the edges of my canvases (this could be done with coloured varnish).