Bister Mister Spray Tray

A crafter can never have too much storage and what is nicer than decorating your own?  I'm making quite a few bits at the moment in an effort to make my tiny weeny art space more colourful and more organised.  My latest piece is done with Powertex.

I made the kit up and then coated all over with Ivory Powertex.  I then added a texture paste, made up from Powetex and 3D flex. I roughly spread it over the two ends and in patches on the top of the storage caddy.  
On the longer sides I used Easy Structure to push through two of the artist quote stencils.  I then sprayed with blue bister and left to dry.
I also stencilled one side of the carry handle and on the other I roughly spread some of the 3D flex texture paste and pressed a plaster piece into it.
Once dry I washed back removing the surface bister and leaving a nicely stained base.  The bister had encouraged some great crackles on the ends and some nice fine ones on the top.
Next I used Acrylic inks from The Secret Art Loft to build up layers of colour and to bring out the crackles.

I used Aqua, Viola, Palm and Deep Sea which I applied randomly with a brush, wiping back with a wet wipe. This enabled me to build a colourful piece with a nice splodgy arty vibe.


Over the handle I added the colours and let them drip down, this gave a nice deep colour in the corners where the handle met the top of the tray.

Finally I mixed up some Bronze Colortricx with some Easy varnish and dry brushed the art quotes.

I also used some Secret Art Loft Blueberry Pie acrylic paint and dry brushed over the rough textures to add further depth.  

That's all for now

Fi xx

Mixed Up Blog Hop

I hope you are enjoying meeting the Mixed Up Design Team! Welcome to my blog.

As you know, each of us is sharing our favourite makes for Mixed Up today, and the project I’ve chosen to share with you is Deep Ice.

I created Deep Ice for the December 17/January 18 Magazine issue. I adore getting texture into whatever I create and this one is a very deeply textured and tactile piece made from Powertex and mediums created to work with it. 

It took a few days to create from start to finish just because you need to be patient and let the layers of 3D Flex texture paste dry out before you start adding colour. This was the base layer…

And this shows the build up of colour using pure powder pigments blended into Powerwax which is water based and archival quality..

I’m also showing a sneak peek of my Upcycled Powertex Japanese Journal that was published on Mixed Up Mag on Friday 18th May! You need to be a subscriber to view this step by step project.  

Mixed up Mag is such awesome value, not only do you get 3-4 step projects added per week, but there are downloadable pdfs for each project plus lots of other tips and tricks, how to's, interviews, product reviews and much more.The Mixed Up website has tons of mixed media projects, including these and many more!  If you want to know more pop on over to the website here
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Make sure you visit everyone’s blog to be in with a chance of winning the Grand Prize! Here’s the hop list!

Mixed Up Magazine
Leslie Lineberry
Riikka Kovasin
Erica Evans
Debs Wainwright
Carol Fox
Corrie Herriman
Fiona Potter YOU ARE HERE
Mags Woodcock
Lisa Taggart
Nikki K
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Hop Rules:
Visit each designer and leave a comment on their blog for a chance to win a fabulous mixed media prize
The draw is open interntionally
The draw closed 31st May at midnight GMT

Under the Sea Brooch - Mixed Up Mag Challenge Team Blog - Texture

Just a quick update to my blog on texture on how I add texture in my jewellery pieces.  This blog is part of the first challenged on the Make it Mixed Media Challenge Blog - May 2018 Texture. I'm so happy to be on this team as I love the magazine and love contributing my project ideas to it.

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Here I am again, it's like waiting for a bus - you wait for hours then all of a sudden three come along at once! Random but that's me at the moment as my head is popping off in all directions.

I'm in the middle of a big sort out as I'm planning on opening an Etsy shop and also some of my jewellery is going off to a new craft centre where hopefully some of it will be sold.  OK I'm rambling...

I came across this piece that I made from scratch when I was planning a bare copper and resin workshop for Jewellery Maker.

This Under the Sea inspired piece was made with Bare Copper which I textured and riveted together before oxidising.  I then added an image in the background.  The texture in this comes from two sources. The dark blue texture is crushed Sodalite gemstones.  The lighter blue is coarse German glass glitter.  These were all set in place in the first layer of resin.

I then added some more images of fish and some tiny real sea shells that I picked up on the beach.  These added depth and dimension and were set in place with another layer of resin. 

To finish I added more glass glitter and Sodalite and topped it off with a small real pearl and a silver fish charm.

Watch out for more jewellery blogs soon

By for now

Fi

Powertex Hat - NEC November 2017

Hi there long time no see!

I took a nice break and enjoyed 2 weeks in Cornwall in September and October just seemed to disappear!  Then November came along with a fabulous Hobby show at the NEC and I had a great time with Powertex UK demonstrating all kinds of texy things.

There was a lot of interest in the hat I bought along to alter with Powertex and so as promised here is a quick step by step photo story of how this old felt trilby was transformed into a bit of goth type magic. 

I started with a selection of fabrics and added MDF, Plaster and sand embellishments.

Once it was dry I added a variety of pigments to give it colour and to bring out all the fabulous textures.

It really was a great project to make and I wore it the following weekend at Ministry of Mixology, Coventry and here is the finiished hat.

Products used were all Powertex:

• Black Fabric Hardener
• Powertex UK MDF embellishments
• Powertex 3D Sand balls in small, medium and large
• Easy Varnish
• Powercolor Pigments - Burgundy, Ultramarine and White
• Colortricx - Pearl

Have fun and happy 'Texing

Bye for now

Fi

Powertex - Nefertiti's Collar

Hi all,  I thought it was time to share a couple of my projects from Powertex UK's recent Egyptian themed shows on Hochanda.

So today I'm going to share how I made Nefertiti's gemstone collar.  Not real gemstones of course but made with Black Powertex and  3D sand.  I mixed the Powertex and Sand to a thick paste and pushed into a cabochon mould.  These take a few days to dry so make them a few days before you want to make your collar.

I then worked Ivory Powertex into some woven cotton tape and wrapped this very tightly around the collar base.  

Make sure you overlap the edges evenly as they will form part of the texture of the finished piece.

Tip: these collars have a habit of slipping forward so you might want to drill a hole on each end to fix a jump ring, some chain and a nice clasp to for peace of mind.  I didn't but I really wish I had as the weight pulled it forward even more.



Next I added some sand to a little Powertex to make a paste and put a small dollop onto the back of each faux gemstone and then pushed these into the now dry collar.

Don't add too much or it oozes out but the addition of the paste really help grab the weight of the faux stones onto the near vertical collar and made it easier to work with.


Once the stones were in place, I worked some more ivory Powertex into some paper string.  

I love using paper string where I want a twisted rope effect, it's light weight and absorbs the Powertex so well.

Starting on the lower edge of each stone, I tightly wrapped the string around to give the effect of a twisted wire setting.

Cut the end of at the opposite lower edge of each wrap.


I then coiled a little of the string and pressed one end onto the collar at the our edge and threaded under and over each stone finish with another coil on the opposite side.

Next I painted a thick layer of ivory powertex over the whole piece apart from the stones.  

I then sprayed the whole piece with brown bister and dried with the hairdryer, this added another layer of texture and in some places where a bister split was achieved.  

One it was dry I used red ochre, ultramarine blue and dark green Powercolor pigments which I mixed with Easy Varnish and built up colour on the stones.  

I was very careful to make sure the colour didn't go onto the rope.  I then mixed up Rich Gold Colortrix with more Easy Varnish and quite heavily painted the rope setting and less heavily on the remaining areas.  There's a useful Pigment Tray now that has a small quantity of pigments to help build up your pallete.

As a finishing touch I added some flat back crystals from my stash in the same colours as the stones.

Now here's a little tease, these stones have been enhanced even further, so check back late September/early October and see how these stones look even more realistic! 

That's all for now, let us see your makes on Powertex Addicts United.

Keep creating!

Fi xx

A Perfectly Pink Powertex Jelly Fish

I'm loving the POWERTEX shows on HOCHANDA today and I hope you are too!  Tracey and Anna have done us proud and I am so inspired! 

A day without Powertex is a day...well let's not even go there!

So here's another project to help you create your own Powertex art work.  It's time for a Jelly Fish! 

I remember my brother being stung by one of these critters in Llandudno when we were kids and that was not fun at all!!!! This however was....


As before, I did a rough layout of where I thought I would place my embellishments and textiles.  

TIP: Take a photo!  Once we swipe them off to get started it's easy to forget!

I started with Ivory Powertex and spread this all over and in the joins between the top and bottom peices.  I then spread it all over the strengthening piece.  

I love the way these have been designed!

I dried it with a hairdryer (then picked up all the embellishments that were blown over the floor by the hairdryer - woops!!)



Once dry I turned it over and did the same on the front.

I then poured a tiny bit of the Red Powertex into the Ivory and mixed it up. This gave me a soft to medium pink!

TIP: less is more in colour mixing as Powertex tends to dry darker!

I spread the pink Powertex all over the front and then started to add my texture.

First I started with some of the lace and ricrac braid.  Using the lace around the curved top of the jelly fish and moving down to the two outer tentacles with the ricrac braid.

Next the embellishments, circles and cogs.

Oh boy I had fun with this, it was kind of like karma thinking back to my unfortunate brother falling foul to their nasty sting!  

I have to say I haven't had so much macabre fun in ages!!!


Once they were all in place, I used some of the Powercotton from the embellishment pack to add a bit more texture.

I then sprayed with black bister for a bit of dimension and dried with the hairdryer and left the piece to dry overnight.

NOTE: you can dry this in a drying box to speed up but it was more convenient to me to leave overnight.  I also find this gives the metal embellishments chance to dry to a really hard fix.


I had fun on day 2 adding lots of colour to bring out all that fabulous texture and detail.

The first lot of dry brushing I did was with the Powercolour burgundy pigment with Easy varnish and my 3/4" Powerex Brush to go back over some of the areas I had covered with bister, this can be seen in the image above right.  

I then moved onto blue and green, as shown on the left.

Next one of my favourite colours, Yellow Ochre - you can seen this around the tentacles in the image to the right! 

As I always do, I added bits and bobs of colour in various places sometimes overlapping with what colour I had already laid down.  This really creates so much interest.

Finally I used my most favourite of the gold pigments Colourtrix Bronze Gold.

Here is my funky Perfectly Pink Powertex Jelly Fish in all it's glory!

Hope you like it and hope to see your Jelly Fish popping up on Powertex Addicts facebook page very soon!

Have fun and bye for now!

Fi xx

Oh so pretty Powertex Seahorse

So what did you think of the fabulous PowertexUK launch shows on HOCHANDA last night with Tracey Evans and my hugely talented Powertex DT teamy, Anna Amelia Howlett of Rosehart Studio?  What fabulous products they have bought us and oh my... their projects!!!!!

I love all the hustle and bustle that preparation for live shows bring with them and I have been very blessed to have been able to play with some of the gorgeous products they have bought you to create this rather pretty Seahorse and in a later blog today there is a perfectly pink Jelly Fish.

Before I started I spread out the embellishments and textiles on my workbench and came up with a rough idea of placement.  I chose to work mainly with the floral elements for my seahorse so that I could get two very different looks.

So to get started, I brushed some Ivory Powertex along the seam of the two main pieces and then brushed more Powertex onto the back of the square mdf piece and pressed this down over the join.  This gives great stability and you can also use this area to put the hanging loop on.

I then spread Ivory Powertex over the entire back and dried off with a hair dryer. I then turned it over and spread Powertex of the front and edges.

Next I started to put the embellishments into place having first coated with Powertex.  I tend to drop them into the Powertex and then rub with my hand.  This ensures that the Powertex gets into all the nooks and crannies and means we will get a superb bond ...you know the kind that Powertex is famous for!

I began at the head of the Seahorse, I used one of the circles that I snapped in half and placed in the nose area to accentuate the smile that I always think of when I look at Seahorse.

I also left some clear unembellished areas so that I could work with the Black Bister later.

I gradually moved down the body of the Seahorse adding some lace to the outer curve accentuating the spine and then some of the RicRac braid on the inner curve.

I pressed some flat and left some proud of the base as this will give extra texture and dimension.  I also left some overhanging the edge, again to add dimension.

I continued to build up the texture using the embellishments and under some of the metal pieces I rubbed some Powertex into some kitchen paper and scrunched up to raise them further and also to aid the bonding with the metal and Powertex.

Once I had added all my embellishments I added some more Powertex to the areas I had left empty.

I then sprayed liberally with the black bister and then used a hairdryer to dry off some of the bister and create a bit more textural interest with a bister split.

I then left the piece to dry overnight.

Day 2...let's get colourful and bring out the character using the various pigments that are in the One Day Special as well as the Easy Varnish.

As with the embellishments I made to colour palettes from the pigments in the kit so that the looks were very different. 

I used the Turquoise and green first and then moved on to burgundy and lilac.    

I don't add all the same colours over everything, I tend to pick out areas but allow some overlap so there is little or no evidence of a join.    

I carried on with the colours over the entire piece.






Once the main piece was coloured I decided to add a pop of colour.


So using the orange I hightlight just a few of the flower centres and the wings on butterflies.


Finally I used silver to add a bit of lustre to what I think is a rather pretty Seahorse!

Below are some close ups to show you how I created the detail, highlights and shadows.

I hope you like her and enjoy using your Powertex One Day Special and create a fabulous Seahorse of your own.

Please share your makes with us over on our facebook page Powertex Addicts United.

Keep watching Tracey and Anna on HOCHANDA and pop back later today and there will be another step project for you to follow using more of today's fabulous POWERTEX products.

Bye for now

Fi xx