Well, I know we've only just got through Easter but summer will soon be knocking on the door and reminding me of the days when as a child we would spend our summer holidays in Devon at my Nans. I think my favourite outing aside walking along the river Otter to Otterton Mill for cream teas and yummy swizz roll was the Ladram bay beach trips.
We would pack up the picnic basket and set off early. The whole day was filled with beach fun! Playing in the rubber dingy with my sisters and shrimping in the rock pools. Looking for the crabs, starfish and wonderful fishy creatures lurking under the rocks.
I have to say I never did manage to spot a sea horse. But they are rather lovely don't you think?
We would pack up the picnic basket and set off early. The whole day was filled with beach fun! Playing in the rubber dingy with my sisters and shrimping in the rock pools. Looking for the crabs, starfish and wonderful fishy creatures lurking under the rocks.
I have to say I never did manage to spot a sea horse. But they are rather lovely don't you think?
Which leads in nicely to my latest project that I am happy to share with you all, you lucky things! I decided to go a little crazy and use two colours on this piece. I was going to use some ivory too but I thought better off it and tried to keep it a little simpler.
Top tip: Always give yourself an idea of layout and where you are going to place your items. I always take a picture of the layout on my phone as a reminder. However, this is not mandatory and set in stone, sometimes I completely change my mind on layout once I get going.
I wanted to make sure I added some kind of texture underneath the circles. So I gathered together all sorts of lace, corrugated card, wall paper, scrim to name but a few and started putting them in place to have an idea of where I wanted them.
Next I removed all circles and got the base prepped with texture and colour. Blue Powertex for the top half and green for the bottom half.
So you may be able to spot on his belly I used my circle stencil and structure paste. I also used the arty quotes stencil in places but got a bit excited with some other texture and covered most of it up. But I'm ok with that. There really are no rights or wrongs or mistakes with Powertex, it's all about play, fun and going with the flow.
Next I put all the circles and flowers back into place and gave them a coat of Powertex.
Then it was dry brushing time. I used yellow ochre powercolor along the neck, back and tail.Then popped on a little gold colortrix. For the front I mixed dark blue and pale yellow powercolour and added white for highlights with a touch of pearl colortrix for a little shimmer. And voila!
The mdf seahorse bases are available to buy at www.powertexuk.co.uk. However, I am afraid you are going to have to wait for the circles to be released on Hochanda on the 9th June. Sorry about that. But it's sure to be a great show I promise! I know what a tease, right. On the plus side you get to watch me on my Powertex tv debut! I know exciting right. Eeekkkk...not long now! Lucky I will be with our Tracey. Have we got some cracking stuff to show you!
Toodle pip Anna xXx
Hello, I've just found your blogspot, and love this seahorse. I've never worked with Powertex before. Looking forward to seeing you on Hochanda next month - will you have any kits for sale on there? It's just I'd love to have a go at making something, and a kit would perhaps be better value than having to buy full size container of each colour/pigment.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when you refer to Powertex, are you meaning the Powertex fabric hardener?
Your projects are beautiful - am looking forward to having a go, but at approx. £12.75 per 500g for each colour of Powertex, it's a bit pricey for someone just starting out with it. That's why I wondered if you might be going to sell kits on Hochanda, with smaller amounts of one or two colours/pigments?
Best Wishes to you! :)
Hi Sheila, thank you. I can tell you there will be kits. But I can't share any more at the moment. We like to make the Hochanda shows a little bit special with either new released products or special show kits, just for Hochanda. Once launched they end up on the website. If you also look in the tutors section on the website you can find someone local who you can do a workshop or taster session. We are all trained certified tutors by our Tracey at Powertex HQ. We like to call Powertex a universal medium. Hardening Fabric is just one of the fanatastic things it does. This project doesn't have to be made with two colours you could just chose to go for black which gives a lovely deep shade as a base see my steampunk heart blog that's using black. Or you could you bronze (brown) which is another nice base I like to use verdigris colours on this as you already have the bronze base. Black and brown are also the easiest colours to start off with and the pigments when dry brushed over the top stand out nicely. The bottles go a really long way depending on the project. This one took barely any at all. If you look at the Powertex addicts page on Facebook you will see lots of the beautiful art creations everyone is coming up with as well. Hope I've managed to answer some questions. Kind Regards Anna
DeleteSorry I meant some elements of the products with end up on the website. But not the actual kits. But I'm not exactly sure what as I'm just on the design team.
ReplyDelete