Down the rabbit hole

I was very excited when I got to create my Alice inspired pieces because I was up in Tracey's studio at Powertex hq. I thought I had been really clever and taken step by step photos but alas no. I had not been that clever. So I will therefore walk through the steps I took to create my piece. Have you got yours yet? Find them here.

I actually started off with Ivory Powertex and gave everything a base coat. Apart from the Cheshire cat grin and the 10/6 which I coated in Black Powertex . 

TOP TIP: If you coat both the front and back pieces your working on it will help prevent warping. Being good quality mdf this is unlikely to happen but it will enable you to strenghten the piece if you are loading it up with a lot of embellishments and texture.

Once dry I placed the rice paper to the top of the hat by applying Easy Coat to the base, laying the paper and giving a liberal coat over the top. 

In the middle of the brim part of the hat I place some patterned wall paper stuck with and re-coated with Ivory Powertex.

I then dipped some stockinette into the Ivory Powertex and stuck into place on either side of the hat all the way down to the brim. I dipped some lace which I scrunched up and put in place underneath the band of the hat.

I took some Easy structure through the Alice stencil on the card shapes and the band of the hat and then applied another coat of Ivory Powertex over the top once dry. The texture on the feather was created by pulling some Easy Structure over the surface with a palette knife and then once dry was coated in another layer of Ivory Powertex.

I created the 10/6 sign by using the mdf rectangular shape as a template around some cardboard and then covering in linen which had been dipped in Ivory Powertex. I used the rose and the daisy mould to create some embellishments from stone art clay and then painted up in the Raspberry Sorbet and Orange Marmalade acrylics on the roses and the feather and the Lemon Meringue and Orange Marmalade on the daisy shapes. 

I then painted the band with the Key Lime acrylic and the base of the hat and sides with a mixture of Orange Marmalade into Raspberry Sorbet into Blueberry Pie. I also used all the colours on the words fading in and out of one another. All the pieces were then stuck down with Transparent Powertex and left to dry.

I'm really please Leonie liked my journal I thought for a moment it wouldn't be coming home with Tracey. This one was fun to create with multi-layer stenciling, on the cover and rice papers. Green and blue bisters to give it a softer finish. The rabbit uses the crackle effect you get with Ivory Powertex, brown bister and a hair dryer. I used the rice papers on the inside covers too. Hope you enjoyed the Hochanda shows, I certainly had fun creating my art to inspire. Toodles Anna xXx