Powertex mixed media Christmas

Powertex mixed media Christmas ornaments – craft diy project – Anna Emelia Howlett

Anyone who knows me by now will know I am a pretty big fan of Marta Lapkowska she creates some amazing projects and works of art at Maremi Small Art. I was rather taken with her textured mixed media Christmas Tree ornament video recently. So I contacted Marta and asked her if she would mind me creating a blog inspired by her work but the Powertex mixed media Christmas way. To which she said yes! Thank you very much Marta. She also has an amazing group called Maremi’s Creative Café where you can share your makes.

I know when I shared Martas video recently someone mentioned they didn’t have one of the products. What I love about Marta is she says if you don’t have it don’t worry just used what you have. I always have Powertex in abundance on my desk. With it being a universal medium it lends itself brilliantly to projects like this.

Powertex is great not just at textile/fabric hardening but mixed media, abstract art works, sculptures and more. And would you believe you can even make a clay from it! The USA AP seal of approval and covered by EU legislations means it is safe for all ages to use. Water based and non toxic makes it my go to mixed media medium.

What you will need to create your Powertex mixed media Christmas ornaments:

Ivory Powertex, bister, sand and balls, powercotton, stockinette, polystyrene shapes, easy structure, clay stars, limoncello gold, powercolor pigments and varnish

Powertex mixed media Christmas bauble

Firstly, I happen to have some wire jewellery findings and so just stuck one into the top of the ball as a hanger. Although you could always use some wire and bend a loop around some pliers to make a hanger. In order to create the texture on the ball, mix some Easy Structure with Ivory Powertex to thin it down as little.

Next you can add in a bit of sand for extra texture. Mix with a palette knife and apply. I had the Styrofoam balls in my stash, you can use any size Polystyrene ball or shape you would like to though.

Top Tip: Yes you can go straight on to polystyrene shapes. But if you want you can always use a little masking tape underneath, this will make adhesion a little easier.

Next step cut some thin bandage to size. You could use a thin lace or fabric or stockinette. In order to create extra texture I pulled it apart a little. Coat in Ivory Powertex by dipping in or using a brush. And cover a section on the middle of the ball. Then coat some powercotton (which is a cotton string) and wrap around on top.

Coat in Ivory Powertex by dipping in or use a brush to cover and place on the middle of the ball. Then coat some power cotton (which is a cotton string) and wrap around the middle.

Top tip : Making a mixture with the balls in makes it easy to apply. Pour out a little Powertex and add the largest balls mix and then add the smaller ones.

You can use a palette knife to apply as much or as little of the mixture as you please. But try to add your own twist to the design. For mine I popped on some clay stars, I had used a cake plunger cutter to cut out all the sizes.

You could add any shapes you wanted, if you haven’t got stars. Make sure you leave this to dry completely. An hour or so should be fine. You can force the drying process with a hair dryer just be careful the heat isn’t too high you don’t want to melt the shape.

Spray with any Bister (a coloured walnut stain in spray form) of your choosing. For this I used Mahogany, Brown and Black Bister.

Then I must have gotten carried away with the colouring process which is my favourite part as I didn’t take any more pictures after this. In the last step I did use some burgundy and brown Powercolour pigment and varnish around the middle and faded the top and bottom with white Powercolor pigment and varnish. Then added a touch of my fav Secret Art Loft pearl pigment Limoncello gold.

Top Tip: Adding colour is my favourite part. Sometimes you have to keep layering and layering the colours and pigments to get your desired finish. Be patient with this part. It will come. I keep layering colours until I am happy with the finish.

Powertex mixed media Christmas Tree

Next up was the Christmas tree. I happened to have some of these in my stash too. If you don’t have a polystyrene cone you could use a cardboard cone. Use some Easy structure to cover the base of the cone. I used a little masking tape underneath to make this hold on easier.

I used the stockinette for the tree which is slightly thicker than bandage. And I found it easier to dip it directly into the powertex. Coat the fabric and use your fingers to work the Powertex in.

Then wrap around the cone. Dip your powercotton, string or mop cotton into the Powertex, work in and place onto the cone.

Next make up your ball mixture again and paste on with a palette knife. Then stick down your stars or shapes with some Ivory Powertex and a brush. Make sure your cone is completely dry before spraying in bister.

I only went and did it again with getting carried away with dry brushing I forgot to take next step photos. So I used burgundy and brown Powercolor all over the cone and then built up with white powercolour and used some Limoncello gold as a finishing touch to add a bit of sparkle.

You may have some time to set aside over Christmas to give this a try with your family and friends. Or you might save it for next year. But I hope you’ve found it useful to see how you can create all sorts of mixed media projects with Powertex. And a big thank you to Marta for allowing me to share my inspiration from her video through this blog.

Happy Holidays!

Have a fabulous holiday break and Christmas and I will see you all in the New Year with some very exciting projects to inspire. Do sign up to the blog, join us over in the Powertex Studio and on facebook share your makes with us. And please let us know how you get on and what you think in the comments under the article. Find my last blog if you missed it here.

Toodles Anna xXx you can find me over at Rosehart Studio.

Christmas Powertex Creativeness – Jinny Holt

Well hello and seasons greetings to you all.

I do love Christmas and my Christmas mojo usually goes into overdrive at this time of year! So for my December blog, it would be rude NOT to do a Christmas tutorial and for this, I decided to do a Powertex Christmas tree. It is done with using a very few basic pieces of material and of course a bottle of Powertex. In this case, I used BRONZE POWERTEX

For this project, I used some cardboard, from which Powertex materials were delivered in, Powertex, and an old pillowcase and some scraps of lace and sack cloth.

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I cut and shaped my cardboard into a cone shape and added masking tape to help secure it to its shape. I dipped my cut strips of pillowcase into my powertex and started wrapping the strips around the tree, the more strips you use the more texture you can create. I found some bits of lace and sackcloth and soaked these in Powertex and added them to my tree shape. I am a bit of a glue gun fanatic and decided to drizzle some hot glue down my tree shape.

Next for some colour, as I was doing this tree for a friend, she wanted a green tree, I used a mixture of colours and mediums, I started with some green acrylic and then added some Powertex pigment colours.

I have used some of the Art Lofts pearly pigment powders GOLDEN OLIVE and to highlight and dry brush and of course, I used lots of gold LIMONCELLO GOLD!! I get kind of sidetracked when I add the colours and the pigments and it never ceases to amaze me, how your piece comes alive at this stage!

I left my tree overnight to dry off and then added some Christmas bits and pieces on it to complete the look of my tree.

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So next time you think about throwing away that cardboard box, think again, what could it be? A bottle of powertex, a few bits and bobs and a pinch of imagination.

For all other ideas, tips and tricks with what you can do with Powertex try…

THE POWERTEX STUDIO

POWERTEX UK

You can also find me on Facebook at Mums Shed

Thank you for reading this blog and I hope whatever you are doing over the Christmas season be safe and be happy and keep creating.

Until next month,

~Jinny~

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – Powertex mixed media – Fiona Potter

Wow can you believe it’s the end of another year. What a year we had with the best, hottest, longest summer the UK has had in a good few years. If you have been following me on social media you will know that I’ve had quite an astral year and to end the theme I have created this rather cute Powertex Stone Art Star. Here’s how I did it…

You will need a star base with hanger, Powertex in Ivory or White, Stone Art Powder, Extra fine snow glitter, fake snow and iridescent glitter flakes,Secret Art Loft Interference Lilac or Interference Blue Pigment, Powertex Easy Varnish and some flat back crystals with AB coating.

Working on one star arm at a time, brush on some Powertex Liquid Medium then gently press some stone art powder over the painted area. You might see some Powertex oozing out and if you do just press more Stone Art Powder over it. Once you have coated the star on both sides it will look like this:

Now dab on some more Powertex Liquid Medium and repeat the first step until you have completed three layers. This will give you a good strong finish. Let it dry. Next paint on a very fine layer of Powertex Liquid Medium on one full side and press the fine snow glitter into it. Repeat on the other side until it looks similar to this

Leave it to dry and clean away the excess glitter.

Top Tip: Keep a separate box for the left over stone Art powder, glitter and flake from this project – you can use it with Powertex in another project!

Once it is dry, use some Powertex Easy Varnish and Secret Art Loft Interference Lilac or Interference Blue pigment and add along the spine of each of the star arms. This will create highlights.

Once this has dried, add a light layer of Powertex to the outer edges of the star arms on both sides and press in some of the fake snow and iridescent glitter flakes.

Once this is dry add the final touch of some tiny AB coated flat back crystals. These will really catch the light. Leave it to dry well before adding to your festive house.

All that leaves me to do is to thank you for following us here on the the Powertex Blog and on Hochanda. I look forward to seeing your festive makes in The Powertex Studio and Powertex Addicts United.

I wish you all a very Merry of Christmas and may all your dreams come true!

See you in 2019 for lots more Powertex Fun!

Fi xx

We Three Powertex Kings – Powertex Christmas – Donna Mcghie

I did wonder when those lovely people at Powertex HQ told me I was being given ‘We Three Kings’ as my December theme, if they were indulging my love of bling.

I do tend to throw a bit of bling into most things I create, so my mind was buzzing with ideas for this one.

I had picked up some artist dolls in a sale a while ago, who were just perfect for this project.

artist dolls waiting for powertex — These three artist dolls were just begging to play the part of the three kings

I have to admit that I was surprised just how much I had forgotten about who these kings were. So I used the site www.whychristmas.com to help me out.

Balthazar was the first king I worked on:

IMG_20181207_162400-01 — Balthazar – The King of Tarse and Egypt

I painted his face and hands with Black Powertex Fabric Hardener.

I then soaked some natural material in the same hardener, thoroughly wrung out and draped over his body.

I used Powercotton soaked in Powertex for his beard and hair.

Apparently he wears a purple cloak. This got me excited because I know how wonderful the new violet valentine pigment shows up on black.

I soaked a lovely piece of silky fabric with tassles in the Black Hardener, wrung it out thoroughly and draped this over him to create his cloak.

I wanted to give the impression of Balthazar walking through a windy desert, so to get some movement in his cloak I stuck it onto a plastic bottle to dry overnight. (I knew I was safe to do this as Powertex won’t stick permanently to plastic).

The next morning I peeled it off and it was staying in that position which was exactly what I wanted.

IMG_20181208_101338-01 — He’s looking more like Shakespeare than a biblical king at the moment – but only because he’s not yet got his turban on

The next king on my list was Melchior

IMG_20181207_111529-01 — Melchior King of Arabia

I went through the same process with Melchior, only this time using Lead Powertex. Melchoir apparently had long white hair and a white beard. I used some tassle for this that I found in a charity shop.

IMG_20181207_162640-01 — The back view of Melchior’s flowing locks

Melchior wears a gold cloak, so once dry I used the gorgeous Rich Gold Pigment for dry brushing.

Last but not least, was Caspar

IMG_20181207_105536-01 — Caspar, King of Sheba

Caspar has brown hair and a brown beard, so I used Terracotta Powertex Hardener mixed in with a little black as well for the first stages.

For Caspar’s beard and hair I used some synthetic fur I had got from a Scrap Store. (I knew these figures were’nt for outside use so I decided to try the synthetic fur, and it worked ok).

His crown is simply a small piece I also picked up in the scrap store. I think with imagination a lot of things can be made into crowns.

Caspar’s cloak is green which once dry would give me the chance to use another gorgeous, fairly new addition of Golden Olive Pigment

Before each king was left overnight, I added some bling to their coats.

I used small boxes wrapped in fabric as their gifts, and also placed the kings on small tiles to give them stability.

I left them all to dry overnight, and the next morning went to down on dry brushing using a variety of gloriously royal pigments from Powertex UK

And behold, my finished Three Kings.

IMG_20181207_113739-01 — We 3 Kings, setting off on an epic journey, with cloaks flowing in the wind

There are so many Christmas themed projects you can make using Powertex. I would love to see your creations over on Powertex Addicts United page.

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas, and look forward to seeing you in the New Year. Donna x

Top Ten Tips for a Powertex Christmas – Annette Smyth

Hello Everyone

I don’t know about you but I just love this time of year. I have Christmas movies and music playing in the background from the beginning of November!!

So in the spirit of the season, I wanted to share some ideas with you on how to get a wintery festive feel into your projects. So here are my top ten tips for Christmas crafting along with some festive musical titles (how many can you recognise?)………..

1. LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW………

In my opinion you can never have enough snow!

Mix small 3D Balls and 3D Sand into White Powertex to get a textured snow effect. Experiment with different amounts of each until you get the consistency you need for your project.

Dry brushing with Powerpearl pigment makes the snow glisten.

2. OH CHRISTMAS TREE, OH CHRISTMAS TREE ………

Icelandic/Reindeer moss coated in Transparent Powertex makes a lovely textured Christmas tree. Be sure you give it enough time to dry – I left mine overnight, be careful if you use a hairdryer to speed up the process as you can burn the moss.

Here I have used moss that has been dyed bright green. The Powertex makes the dye bleed very slightly, so be aware of that when placing onto your project.

As the Powertex dried and became stickier, I used a skewer to push the tree into shape.

3. (Christmas) PRETTY LIGHTS ON THE TREE……..

Coat the large 3D Balls in Powertex and then dry brush with the pigments of your choice to make beautiful Christmas lights. To get a real shine coat with Easycoat Glossy.

These can then be placed onto your tree and for a stringed light effect use Powercotton coated in transparent Powertex to connect the lights together.

4. DECORATIONS OF RED ON A GREEN CHRISTMAS TREE……

Well actually the decorations can be any colour you like.

Use Stoneart clay and your favourite silicon moulds to create decorations for your tree. Attach to your project using Transparent Powertex .

Watch the video in the Penguin blog to see how to make Stoneart clay.

Dry brush with pigments to complement your chosen colour scheme

5. MERRY CHRISTMAS MR BUBLE……

Ok so I cheated on this title as I couldn’t think of any song with baubles in it……but you can’t have Christmas without a bit of Mr Buble.

Take a ball of Stoneart clay, insert a loop of cotton then coat with Easy Varnish.

Dip into glitter for a sparkly look or coat with your snow mix to look like a snowball.

6. WITH AN EVERGREEN WREATH ON A RED FRONT DOOR……..

You can make a great Christmas wreath by using a mdf cog. Coat with a layer of Powertex Green. Dip strips of Paperdec into the Powertex and lay around the cog in a circular shape.

Dry brush with Colortricx Terragreen pigment and sprinkle on a little snow to finish your wreath.

7. DECK THE HALLS WITH BOUGHS OF HOLLY…………

Use your Stoneart clay with any cutters you have to create embellishments. Here I’ve used a sugarcraft holly leaf cutter with green clay. Remember to keep these cutters for non food use only.

The holly berries are 3d Balls dipped in Powertex and drybrushed with red pigment then coated with Easycoat Glossy.

8. WITH THOSE HOLIDAY GREETINGS AND GAY HAPPY MEETINGS……

You can add any greetings you like into your project by using the mdf letters .

I coated mine in the base colour then placed them onto my project. Using white Powertex I then painted over the top to make them stand out.

9. THE PRETTIEST PICTURE YOU’VE EVER SEEN IS CHRISTMAS IN KILLARNEY……

You can add a focal point into your project by using the Powertex rice papers.

Select the image you want to use and draw around it (leaving a small margin) using a wet paintbrush. Now gently pull away the excess paper keeping your hand on the image, this way if you tear by mistake it will be the waste that you rip into and not your picture.

Attach to your project using Easycoat Matt.

10. RAISE A CUP OF CHRISTMAS CHEER………..

After all your hardwork treat yourself to a little of what you like

Merry Christmas and Happy Creative Adventures…..see you all in the New Year

Axx

‘Gonzo the Great’ – A Powertex Christmas tale – Abigail Lagden

Muppet Christmas Carol by Abigail Lagden

As a Powertex Tutor, I am lucky to run a number of my workshops in a gorgeous little home & gift shop in Sedgefield, County Durham called From Loft to Loved. The shop is owned and run by Sarah and Kim, two lovely ladies who share my passion for recycling, upcycling and repurposing and this is reflected in their creative work and the ethos of the shop.

So, when they asked if I would create a bauble for their tree as part of the annual Sedgefield Christmas Tree Festival, I was only too happy to oblige (not that I need much encouragement to get creating). The overall theme for this year’s festival is ‘A Carol for Christmas’ and so the girls decided to go with the less traditional (but so much more fun) idea of ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’.

As soon as they said this, I knew what I had to make. Whenever I think of this film I always think of The Great Gonzo as Charles Dickens, so that is what my bauble was inspired by.

I started with a polystyrene egg, some cardboard, bronze Stone Art clay and some dishcloth and muslin.

Starting Materials

First I cut a wedge out of one end of the polystyrene egg for the mouth. I then sculpted his nose using tin foil and secured it in place using masking tape.

Egg with nose

Next I covered the whole thing with a layer of Stone Art clay, made using bronze Powertex mixed with Stone Art. (I would have used blue Powertex but I had quite a bit of bronze clay left over from something I was making back in the summer).

I made two eyeballs from white air drying paper clay and attached them using a little Powertex before adding eyelids made from stone art clay.

Head without fur

Little pieces of dishcloth were then coated with bronze Powertex and added to the top and sides of the head for his fur.

Gonzo head

Now for the hat..

This was constructed using cardboard – a ring for the brim of the hat, a strip of card for the sides and a circle to fill in the top. This was painted using bronze Powertex and then covered using Powertex coated muslin. Some t-shirt yarn was used for the band.

Wrapped hat

The hat was then attached to ‘Gonzo’s’ head using Powertex and the piece was left to dry for a couple of days.

Gonzo Before Colouring - Curiously Contrary

Now to bring him to life with colour…

I used ultramarine blue, red and white Powercolor pigments for the head and orange and bronze gold for the hat. The eyes were finished off using a black permanent marker to draw the pupils.

Gonzo the Great by Abigail Lagden

Gonzo on a tree - Curiously Contrary

My Gonzo inspired bauble will be appearing on From Loft to Loved’s Christmas Tree as part of the Christmas Tree Festival in St Edmund’s Church, Sedgefield from Saturday 1st – Thursday 6th December. Here is a sneaky peek at him on setting up day.

From Loft to Loved Christmas Tree

Gonzo in St Edmunds

Hopefully ‘Gonzo’ will make a few people smile while he is there. Then after the 6th he will move into the From Loft to Loved shop just around the corner to bring more Christmas cheer from their Christmas tree.

Don’t forget to make all of us smile and get us in the festive mood by sharing your own makes in The Powertex Studio facebook group.

If you’d like to see what else I’m getting up to over the festive season, you can check out my Curiously Contrary facebook page and my website.

Until next year, Merry Christmas

Abs xx

Powertex Christmas ornament

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Create a Powertex Christmas ornament

I always joke in January, it will be Christmas soon. Well this is no joke we are knocking on the door of December and it will be Christmas soon! I love me a bit of Christmas, don’t you? Not all the buying presents kind. Most get hand made from me anyway. But the smells of cinnamon, orange and clove, decorating the house and being with the family. Without further ado I am going to explain how to make your own Powertex Christmas ornament.

Powertex Christmas pud

powertex christmas ornament

I remember when we were little we would get out all the Christmas cards from previous years. We would cut around the pictures with pinking shears to make Christmas tags for all the presents. Then out came the felt! We’d glue and sew little stockings and baubles with openings at the back for the chocolate coins to hide in. I’m unsure the chocolate survived until Christmas day though.

powertex christmas ornament

I hope you find inspiration for crafting with the young people in your life or just for yourself. Making Christmas decorations has come a long way. Especially when you have a bottle of Powertex to hand.

I found some plastic baubles in my stash. But you could use Styrofoam balls or up cycle an old bauble. Stone art seems to just fit this time of year perfectly.

I wrapped masking tape flush with the bauble, then used bronze Powertex liberally over the surface. Next I gently rubbed and layered Stone Art into the surface in order to build texture. And dry brushed with red ocher powercolor.

Then I made up some stone art clay and rolled out roughly. Laid this over the top of the bauble so it would sit unevenly. I dry brushed with titanium white powercolor. Then hand cut some holly leaves out of clay and stamped into them to give them a pattern. Rolled a little clay for the berry and used Powertex on the back to stick down.

Then dusted the whole pudding with some of my favourite in the Secret Art loft range Limoncello Gold. And a dash of Lipstick fizz on the berry for an extra sparkle.

Powertex Reindeer

Then I thought it would be rather fun to make ruddolf! Create in exactly the same way but with added clay antlers and nose. I used stockinette on the ears and buttons for the eyes. Then dry brushed with the same colours.

Powertex Robin

Next I decided it wouldn’t be right to miss out a robin and so created this little guy in the same way but just used some paper dec for the wings.

Do put some creative time aside this Christmas and be inspired to create some Christmas decorations for yourself. Do join us over in the Powertex Studio and share your work. We are a lovely friendly bunch and helpful too. So if you are stuck on a project just pop in and someone will be able to help. More from me here.

Happy holidays. Toodles Anna xXx Catch me over on Facebook at Rosehart Studio.

Crafting in Winter

Hello, hello

Me again with another blog for the Design team. My brief for this blog was “Winter Crafting” well this had me thinking about Christmas, as I do love Christmas, even at my age! I love, love, love making Christmas creations and would happily make Christmas creations all year round.

My first creation is a Christmas bauble and I was very inspired by a recent trip to Roslyn Chapel, if you have never been, you should visit, if in Scotland. The place is amazing and all the carvings inside the chapel are all unique, every single pillar and archways.

For this project I used…

One polystyrene egg form
Ivory Powertex
Stone art clay
Molds
Plastic bottle top

I made up some Stone art clay, brushed my moulds with some dry stone art, so as not to stick.

I then placed the moulded stone art clay to my egg form and glued them down with the Transparent Powertex. Then dried off with my hairdryer

I then painted the dried egg form with the dark brown powercolor pigment and had already decided I wanted to do an ombre effect on my Christmas bauble with brown and cream, I used Ivory Powertex as my cream colour.

I then turned my egg form upside down and glued on a plastic lid from my Grandsons discarded drinks bottles, always good to recycle and it was perfect for the topper of a bauble.

I dry brushed with some Ivory Powertex and the colortricx Rich Gold Pigment.

I glued on some gold crotchet material I had in my stash and some plastic silver bling, popped a wire through the hole in the top and secured it in with some hot glue.

Have fun creating your own decorations for Christmas. I know I did! Jinny x

Northern Lights

Well here we are Autumn is almost over the dark nights are with us. I love crisp cold dark nights when I can see lots of stars twinkling in the sky after the stunning colours of the setting sun. Here in the UK there a only a handful of places where, if the conditions are right you might spot the Northern Lights. Going to Norway or Iceland to see the Northern Lights is high on my bucket list but until then, I have created my own abstract Powertex painting to stir or feed that dream!

So grab a coffee and relax while I take you through some very simple steps to create your own version.

First I took a canvas that had been part used on a demonstration and it already had some texture at the bottom. I had created the texture using a mix of Easy Structure and Powertex sand balls which I put down on a white 30×30 cm canvas.

I then made up some Easy 3D Flex with some white powertex and using a metal artist pallet knife I spread the 3D Flex mixture vertically on my canvas. As the base texture was already dry, I painted over a good coat of White Powertex.

Next I mixed up some blue bister granules using a teaspoon of granules to 30 mls of warm water from the kettle with 30mls of white vinegar. This gives a crisper look when sprayed on your canvas as can be seen in the image below. I also sprayed some standard black bister at the top area of the sky section

To give more depth I sprinkled some blue bister granules onto the area representing water and rocks and sprayed this with water.

I then left the whole thing to dry and crack over two or three days.

Once it was dry I washed back the black area of bister using a damp sponge. I then used a mix of the Aqua blue and Deep Sea Secret Art Loft acrylic inks to create the dark water and sky. I then used Secret Art Loft acrylic paints in Key Lime, Blueberry Pie and Plumb Pudding on a very dry brush to create the colours synonymous with the Northern Lights.

I then added some metallic highlights using Golden Metallic and Viola Metallic inks as well as Green Ginger, Limoncello Gold and Colortricx Pearl pigments mixed with Powertex Easy Varnish.

I can’t tell you exactly how I added the pigments and colours as I use loads and loads of very light layers, just experiement and have fun!

Here is the finished piece

Here is a short video tour of the painting giving closeups on my colour blending.

See you in December where I have created a Powertex Christmas Ornament!

Bye for now

Simple step by step to a cute Powertex Penguin

For this month’s Powertex Blog we were given the theme of winter crafting.

As we are getting towards the end of the year, and I have obviously got lots of lovely new Powertex goodies on my Christmas list (and I have been a fairly good girl) I thought it was a good opportunity to also use up some spare bits I had from previously in the year.

Meet Quentin


Quentin (made using bronze powertex)

Priscilla

Priscilla (made using grey powertex)

and Paulio

Paulio (made using black powertex)

What I used:
Small amount of Powertex Stone Art
Small amount of Powertex Fabric Hardener
Powertex Colour Pigments
Small amount of Powertex Easy Varnish
Small scraps of fabric
Small Polystyrene Eggs

How I made my Powertex Penguins:

I had a few small polystyrene Easter eggs left over from Easter crafting workshops and projects, and when I looked at these, the image of a cute little penguin appeared in my mind.

Having just finished a unicorn workshop I had a small amount of stone art clay left over, (which was made using bronze powertex) which was just perfect for covering the egg to create a penguin shape.

I had my stone art clay already mixed left over from my previous workshop (if kept in an airtight container it will last for quite some time once mixed up). But if you are mixing it fresh it is very easy to do (it always reminds me of making pastry)

Simply pour a small amount of your hardener into a tub, and gradually add stone art, little by little, mixing with a pallet knife until a dough like subtance forms. Roll it into a ball, and keep kneading and rolling until it comes away cleanly from your hands.

I made up three small balls, as I find it easier to work in this way


mix up small balls of stone art clay using Powertex Fabric Hardener and stone art

From here I simply rolled small bits out and covered my egg shape with the clay. I like to create textures in the clay so I used a small stamp to do this as I went. Be sure to make the base of the egg quite flat so that your penguin is able to stand steadily.

I rolled a smaller ball to create a head shape, then added small rolls flattened out to indicate the wings, and molded a beak which I added to the head. For eyes you can use any small round beads. I was making it up as I went along, and had some Powertex sand balls handy so used these, painted black which worked just as well.


Starting to look vaguely penguinesque

It is when you add the colour that the penguins start to come to life. I used black, white, tequila sunrise and silver, but basically you can use any colour that takes your fancy. These are fantasy penquins, so use your imagination.

I was quite pleased with Quentin, but something was missing. My daughter had the solution. ‘He needs a little scarf’ she told me, and she was right, he did. So I simply cut up an old scarf from my stash of material, soaked in transparent powertex and wrapped it round him to keep him nice and snug. The final touch, and purely optional was some frosty glitter.

I was so pleased with him, and with how easy it was to make, that I made up some more stone art clay using some black powertex that had been lingering in the bottom of a bottle, and also some grey and made him a mum and a dad, so now I have my own cute little Powertex Penguin Family


Quentin, Priscilla and Paulio – keeping as snug as possible against that cold wind

These were genuinely quick and easy to make – and a great way to use up any last bits of stone art clay or powertex that you have lying around.

If you decide to make a Powertex Penguin we would love to see your photos over at the facebook page Powertex Addicts United

You can see more of my makes on my website www.artandmurals.co.uk www.artandmurals.co.uk