Powertex Workshop with Steph

I've just come back from a fabulous three hour taster workshop with Steph using Powertex and other products. Here is Steph explaining the Powertex and what we are going to do today. I met Lesley there and another couple of lovely ladies, Sandra and Lorna were booked on too.

And down at the other end of the table, Steph explaining which bits of fabric work well and which are a bit more awkward, but do-able.

Steph showing us how to get the most out of the product.

And then checking that everything is covered, more dipping required!

Once she was happy with the coverage she started to mould it around the bottle and add creases etc to create texture and ruffles.

And further down the bottle adding creases and more moulding going on.

This is my workspace, I'd been at the end of the table and gathered my supplies. Now unfortunately there aren't any more photos of the next steps as I had to ditch the gloves as they were way too big, so I just went in directly with my hands!!

And here are the ladies touching up their bottles before they go into the make shift dryer to assist in drying the Powertex to harden the fabric.

Lesley just touching hers up.

Then she decided it needed some 3d balls.

Here is a close up of the mini 3d balls along the bottom of the bottle and the white ones on the table are ready to be painted and attached.

Once they'd been suitably dried Steph gave us a demo of using the pigments and the dry brushing to help bring out the textures.

This is my finished bottle, or I thought it was.....

I then went back in with an ultra marine blue and added more pigments.

This is the front of Lesleys, she used green and silver for her hi-lights.

And this is the back, she got some fab wrinkles and lovely texture.

And these are the other two ladies, Lorna's on the left and Sandra's on the left. They both got some fab texture and now I've seen them, I think on the bronze the goldly colours of metallics work better.

And Lesleys on the left and mine on the right.

Next Steph showed us how the Bisters and Ivory Powertex combined could be used to create a crackle.

Then she started to heat it with a hair dryer.

And then getting in a bit closer with the hair dryer and if you look carefully you can just see it starting to crack.

I love how you have total control over the amount of crackle you can get with these products.

These are some of the samples hanging on Stephs wall which she kindly let me take photos of to share on the blog with you all.

An altered bird house.

A fabulous sculpture, this is gorgeous in real life. The one you can see next to it is made using 3d flex and it has been stamped and stencilled, it looks fab too.

This piece was just stunning, with all sorts going on. 

This is a close up of some of the textures on the above piece.

Lesley, it was fab to see you again and I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. It was lovely to meet Sandra and Lorna and a huge thank you to Steph for explaining everything and answering all my questions.

If you are wondering about doing a class, I'd say 'do it'. It's fabulous, Steph is lovely and nothing is too much trouble. She is in the middle of moving to premises in Sheffield, so drop her an email if you fancy it - this is her contact email peanut-craft@hotmail.com