Powertex Canvas's Update

So following on from my play day workshop at Pramoda Gifts with Marina (Powertex tutor) and Kath on Friday, I spent most of Saturday adding more colours to the sample canvas (middle left).

And even though it has every colour under the sun on it, I really, really like it.

So then I set to and added some more to my set of canvas's. We've had rain for the last four days and the grass has come back green again!

I painted the frame black for this canvas board and now it looks even better.

Close up of the crackle and additional layers of colours.

More red added to give depth in the cracks.

And the same here but with a deeper orange.

I also put some red over the green and orange on the middle canvas. 

This one is quite light, but it's meant to be as I was taking the colour off with the neat wax. 

I'm really pleased with how the colours have blended, now to find somewhere to put them all.

Canvas Play Day

Today I took a trip over to Pramoda Gifts to take a workshop with Marina. When I say a workshop, I mean a play day. Kath also joined us too.

As I arrived late due to traffic, roadworks and accidents Marina had already started to prep my cardboard for me. We painted the canvas's in black powertex, placed the cardboard and added some of the wooden pegs from the back of the canvas.

Marina showing us how to mix up the balls and sand in the remaining Powertex. We did it in very small batches because it was between 33.5 and 35 degrees with the fan on and back door open!

So here are mine with the 'mucky mix' added. Told to us by Tracey at the garden party.

I put mine outside in the sun to dry whilst Kath and Marina wafted theirs with the hairdryer, but I was too hot so had a look around the fab studio at the lovely works of art.

A fabulously decorated skull and luckily they had some blanks to buy.

And this beautiful canvas. The colours are so subtle but it looks fab. It's like in a shadow box with a glass front, hence the reflection. 

Then I popped back outside to see how my cracks were doing.

Close up of the cracks on one of the canvases.

The left canvas was coloured with pigments and wax. The middle one was coloured with acrylic paints and inks. Some of the inks are metallic, a gold and an aqua. The right canvas has been base coloured with the orange paint, and the egg yolk and tangerine ink. I then added orange and burgundy pigments mixed with the Powerwax. I basically just kept going until I was happy with what I had. I still need to work on them as it was sooooo warm that the Powerwax had melted and it kept moving around. Marina put it in the fridge in the end!!

And after driving back in a storm with thunder, lightning, torrential rain, nearly dark at 6pm, hurricane type winds which left parts of trees and branches and loads and loads of leaves all over the roads, no to mention huge puddle, I finally arrived home about 7.40pm. It didn't let up from when I set off until well after midnight. So here are my purchases. I was running out of bronze Powertex after playing with it in the week, having seen the skull in the studio and also seeing a couple last weekend at the garden party, I picked up the last three that Marina had left. She had planned a workshop for them, but instead, very kindly let me have them. Then I spied the paper mache one too. I also picked up the gold metallic ink as it leaves a great shimmer over lots of the other colours. I picked up a piece of oasis too as I've been making figures and though it would be suitable to sit them on, so watch this space for that one!! And I've been after a little bag for ages, just big enough to fit my purse, camera and car keys in. This one was perfect and I got to try it out first! I picked up a tub of Powerwax last weekend at the garden party.

And because my mum and dad come over for the day and look after Fraz for me, I usually try and pick mum something up as they always have something unusual. I really wanted something duck related, but all the ducks had been sold and they weren't getting any more, so I had to make another choice and decided on the bee. I hope she likes it. I was hoping she might put it in one of the huge outdoor planters that I Powertexed for her birthday last year.

I took a photo of them when I got home and also the practise piece in the top corner, but I actually like them as a foursome, so might just keep them like this. I still need to wait for the wax to dry properly so I can buff it up or take some off or whatever I decide to do over the next few days, but need to look at them in daylight.

Wet Felting Workshop

I have to say that I very nearly didn't go to this workshop due to feeling so ill, and it wasn't the workshop that put me off, it was the drive, but anyway, I thought I'll set off and see how I feel and I'm sooooo pleased I did. I had a fabulous day.

Just to get a feel for the merino wools and how to layer them up, we started off making a brooch. You layer the first colour, then the second, then the third directly on top.

Totally dowse it all in a soapy warm water mix.

Place the second piece of bubble wrap over the top and then start the tickling process which is basically running your fingers along the lines of bubble and pressing lightly. By this point the felting process has already started to happen.

Next step was to roll everything around a long cylinder.

Then roll everything in a towel and roll backwards and forwards about 10 times, unroll everything and turn the felt around 90 degrees and do the whole process again, and then turn another 90 degrees, complete the process again, and then again with another 90 degree turn, until you end back up where you started.

It's one of those processes where you don't really know what you are going to end up with until it's finished. You can also wet it again in the soapy water and then slightly wring it out and then literally throw it at something hard (like a concrete floor) and it felts even more. It has the same effect as putting it in a tumble dryer apparently.

We made a ball of felt to go in the middle and then just shaped the felted piece around it, sewed it in and added a brooch back.

The class was meant to be about making a picture of flowers in a vase, but I didn't want to do that, so found this picture by Picasso and asked if I could do this instead. I was delighted when Dawn said yes!

We started by covering about an A4 sized area with white wool. Then from here on in, it's all about breaking down the layers. So my next layer was pink for the outside edge. The next layer was black. I forgot to take photos of those stages, but the next step was the green and blue for the hair. This is a different type of wool and was curly at the ends.

Then I simply built up the remaining layers.

Added more blue for definition.

And I decided at this point it was finished.

These are everyone elses in the group, they all chose to do the flowers.

Then the wetting and rolling process as shown above with the brooch was started. So this has been dowsed in warm soapy water and I used the bubble to press it down, it's meant to be flat so if it's still puffy in any areas, more water needs to be added. The 'tickling' process also has to carried out before it is rolled.

This time we rolled it 50 times for each 90 degree turn and you can tell if it's felted or not by pinching the back, and if it doesn't pull away fluffy then it's done.

This is my finished piece, as you can see the mouth moved sightly but now she has some expression - lol. Absolutely loved the process and loved the finished piece. It's still wet at present and will take approx 24 hours to dry, so I think I'm going to mount it on black card and then frame it.

Dawn, third from the left was the tutor for the class and the other three ladies took the class with me.

And of course, I couldn't go all that way without buying a little something.

Dawn has a FB page where she lists the events she has going on, why not pay her a visit here, you won't be disappointed.