Paint Pots & Cats

 

Finished a couple of coffee tins which I've changed into paint / pen pots.

And the other sides.

Added the resin and metal pieces.

I used bronze powertex.

Made a couple of cats using bottles and polystyrene ball.

I coloured them with gold and silver powertex pigments and the varnish, added some metallic buttons and made them each a pair of specs.

March Secret Art Loft Powertex Box

"The March hares danced and leapt around as the moonlight shone golden on the lush Spring ground" by Claire Ivins

I started off with the two solid wooden hare shapes from out the box.

Next I took some household items, garden wire, masking, tape, a small glass coke bottle (other brands are also available), wire cutters and strong catering foil.

Using the tinfoil and the wire I created a pair of arms and legs. I also covered the bottle in tinfoil and padded it out at the front.

I created a head and some ears, also using tinfoil. I covered everything in masking tape and taped the arms and legs onto the bottle. The head and ears are not yet attached to the body.

So here are my trio of hares ready to be Powertexed.

Firstly I painted the two wooden shapes with bronze Powertex, cut manageable lengths of yarn, covered them in Powertex and wrapped them around starting from the base. I left the heads plain. On the right, taller one I wrapped around t-shirt yarn on the ears, but on the left one I covered them in Stone Art.

Close up of how I've wrapped and covered the wooden hares. The right one looks white as I blew off the excess Stone Art from the ears!

Once dried, I coloured the left one with rich gold pigment and the right one with white. I gave the ears on the right on a coat of varnish, over the Stone Art.

Next I covered my bigger hare completely with bronze Powertex and pressed on the Stone Art powder. I kept pressing it on until all of the Powertex was covered. The head/ears and body are still not attached yet as it was easier to do this process in two halves. After a few minutes I took a clean paint brush and lightly brushed off all the excess Stone Art powder. I repeated the process until I liked the look of what I had. Once I was happy I attached the head just by painting powertex on the top of the bottle neck and base of the head, it can be used as a glue too.

I sprayed it with brown Bister to blend colour of the Stone Art into the bronze.

The Stone Art has absorbed it, it's still made it slightly darker. However, it's hard to tell from the photo.

So here are my family of hares all finished.

Larger Fairy Sculpture

I wanted to attempt a bit bigger fairy sculpture, so this time I cut three lengths of wire, 2 x 22" and 1 x 20", made my armature, bulked it out a bit with tinfoil and covered with masking tape, adding half a polystyrene ball for the head. The ball measures 20 cm across.

As you can see, the arms are way too long, but rather them be too long than too short as I wanted them to cross over.

I simply snipped them off with wire cutters and re-masked the ends.

Next I added one set of wings.

I prepared the second set, but haven't actually attached them yet.

Next I covered the head in a thin piece of t-shirt material and extended it down over the neck and shoulders. Once this had dried for an hour or two I went back and wrapped the arms in t-shirt yarn.

The following day I wrapped the legs with t-shirt yarn and covered the attached wings with t-shirt fabric and the second set I covered with dishcloth material, but still haven't attached them.

The following day I wrapped the body again with t-shirt fabric and because it was tightly wrapped to give some good ripples and textures, I attached the second set of wings between the wrapped layers. I also created a skirt out of wire and masking tape.

This is a view from the back of the double set of wings and the tight wrapping.

And here she is the next day with her skirt on drying. I used the heat tool to shape the skirt at the front but needed the base to be flatter so she could sit down with her legs crossed and hanging over.

View from the other side, arms crossed, legs crossed, just needs some hair and may add more to the wings depending on how the hair sits.

She is now coloured up, but still needs some hair. I'll be back to show you the finished figure once she has some.

Most of these photos were taken at night with the light on as I built her up over a few nights giving each stage drying time. I personally think it's easier to move onto the next step when other pieces have dried a bit and you can still manipulate the elements days after. I covered the head and arms on Sunday and by Wednesday they were still pliable enough for me to place them where I wanted them after I'd dress her.

She measures approx 9" x 10" x 4".

***Edited*** - The sun came out today

Hopefully these photos give you a better idea of the colours and the pigments which hi-light the textures.

Fairy Sculpture

I made the armature from three pieces of sturdy garden wire, two measuring 18" and the other 20". The head is half of a 1 1/4" polystyrene ball with a tiny one stuck in the middle for the nose.

Next step was to cover everything in tinfoil. I did this on the settee whilst watching tv.

Covered everything with masking tape and attached the head.

I wanted to create a skirt and there were two ways I thought of to do this, one was to use a toilet roll inner tube.

The second was to create in effect a wire tube and cover it with masking tape. 

I also needed some wings. I decided to go with a small pair.

I decided on the wire tube so covered it and the wings with masking tape.

I attached both to my figure.

Then out came the Powertex. I found a thin piece of t-shirt fabric which I used to cover the head and the top part of the body. You need to try and pull this back so you get the fabric smooth over the face.

I let that dry for a while and then covered the wings with stockinette.

I left the wings to dry for about an hour and then using strips of t-shirt yarn I covered the arms and the legs. This fabric gives them great texture and it's a great width to work with. I pulled the arms and legs out straight as it was easier to cover them. They can easily be re-shaped afterwards.

Again I left the arms and legs to dry for about another hour, re-shaped them and then dressed her. I forgot to take a photo at this stage. I also added more fabric to the wings.

And lastly again after waiting about another hour, I added some hair.

I found it easier to do all these steps in stages and by letting the Powertex dry for a while after each stage, the figure was so much easier to handle.

This figure was inspired by Allison Turner whom we have taken some workshops with. We were meant to be doing a workshop on this project, but for whatever reasons it didn't come off, so I decided to have a go myself and I'm really please with how she's turned out. I've named her Ellie.

I'll be back with part 2 after I've been to a workshop next Saturday, as I need to buy some of the rich gold and bronze gold pigments to colour her with.