I covered a large mdf tag with a mix of cotton scrim and black powertex, I then powertexed a piece of fabric mesh over the top of it. Cut a couple of polystyrene balls in half and added some rusty hardware.
Then I used green pigments and coloured the background. I used violet and red interference pigments on the balls.
I added gilding paste to the hardware and left it to dry for about an hour.
I placed purple metallic foil over the gilding paste and then added rusty nails to the balls.
Added a piece of ribbon and went outside and hung it from a tree to take some photos.
This time last week I was on a 3 day workshop and one of the things we were asked to do was to take anything rusty we could find. Although I had a fabulous time, it wasn't what I expected and so I brought the bits back and a few more that Judith kindly let me use on the day, to do something like what I thought we'd be doing, but didn't!
I look a large mdf tag and laid bits and bobs out how I roughly wanted to place them.
To create some texture on the tag I used kitchen roll. Paint the mdf and then just lay a small piece of kitchen roll on and dab it with the end of the paintbrush until it's all covered. Then take another small piece and continue until you've covered the tag. You could also use fabric too, or a mix of both.
Whilst it was still tacky I started to place the pieces of rusty metal.
Powertex also acts as a glue, so it's very easy to stick most things down.
Then I added all the washers, screws, nails and the clay skull.
I made sure everything had a good coat of the black Powertex. I also decided to add strands of Power Cotton to create even more texture and set it aside to dry.
This is how it looks this morning after spending a night in the airing cupboard.
Close up of the skull. All the metal is stuck on with Powertex.
Close up of the tag and now it's dried you can really see the Power cotton.
So onto the dry brushing. I used white to start with.
I got a bit brave and tried to record it. I have uploaded it, but please bear in mind, it's the first one I've done, and I had the camera in my left hand and was trying to dry brush one handed!!!
Press the triangle in the photo above if you want a laugh.
So this is what I ended up with after adding the white pigment.
Just in case the first one didn't work, I tried it again with another colour.
Again press the triangle for the video to play.
So this is where I kind of got to after I'd stopped videoing. If you didn't manage or want to watch it, I did another layer of dry brushing, but this time used the red pigment.
And to brighten it up a little, I used the bronze and rich gold pigments. You'll be pleased to know I didn't video this one!!
Close up - you can really see the single strands of Power Cotton now.
And here I Powertexed the tacks using the heads onto the forehead of the skull.
Another close up to show off the textures.
A closer close up of the tacks on the skull head.
And this is what it came out like, I'm rather pleased with it.
If you liked this step by step, why not leave me a comment and you can also let me know what you thought of my little videos. Be honest, I won't be offended, it was off the cuff and not planned at all. Next time I'll use a tripod so I have both hands free!
I had some Powertex left in my tray, so I grabbed three little tags to use it up.
I coloured the left one with bisters, the middle one with hi flow inks and the right one with acrylic paint.
Then I played with pigments and the Powerwax until I was happy with what I had, adding and removing colours as I went along.
Once I'd decided I was there, I left them a couple of hours to dry in the sun and then did some dry brushing over the top with the ivory Powertex.
Close ups of the dry brushing with the ivory Powertex. I think they came out pretty good and I have no preference over the different mediums I used, it just depends what effect you are going for.
Before I went away for my weekend at the garden party I prepped some fossils to play with when I got back. I used one of the huge TH style tags as a substrate. I first coated the tag in a layer of ivory Powertex and added all sorts to create some texture. I put it outside to dry, which didn't take long!
I sprayed it with yellow bister, took a bit off with a paper towel, then added some natural, which is brown and once dry sprayed on some red.
I used all different colours of pigments until I was happy with what I'd got.
And in a different light, just before it started to rain.
