Recycled Bottle Art Mixed Media with Powertex

I simply love to recycle, upcycle and repurpose so this project using a recycled wine bottle and a set of cheap cocktail glasses from the charity shop was a perfect project for me. I also used some of my old T shirts and fabric scraps too.

This set is now perfect for any festive or celebratory occasion. The bottle could be used either as a decanter (by using with a bottle stopper or cork) or used with a slim candle to adorn the table. Using Powertex enables items to be easily washed too.
Materials used:

• Recycled wine bottle, set of old cocktail glasses
• Recycled T shirt and cotton sheet, knitted fabric, canvas mesh and hessian (burlap) scraps
• Kitchen paper
• Plaster figurine small face
• 3D Sand
• Stone Art
• Mixed silicone moulds from my stash – leaves and fruit (mainly from Katy Sue Designs)
• Synthetic Brushes
• Powertex Fabric Hardener: Blue, Bronze, Ivory and Transparent
• Ready Mixed Bister Liquids: Brown, Red
• Powercolor Pigments: Ultramarine, Burgundy, Titanium White
• Colotricx Pigment: Rich Gold
• The Secret Art Loft Pigments: Green Ginger, Violet Valentine, Blue Curacao, Limoncello Gold, Tequila Sunrise
• The Secret Art Loft Acrylic Paints: Lemon Meringue, Raspberry Sorbet, Plum Pudding, Blueberry Pie, Mint Jelly, Key Lime, Orange Marmalade
• Easy Varnish

How it was done:
The bottle was actually a project that I started on my level 1 Powertex Tutor training. I was fairly happy with it but I had always wanted to take it a few steps further. I am definitely a ‘more is more’ type of girl and I wanted to add extra embellishments to complete it – but what? Sadly it got confined to the corner for over a year before the idea finally came to me when I came home from the charity shop with my set of cocktail glasses.

The lemon coloured glasses inspired citrus, the blue coloured glasses inspired berries – yay – off we go!

Starting with my bottle: Blue Powertex medium was used to coat recycled T shirt fabrics and hessian which was draped around the bottle to give texture. Kitchen paper was separated into single ply and blue Powertex was used to glue it around the neck of the bottle to give added texture. Blue Powertex was also used to paint and glue the plaster face.

Eeeek – I was freaking out a bit this stage as it looked awful. I will say that this was part of the training. We were given a few challenges! The blue is a gorgeous colour but not necessarily the easiest for your first ventures. If you are a beginner I would recommend starting with Bronze Powertex and colouring as I did for the blue glasses as given below; achieving a similar final result with less palpitations – tee hee.

Spritzing with Brown and Red Bister gave a nice purple muted effect which was lovely, and also blended in the darker T shirt material nicely. Powercolor and Colortricx Pigments were mixed with Easy Varnish and dry brushed over the piece to highlight textures. The dry brushing really does make so much difference! Ooooh much happier now, but as I said – it needed more work in my mind. 

Now for the embellishments: With fruit embellishments in mind I mixed up some Stone Art with Ivory Powertex to make a clay and used silicone moulds to make citrus slices, nuts, leaves and berries. Once dry I used Secret Art Loft Acrylics to paint them.

When painting the fruit slices the outer ring of pith was left unpainted. Dry brushing with Ivory Powertex was used to highlight the central pith texture and make the lemon slices look more realistic.

The same with the orange slices.

The berries and nuts were also painted with Secret Art Loft Acrylics. I mixed colours to give a more naturalistic look.

Varying colour mixes and depth.

Purples, pinks, oranges and green mixes were used to colour the berries. Once coated with varnish (last steps) they looked quite realistic.

Various fruits, nuts and leaves were used to embellish the bottle.  Items were stuck down using Transparent Powertex. Where needed 3D sand was mixed with Bronze Powertex in order to make a 3D glue to stick down shaped embellishments on the textural surface.

Yay – fulfilling my ‘more is more’ – ha ha.

Secret Art Loft pigments were mixed with varnish and were dry brushed over textured areas and over the berries to give extra pearlescent sheen.

Coloured Powertex is weatherproof and therefore washable. Acrylic paint layers were further protected by painting with Easy varnish to ensure that the bottle was fully washable. The varnish also enhanced the painting and gave the fruits and berries a lovely sheen. Happy bunny.

Next to decorate the glasses:  I collected together varied textural fabrics. The blue background is my plastic shower curtain that I use to cover my bench – joyous messiness evident!

The glass stems and base of the bowls were painted with a coat of bronze Powertex. Any drips were removed with a damp cloth. T shirt fabric was cut into strips and stretched to make a ‘cord’ for wrapping the stems. More fabrics and T shirt strips were coated with Bronze Powertex and wrapped around the glass bowls. The T shirt cord held everything in place around the top of the glasses while drying. I applied the main 3D texture just to one face, leaving the backs flatter (otherwise they might get in the way when drinking from the glasses). The smoother stems made them easy and comfortable to hold.

The blue glasses were embellished with berries and textures enhanced with dry brushing using the blue/purple toned Secret Art Loft Pigments.

Oooh yummy.

The yellow glasses were embellished with citrus slices and textures enhanced with dry brushing using the citrus and gold toned Secret Art Loft Pigments.

More yummy.

I hope that you like my celebratory table set. I really enjoy making these – and using now them - special glasses seem to make the contents more special too.

Happy crafting, Anne x.

Heart Shaped Wedding Pillow decorated with Ribbon Ruched Flowers

Good morning. Gina Barrett (Gina-B Silkworks) had some great shows on Hochanda TV on Sunday (17^th March 2019). The first show was with the FAB ribbon flower ruching tools. If you missed it they do keep the video up online (https://www.hochanda.com/) for a couple of weeks (go to TV schedule, select Sun 17^th Mar – click watch button next to show listing).

These are fantastic tools for quickly marking out ribbon with a variety of ruching patterns. Simply stitch along the marked lines and gather to create gorgeous ruched trims and flowers. Gina has also put up a Flower Comb instructional video on her YouTube Channel so you can see how the Flower Combs work.

The combs can also be used to mark out stitching guide lines for quilting, pleating and smocking designs too.

I have had so much fun creating samples for the show and have lots to share over the next few days.

Heart Shaped  Wedding Pillow decorated with Ribbon Ruched Flowers

I used instructions from Gina’s Ribbonwork Flowers Book plus the Leaf and Bud Comb set, along with the Rococo Flower Comb set, to create the satin ribbon flowers, buds and leaves used to embellish the pillow. 

I made this heart shaped pillow using recycled curtain lining and a pale pink gold foiled organza gift bag that I couldn’t bear to throw away. I love to recycle. Even the stuffing was taken from an old bed pillow that had lost its shape. Everything was well laundered and no-one would ever know that this was made mainly from scraps and junk.

First I made a heart template from scrap computer paper taped together to make a sheet approx 12 X 12 inches square. I folded the paper in half and drew a half heart, then opened out. This ensures that the heart is equal on both sides. The heart template measured approx 11.5 inches at it’s widest X 9.5 inches deep. 

I used the template to cut X 2 each of cream cotton curtain lining and organza plus recycled curtain interling to provide extra stability and padding (cotton interlining is like a thin wadding/batting). I stitched around the heart using a 1/2 inch seam attaching a ribbon hanger to the top and leaving an opening in the side for turning through. I left a wide enough gap to pass my fingers through and make stitching on embellishments easier. The seam edges of the opening were folded in and tacked (basted) to hold the layers together and help stop them fraying while working on the next stages.

Next I created a couple of ribbon hangers to hold the wedding rings (brass curtain rings in the pic). I used thin gold satin ribbon and attached using small snap fasteners, so that the rings could be easily attached and removed. 

I used some little pink pads cut from felt to reinforce the fastener attachments. I traced the circle shapes from the Leaves and Buds Comb sets directly onto the felt using a soft pencil, then cut out. Circles are always tricky to cut neatly just by eye. These will be hidden under the floral embellishments so stitching did not have to be perfect. Functionality was more important.

I created an array of overlap and doucet leaves following instructions from the book and Comb 36 (Leaves and Buds set). The green leaves were made from ribbon and the gold leaves from scrap pieces of gold foiled organza (from the recycled gift bag).

Flowers  were made using  gold and cream satin ribbons, wrapping the gathered strips around flower stamens and stitching into a cone shape (Combs 1 and 3 – Rococo Set).

Leaf shapes were also created with pink organza ribbon to create buds. These were stitched in place building out from the pillow centre and disguising the snap fasteners.

Extra ribbons were also stitched in place to create little swags.

I continued building from the centre outward.

I created a hand made tassel to finish off the design. The tassel head was created with rolled paper strips using templates printed from Gina’s Paper Lathe CD. A brilliant pattern resource for making hundreds of different shaped tassel moulds and for rolled paper beads too.

I painted the tassel head with gold acrylic. The tassel was made with short strands of cream Cotton Broder left over from another project (most would of thrown these away but I can never waste anything –tee hee). I loved the effect of the varied lengths. Knotting the thread ends added extra interest. I created the loop hanger using macramé.

The cushion was then stuffed and the opening closed (stitching up by hand).

I hope that you like my wedding pillow made mostly from rubbish.

Off to write up blogs for my other samples. 

Back soon, Anne xxx.

Floral Bangle created with Ribbon Ruching Flower Combs

Good morning. Gina Barrett (Gina-B Silkworks) had some great shows on Hochanda TV on Sunday (17^th March 2019). The first show was with the FAB ribbon flower ruching tools. If you missed it they do keep the video up online (https://www.hochanda.com/) for a couple of weeks (go to TV schedule, select Sun 17^th Mar – click watch button next to show listing).

These are fantastic tools for quickly marking out ribbon with a variety of ruching patterns. Simply stitch along the marked lines and gather to create gorgeous ruched trims and flowers. Gina has also put up a Flower Comb instructional video on her YouTube Channel so you can see how the Flower Combs work.

The combs can also be used to mark out stitching guide lines for quilting, pleating and smocking designs too.

I have had so much fun creating samples for the show and have lots to share over the next few days.

Woven Floral Bangle with Ribbon Ruched Flower

To create the woven bangle I used the Beadalon Bangle Weaver Tool (Beads Direct), recycled sari silk strips, monofilament and a few beads.

I have already blogged full instructions on using the bangle weaver tool.

I used the Rococo Flower Comb set (Gina B Silkworks) to create the satin ribbon flower embellishment; ribbons varying in width from 15mm to 3.5cm. The flower centre was finished with microbeads and a pearl cabochon, glued in place with Fevicryl (glue designed to stick beads and gems to fabric).

Off to write up blogs for my other samples. Back soon xxx.

Flower Girl Figurine Garden Sculpture with Powertex

This is my first attempt at a figurine. She took me a long time to finally get finished, having started her over a year ago at my Level 1 Powertex Tutor Training! Now that she is finally done I love my Flower Girl – and I call her ‘Bestower of Beauty’.

She stands approx. 49cm high.

Materials used:

• Powertex Fabric Hardener: Bronze
• Wooden Base
• Grace Plaster Head – European Collection
• Recycled Textile Yarn (T shirt Yarn), mixed recycled crochet and cotton fabrics, Stockinette and lace strips
• Tin foil, masking tape, toilet roll inner card tube
• Powercotton
• Stone Art
• 3D Sand and Balls
• Silicone Moulds: Daisies and Leaves Mould Set, small daisy and fern (from my stash)
• Powercolor Pigments: Ultramarine, Green and Titanium White
• Colortricx Pigments: Bronze Gold
• The Secret Art Loft Pigments: Lipstick Fizz, Green Ginger, Blue Curacao, Interference Blue, Mojito Lime, Interference Lilac, Violet Valentine, Limoncello Gold
• Easy Varnish

How it was done:
The body was shaped over the wooden pole using the card inner tube stuffed and wrapped with foil and covered with masking tape. The plaster head was taped onto the top.
T shirt yarn was then wound tightly around the torso and down to the base of the pole. I made a bit of a decorative wrap over the torso to create the dress bodice. The whole thing was then given a coat of Bronze Powertex, working it well into the fabric.

Fabrics were then coated with Powertex and draped over the body to create the clothing. I used a knitted fabric (Stockinette) to create the illusion of arms by allowing the knit to curl around on itself to give dimension.

A small amount of Power Cotton was added to make small hair plaits draped over her shoulder, and fine lace added to make a headdress. Another piece of T shirt yarn was used to create a tie belt and helped to hold the skirt securely in place. The crochet skirt was draped down and over the base.

During the training course I started the dry brushing technique, mixing pigments into Easy Varnish, to add some colour and bring out the different textures. I used Bronze Colortricx to colour the face, shoulders and hair, plus to add colour around the base. Blue and green Powercolors were used (mixed with a little white) to dry brush and highlight clothing texture.

I was delighted with what I had achieved but came home with my figurine always intending to add more colour (you know how I LOVE colour) and floral embellishments to turn her into a gorgeous flower girl. Sadly she sat in the corner for around a year before I finally pulled her back onto my work bench!

I began by adding much more colour, intense in places, to colour her clothing using the new colours from The Secret Art Loft. I tried to keep most of this colour to the top layers of texture so as to keep depth in the fabric folds. I also added more colour to her face and lips, plus a little shading over the eye lids.

Flower and leaf embellishments were created using Art Stone mixed with Powertex to make a clay which was pressed into silicone moulds. When dry they were coloured with Secret Art Loft Pigments mixed with Easy Varnish and glued in place with Powertex. I also created a suggestion of arms and hands using Stone Art clay. The bad modelling was disguised by carefully placing the bouquet of flowers in her arms – ha ha.

 

The flowers were also applied onto her dress and down around the base. More texture was added to the base by sprinkling 3D Sand & Balls into wet Powertex.

I spiralled the flowers down and around the hem of her skirt.

Here you can see lots of textures in her outfit, and pretty coloured flowers in her hair.

Another view showing her back.

She looks beautiful standing in the garden. Although she is weather proof I would definitely have to add extra weight (e.g. a concrete base) or add a small garden spike to the base, as she is very vulnerable to toppling over in the wind. I am going to be keeping her indoors so she will be ok as she is.

However, she does look gorgeous alongside my unicorn! I might change my mind and adapt the base for outdoors – sure that I have a bit of broken paving slab somewhere – that would do the trick.

 I hope that you like my ‘Bestower of Beauty’.

 Bye for now, Anne x.

Tropical Art Doll Mixed Media with Powertex

I have never tried making an Art Doll before and I had so much fun making this. I wanted to make her really bright and cheerful with a tropical feel – the fabulous zingy cocktail colours from The Secret Art Loft Pigments, Inks, and Acrylics range were perfect.

Materials Used

• Art Doll MDF Kit A5 
• Powertex Fabric Hardener: Transparent, Ivory and Bronze
• Easycoat Mat
• Easy Structure
• Easy Varnish
• 3D Sand
• The Secret Art Loft Acrylics: Orange Marmalade, Lemon Meringue, Raspberry Sorbet, Blueberry Pie
• The Secret Art Loft Inks: Egg Yolk, Tangerine and Metallic Golden
• The Secret Art Loft Pigments: Pink Flamingo, Limoncello Gold, Tequila Sunrise
• Seed beads (pink), leaf beads (cerise and orange) and flower drop bead (orange)
• Large metal filigree embellishment, small MDF teardrop (for bird beak), sequins (pink)
• Copper beading wires (pink colour coated) – 0.8mm and 1mm
• Round nosed and flat nosed jewellery pliers, wire cutters (for cutting and shaping wires)
• Small sections of plastic tube (drinking straws could be used)
• Faux silk flowers (wired stems), scrap cotton fabric strips, cotton fibres pulled from fabric (aqua), and thin pink ribbon
• Fine glitter (green)
• Art Quotes Stencil (The Secret Art Loft) and texture stencil (from my stash)

Extras used on the canvas: A4 canvas board, White Paper Decoration, 3D Sand and Balls, Assorted Lace Strips, dried beech nut outer shells and pine cone, small paper clay flowers, old key, gold glitter plus mix blue & green seed beads.
 
How it was done:

First all the MDF components were popped out of the sheet and coated with Ivory or Bronze Powertex Fabric Hardener and left to dry. The box frame was constructed and hanger section attached (the Powertex acts as a glue too). I also coated one of the ‘waste pieces’ which I thought would make a great bird shape to insert into the box frame.

A background panel for the box frame was cut from the FAB images on the packaging sheet and glued in place using Easycoat decoupage medium. Acrylic Inks were used to add a tint of colour.

Easy Structure paste was applied through a texture stencil onto the large background panel and to sections of the frame. The Art Quotes Stencil was used to apply text to the frame, and to apply random sections of text to the wings.

When dry, translucent inks were used to tint the text on the frame. The outer background panel was coloured with Lemon Meringue and Orange Marmalade acrylics, then brushed over with a little Metallic Golden Ink to highlight the texture, before sticking down the box frame.

The birdy shaped waste MDF piece was coloured with acrylic paints and layered into the box using Transparent Powertex to glue. The metallic embellishment was coated with Ivory Powertex and stuck down. The beak coated with Bronze Powertex, and eyes created with seed beads (dark centres created with Bronze Powertex, drizzled into the bead hole with a cocktail stick).

Transparent Powertex was used to coat the fabric flowers and massaged into the aqua cotton fibres. It was also drizzled around the sides to embed the seed beads. A little sand was mixed with Transparent Powertex to make a 3D glue paste to help hold the flower stems in place.

More acrylic paints were used to colour, and to brush over textured surfaces. Easy Varnish was used to stick down sequins, and to embed glitter which was brushed over sections for extra sparkle. Pearl Pigments in Varnish were also applied with dry brushing to add shimmer. I just love a bit of bling.

The headdress and face were dry brushed with Pink Flamingo and Limoncello Gold Pigments mixed with Easy Varnish. Sequins and beads were added for more texture and bling. 1mm wire was used to make a hanging loop.

The wings were coloured with Acrylic Paints and Gold Ink and …  yes I had to add some glitter sparkle too.

Fabric strips and ribbon were treated with Transparent Powertex and used to wrap sections of plastic tubing to create beads for the upper arms and legs. The upper arms were attached with 1mm wire, through the holes in the box frame, in such a way that they were held in place (i.e. not dangling). This enabled the lower arm dangles to hang each side of the body.

The upper leg sections were attached so that they hung freely at the base giving movement. The lower arm and leg shapes were dry brushed with Varnish and Pearl Pigments, and beads stuck down with Transparent Powertex. These were hung from the upper arm and leg beads using wire loops so they dangled freely. Leaf and flower bead dangles were also added to the frame base and legs using 0.8mm wire (1mm was too thick to fit the bead holes).

The floral MDF shape was painted with acrylics, embellished with a metal filigree shapes and seed beads before gluing to the main background panel.

My finished Art Doll just makes me so happy. I love her bright happy colours. Plenty of bling and dangles too – cannot help but smile.

After using all the provided shapes to create her I looked at the pile of waste MDF bits left behind – they inspired me to create a canvas. I never waste anything – ha ha.

I coloured the background canvas with Bronze Powertex. Texture and the text was then applied using Easy Structure paste through the stencils. I just love this sentiment from the Art Quotes Stencil.

All the waste bits were coated with Ivory Powertex and applied down. I tried not to think about it too much – as I can spend hours procrastinating on positioning stuff! I just wanted to be free and ‘go for it’ and see what happened.

I then started coating some of the embellishments and building up the scene. Sand & Balls were added into wet Powertex and then coloured with inks and by dropping in some pigment powders.

I built up a sort of tree on the left hand side using Paper Decoration and lace, adding the Beech nuts and pine cone to embellish. 

More acrylic colour was added, and beads added by embedding in we Transparent Powertex. Pearl Pigments were added to varnish for dry brushing over some of the textures. Finally I just couldn’t help myself but had to add some gold glitter mixed into the varnish. More yummy bling.

The finished piece is fairly crazy and abstract but I was pleased with it. I thought that it looked like a foreground beach with water, sand and trees, then rising up in the background were buildings positioned up a hillside. A kind of tropical paradise I thought. You may see something completely different. That is the joy of abstract art. I had to pop in the key to ‘unlock the mystery’. I hope that you like my mad idea for using up all the scrap MDF bits.

Bye for now, Anne x.