Mini Mannequin Powertex Workshop

Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon at Purple Meadows Crafts taking part in a powertex workshop.  They have just moved and their new place has soooo much space, the shop layout is fabulous.  

These are three of the pieces that were made, no prizes for guessing which one is mine!

And here it is in daylight this morning.

And from the back.

And the left side.

And finally the right side.

Close up of the fabrics and dry brushing.

And I picked these up from the fabric shop just further on down the road.

It felt good to get my hands back into some powertex products.

3d Flex Texture Workshop

Have you thought about going to a Powertex workshop but haven't yet, because you're not sure what to expect? Well come with me and let me give you an insight.

3d Flex Texture Workshop Samples

A few weeks ago I was invited to a workshop held by Jill Cullum, of Purple Meadow Arts & Crafts. She is the Certified Powertex Tutor for the area where I live. Jill has been on all her training, so this means that she is qualified to teach and use all the Powertex products.

Jill explaining the samples and what she did.

Everyone getting stuck in covering their canvas's. Janet, top left wanted to do the technique but on journal covers, so Jill brought along a journal for her to work on instead. So if you know what you want, contact your tutor before hand as they are very flexible and happy to oblige where possible.

Jill demo'd the next couple of steps and then went round checking everyone was okay and understood what they were doing.

Close up of Janet's journal covers.

Whilst the canvas's were in the drying box Jill demonstrated how to mix up the 3d flex. She showed the consistency of what they were aiming for.

Then showed how to apply the paste onto the canvas.

Then it was their turn, with guidance from Jill.

Whilst the makes were back in the drying box, we all sat down and had a natter with a cuppa and some chockie biscuits. I took this opportunity to ask them what they thought of the workshop so far.

One said that it was so different to what they normally do and it was good to come without any expectations.

Another said that they have learnt so many new techniques already and we haven't finished yet.

Another said that is was nice to do something different.

After the coffee break, all the pieces came out of the drier. Look at those amazing cracks on Anita's canvas.

Now the fun begins, adding the colour. The hardest part seemed to be choosing which colours to use from this huge selection. Everyone was encouraged to move out of their comfort zone.

Jill chose purple and green, these aren't her normal 'go to' colours.

Jill demoing on her canvas, how to use the wax with the pigments and acrylics and how to built up the layers and blend the colours.

Everyone well under way with their colours.

Really coming along now.

Fabulous blending.

Anita was building up layers to replicate the colours she had in a photo on her phone.

Once everyone was happy with their canvas's, the last thing to do was to touch up the sides to make them black again. The black just seems to make the colours pop.

And here are the proud owners with their finished pieces.

This workshop took around two and a half hours from start to finish. Just look what you could do with the right guidance. All these ladies really enjoyed themselves today.

How many of you have a bottle of Powertex sat on your craft desk but haven't opened it yet. A workshop is a great way to get started. 

There are over 100 Certified Tutors dotted all around the UK. To find the one nearest to you, click on this link which will take you to the Powertex Tutors directory. Login and find your nearest tutor who will be happy to help you with a workshop. They cater for everyone, groups, one on one, two on one, a group of friends or join a scheduled workshop and meet like minded people, the possibilities are endless.

I hope this has given you an insight into how a workshop runs. I hope that it's nowhere near as scary as what you thought it might be, just go along. You will be made to feel very welcome and you'll love it so much, you'll want to go back. Most of the tutors have their own FaceBook pages and list their planned workshops under events. So if you see something you fancy, get it touch. Nothing is out of reach with the right guidance.

Powertex Tutor Training Days

So guess where I've been the last couple of days? Yes, on my Powertex tutor training course, along with three other lovely ladies all set to become tutors for their designated areas.

First of all we played with the ivory Powertex.

The mdf shape that I was given was an owl and there was a huge box of embellies to choose from, so as you can see I went off piste with mine (what's new there then!) and went down the skull, cog and Halloween route.

We then started working on the next piece.

This was the next piece, either an angel or a fairy, I chose an angel and the others made fairies.

Here at the end of day one are my three pieces all ready for their colour tomorrow.

Back again for day two and today the sun was shining.

We played with different colouring and layering techniques firstly on the bottle.

Everyone is on a roll now.

Michele popped down to see how we were all doing.

I went for the blue for my angel.

This is a photo of the projects I made taken outside this morning in my garden - love them all.

This is a snippet of my certificate, so it's now official!!

And my absolute special favourite is my fabulous apron which I shall wear with pride - thank you sooooo much.

Can't wait to also share my other news with you, but that will have to wait until nearer the end of the year!!

All things Bright and Beautiful

So this morning I took another Powertex class with Jill from Purple Meadow Crafts. We both made a sample piece using the Abyssimo technique. Firstly we made a thick texture paste using ivory Powertex and then covered a board with it. We then drew into it using clay tools and made shapes and generally created some texture and even made some little balls from the paste. Dried it off slightly.

Then we added colour. The idea was to create bands of strong, bright colours, but blend them. This is what mine looked like when I left the workshop.

This is the one that Jill started. As I had 1 2 1 tuition she made one too.

When I got home I added more colours to make them stronger and more defined. I also painted a thin black border around the edge to make the colours pop.

Close up of some of the textures.

More textures and colour blending.

Close up of the balls we created using the paste.

Craters made in the paste using a clay tool and more colour blending.