Geisha Figure #2

All set up to make another geisha, this time I used cotton fabric.

I decided to add a tube to the bottom to pad it out a bit.

Covered the cotton fabric in transparent powertex and formed it on the figure how I wanted it.

Then left her overnight to dry and this what she looked like this morning.

So today I gave her a face and some hair.

And the view from the back.

And a close up of the face.  I did contemplate adding some arms but she looked better without them.

I really like how she came out and how vibrant the red has stayed.

#rusteffects #powertex #upcyclingchallenge

Nefertiti Figure

It's been ages and ages since I made a powertex figure, so I decided to have a go to see if I could still do it.  Something a little bit different though. 

I did this one slightly different, as I added pigment to the powertex just after I'd added the fabrics, so it was still very wet when I applied it. Used a very small brush to paint the details in rich gold pigment and varnish.

Slightly turned to the right.

Slightly turned to the left.

And finally from the front.

The Other Boot

I played with the 'other' boot that I got from the car boot today.

I picked this pair specially as they had both a zip and a lace.

I painted the whole of the boot in a layer of bronze Powertex and added fabric and clay pieces.

Once I'd finished embellishing, I covered the lace in Powertex.

Then I put it outside to dry.

I left the bottle in to keep the shape whilst it sets in place. 

And this is it from the back.

And a view from the zip side.

Once dried, I took the bottle out and it had held the shape I wanted.

 

But I needed to do something with the inside, so I covered it with t-shirt fabric and set it outside again to dry in the sun.

Once dry I used old gold and soft gold metallic paints to colour it and then used worn penny on the embellishments with the old gold.

I love the contrast of the two gold colours and just a pop of the red.

This is the back, just very subtle but really brings out the texture.

I might eventually put it outside in the border.

 

Don't forget, if you are going to put something outside, you need to leave it inside for at least three weeks to cure, and then it will be totally weatherproof.

So this is what my pair of boots now look like. You can really see the red on the embellishments on this photo.

And another photo of them out of the sun. I love how they both came out. Not so much of a pair now though.

Hessian Dog

Inspired by lovely makes dotted all around the grounds at the Powertex garden party, I knew I needed to have a go at a little dog after seeing Tracey's fabulous make above.

I have no idea how she made hers, but this is how I started with mine to get a basic shape. Garden wire, half a kitchen roll tube and bubble wrap stuffed inside the tube holding the legs, head and tail in place.

I used tin foil to build up the legs, head and tail. Then covered it in paper tape to hold it all in place.

I used bubble wrap to fatten up the legs and give the belly a bit of bulk and again covered with paper tape.

I rolled out some clay and put a thin layer over the back and head and under the belly. I took the foil ears off and made some clay ones. I only put the tinfoil ones on to see where they were going to go whilst building the head.

I used small strips of hessian dipped in ivory Powertex building up textures to cover everything but the paws. I left them until the rest of it was dry.

Once dry, I went back in and covered the feet, also making sure he would stand up.

I gave him some eyes. I decided to use transparent Powertex on the cotton for the eye so it stayed white and didn't get lost on his face.

However I did use ivory to stick it on and also on the other eye, but I should have stuck to the transparent. Remember though, transparent isn't water / weatherproof, so will need to be varnished if going outside.

Close ups of the fab texture the hessian makes.

  

View from the overhead.

I went back in and painted over the ivory Powertex I'd got on his eyes!

Just saying 'hello' to Fraz.

So now he is finished. I'm not going to add any colour to him because when you try and add pigment or bister to ivory Powertex, for some reason it just looks mucky.

He roughly measures 10" long by 8" high.

Wet Felting Incorporating Other Materials

So moving on from my sample piece, I decided to go for it. This time I did things slightly differently, hopefully learning from the first piece. I laid out the materials as above. I just kept going until I was happy with how it looked as I wasn't actually aiming to make anything from the finished piece.

This is what I ended up with once I I'd finished felting and shrinking it. I was much happier with what happened this time, however, it's not dry yet!

This is the piece of silk fabric that all puckered up with a piece of the silk throw underneath.

This is another piece of farbic, not sure what it is, some sort of polyester or viscose, but it puckered up nicely too.

And this is the piece of cotton fabric, again love how it's puckered and grabbed the other fibres.

This is the silk throwster waste.

This is the silk spectrum, it reminds me of slub, but thicker.

This is the silk throwster dyed waste.

I also used some dyed silk tops and some angelina fibres.

All the above photos were taken whilst it was still wet.

This is how it looks now it's fully dried and I'm really pleased with it.

This is a close up of the cotton scrim, love how it's all puckered up.

This is a close up of the silk, again it puckered up really nicely and has left a fabulous texture.

This is the piece of viscose/polyester and it's puckered up lovely too.

The green, blue and patch of purple is the silk throwster waste.

This has the silk spectrum clump middle left, the darker patch, and it's quite soft considering what it starts off as.

The purple area is silk tops and there is also some angelina fibre in there too.

I not only love the end product, but really enjoyed the process.