Hiya gang, long time no speak, hope everyone has been crafting happy. I thought i would share this idea i had for using the amazing printed panels from Craft Yourself Silly.
Ingredients
* Transparent powertex*Powertex varnish
* Gold metallic powder
* Craft Yourself Silly printed panels, choose your colour and chop half of the fabric into cubes
1cm thick cotton Braid
5mm thick cotton chopped into lengths
Lampwork beads in a colour to match the panels
Coloured wire
you will also need:
a bowl
clingfilm
* Available on Hochanda
And so it begins.........
Using a bowl designated for crafting and a permanant marker, divide your bowl and mark areas for beading, also mark in the top of the bowl...i have chosen to divide the bowl into four, one area to showcase each printed panel.
Line the bowl with cling film, if you are having trouble persuading the cling film to behave, rub a tiny amount of oil (any oil) over the bowl and the cling film will be held in place.
I'm short a pic here, but had gloves coated in powertex on and forgot to stop. Before you glove up, cut enough of the 1cm braid to ring the top of the bowl and to create a solid base. Coat in powertex and apply, I found the braid at the top of the bowl a little pesky as it kept slipping so i fixed it in place as i applied the fabric peices.
Add rows of 5mm braid in the areas that will be beaded, then apply your powertex'd fabric. All the areas that are exposed i 'hemmed' by folding the edge of the fabric over for a nice clean edge. I didnt worry about the top of the bowl as when the powertex is dry, i will pop it out of the clingfilm and trim the top neatly.
The inside of the bowl dried and the top trimmed.
Make a paint using a small amount of Varnish and the Gold powder (gold was my choice, bronze or silver would be equally effective) and paint all the exposed braid...this is optional if you like the original braid, leave it as is.
Now for a bit of beading, cut lengths of wire that are the length of the side of the bowl x 2 (i.e up and down) leaving a tail to be hidden at the bottom. Weave in the lampwork beads so that they fit into the gaps between the pieces of braid.
Powertex the remaining fabric to the outside of the bowl, remembering to fold in exposed edges and to ensure that the wire tails are thoroughly hidden between the two layers of fabric. At the top off the bowl, fold over the fabric to the inside to neaten the rough top edge. Leave to dry.
Enjoy your finished bowl and remember that 3 week later it will be weather safe...the lampwork beads are glass so they should be fine outdoors.
With a little prep (15 mins max), the actual work on the bowl takes very little time, half an hour for the inside and half an hour for the outside at the most. The bead weaving takes some time and is a little fiddly but again it is optional and could be left out. I personally enjoyed the effect as the beads enhanced the colour of the panels. The Craft Yourself Silly team have an amazing range of fabrics on Hochanda and there are Powertex shows to inspire as well.. Have fun, make a mess....and dont forget to share your makes.😉
