Playing With Powertex......Box No 2 'Rose Red'

Good morning gang...finally finished box No2....isnt it pretty? had loads of messy fun with this one and  am really chuffed with the finished peice.
I have used two Colours of Powertex on the box, the clear and the Bronze. Big thanks to Hochanda for introducing this fascinating product into my life.

Below are pictures of the box from all sides and a brief explanation as to what was done...i hope you enjoy.

 The whole box is built to hold the ice cube trays that can be used for crafty storage or jewellry. Its all made from Mount Board and Fabric, in this case an old duvet set with felt lining the drawers and held together with a little glue and stitching. Big thanks again toHochanda for the ice cube tray top tip that sparked the idea.

All the exterior stitching is highlighted with a red metallic powder mixed with the Powertex varnish....the embroidery on the drawer fronts is actually from the duvet i ripped and has been highlighted with Gold metallic powder and a green iridescent mica powder. The Drawer Knobs began life as a clear acrylic and were coloured to match with my spectrum noir alcohol pens and then coated with a layer of varnish for protection.

This is the base of the box, i created feet using pistachio nut shells covered in muslin, there is also string and wool running through the base. You will see i have also has a little play with my Imagination Crafts Stencils and Sparkle Medium.

As well as the wool etc used on the base i have also incorporated twisted scraps of waste duvet...for texture and my X-cut 'Handmade with love' Button Die

The Focus of the sides are the enamelled rose plates...i have done several blogs on my cold enamelled roses, this is why i was playing.....they are stuck to the box with Collal all purpose and held in place with scraps of duvet...My subconcious was driving here and i created a rose within a rose.

The feature of the top of the box is the felt roses....felt is very thirsty and soaks up the powertex like there's no tomorrow, however i have found that if you soak the flowers in warm water and then squeeze them to get as much water out as possible, the felt is then less thirsty when you dunk them in the powertex...it does increase the drying time and i had to 'touch up' a few areas, but all in all a job well done.....however, with the frosting on the petals provided by cold enamelling, i think they work quite nicely.....i have also added some of the ribbon roses that Nick Roberts taught me how to make.....he has his own blog and if you click on his name here you will be taken to his video on how to make the ribbon roses.

I do hope you enjoy these pictures and look forward to any questions/ comments. 

Playing With Powertex......Box No 1 'Pretty in Pink'

Hiya Gang.....Finally finished my first Ice Cube Box Storage.....i will blog the how to make for the actual box itself at some point but you know me....easily distracted lol...I have used two Colours of Powertex on the box, the clear and the Bronze. Big thanks to Hochanda for introducing this fascinating product into my life.

Below are pictures of the box from all sides and a brief explanation as to what was done...i hope you enjoy.

 

 The whole box is built to hold the ice cube trays that can be used for crafty storage or jewellry. Its all made from Mount Board and Fabric, in this case an old duvet set with felt lining the drawers and held together with a little glue and stitching. Big thanks again to Hochanda for the ice cube tray top tip that sparked the idea.

All the exterior stitching is highlighted with a pink Mica powder mixed with the Powertex varnish....the embroidery on the drawer fronts is actually from the duvet i ripped and has been highlighted with a lighter pink and Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Wax, Spring Green. The Drawer Knobs began life as a clear acrylic and were coloured to match with my spectrum noir alcohol pens and then coated with a layer of varnish for protection.

 This is the base of the box, i created feet using pistachio nut shells covered in muslin, there is also string and wool running through the base. If you peer you will see i have also has a little play with my Imagination Crafts Stencils and Sparkle Medium.

As well as the wool etc used on the base i have also incorporated twisted scraps of waste duvet...for texture and my X-cut 'Handmade with love' Button Die

The Focus of the sides are the enamelled rose plates...i have done several blogs on my cold enamelled roses, this is why i was playing.....they are stuck to the box with Collal all purpose and held in place with scraps of duvet...My subconcious was driving here and i created a rose within a rose....i have also added some of the ribbon roses that Nick Roberts taught me how to make.....he has his own blog and if you click on his name here you will be taken to his video on how to make the ribbon roses.

The feature of the top of the box is the felt roses....felt is very thirsty and soaks up the powertex like there's no tomorrow.....however, with the frosting on the petals provided by cold enamelling, i think they work quite nicely.

I do hope you enjoy these pictures and look forward to any questions/ comments. 

Machine Felting Project No 13 : Elizabethan Peg Doll (Queenie)

Ive skipped ahead a few projects to bring you this one as it is one of my favourites, fun to make...i hadnt noticed the resemblance to 'Queenie' from the 'Blackadder' shows until it was pointed out by a certain Mr J. Martin of Hochanda.....i had fun making this and you wouldnt beleive the number of people who peeped under her skirts...lol. Apologies for the lack of pictures...i got lost in the making and totally forgot.

Ingredients

* Wool tops
* Merino wool tops
Peice of Shop Bought Silk Velvet
Peg
Base
Pipe Cleaners
* Collal 3D Glue
Beads
Thread
Card & MountBoard
Jewellry findings and chain
* Cold Enamelling
Tissue

* Items Purchased from Hochanda

1. Peg is Glued to a decoupaged Base, face is drawn on a peice of tissue and decoupaged to the head

2. Farthingale and arms are made from pipe cleaners

3. Underskirt is made from pure silk velvet machine felted with with merino wool, sized and the seam felted together, stitched round open top and pulled tight over body to create skirt. 

4.Large peice of felt was created using mixed red and dark orange wool tops and then a machine felted pattern added with merino wool.

5. Outer skirt,Bodice and Sleeves cut from new felt and seams machine felted together, stitching used to 'ruche' the sleeves and outer dress and then stitch sleeves to top. Top stitched at back...tried to make it criss cross as if lacing lol.

6. Small 'Book' with cold enamelled cover made and fitted to a chain around doll's waist. 

7.String of beads made longe enough to wrap 3 times

8.Small peice of white felt made with merino wool for the ruff and sleeve lace

9.Fan made using scraps of made felt and eyepins....glued to hand 

10. Hand felted Hair peice and fixed to head, then cut to shape.....once glue dry a string of beads added.

Machine Felting Project No 5... Summer Corsage

Quick blog today as apparently i have chores to do....pleugh.....not many pics but i hope u all enjoy it

Ingredients

* PFAFF FELTING MACHINE

* Variety of Merino wool Felting Tops

  Feathers

* Spectrum Noir Alcohol Pens

* Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Glue...Chic Moss

  Crochet Wool No3 Hook

  10mm Glass Beads

  Brooch Finding

* Collal 3D Glue

* = Items purchased from Hochanda

How To

1. Colour feathers, 2 Yellow, 2 Peach, 2 Pale Green, when the alcohol ink has dried gently brush the feathers so they are fluffy

2. Using Tops make two peices of green felt slightly smaller that overall size required...but bigger than brooch finding. Glue Brooch Finding to one of the peices and put aside.

3. Crochet a loose Doilie to slightly larger than the felt back...stitch on felt back

4.Glue 3 feathers . one of each colour at a jaunty angle top and bottom of the Corsage

5. Make Large Peice of green felt in colour to match the feathers and die cut leaf shapes using Sissix Bigz Dies. (8 in this corsage) 

6.Add Viens to leaves with Chic Moss Glitter Glue

7. Glue 2 of the leaves to a peice of wire and bend them to look like they are trailing, glue to feathers on corsage...keep 4 remaining leaves to one side.

8. Make Large Peices of felt in Yellows and Peach to match the feathers. Use Sissix Dies to create a large layered flower and 3 small blossoms.

9. Stitch a bead through centre of large flower and fix to the corsage...note u can colour a bead to match if u wish

10. Glue in the remaining leaves under petals of flower

11. Stitch beads to the centre of each blossom and fix to the corsage around/under the large flower

12. Fix the Brooch Finding Felt to the backing felt using collal glue....ensuring that the brooch pin is lined as required.

Machine Felting Project No 3... Glow in the Dark 'Twofer' Cityscape

Space.....the final frontier......I dont have many images for this one...not even a framed finished image......but this picture is a 'twofer' as it has alot of glow-in-the-dark elements incorperated into it....giving you a daytime image and a nightime...slightly spooky image. I love glow-in-the-dark products...so creepy and such fun...

Ingredients

* PFAFF FELTING MACHINE

* Variety of Merino wool Felting Tops

  Sheet of made black felt with glitter

  Glow-in-the-dark Fabric....white and blue

  Selection of scraps of knitting wool

  Glow-in-the-dark Pigment powder

* Sheena Douglas Stamps...'City in the Clouds'

* Archival Ink...Black

* Collal All Purpose Glue

* = Items purchased from Hochanda

How To

1. Stamp the planets onto the white Glow-in-the-dark Fabric with archival ink....cut out and glue to background felt

2. Cut a large planet and rings.....Machine felt fine scraps of merino wool onto planet to create cloud effects (These will come through dark against the planet when it glows)

3. Machine felt rows of knitting wool scraps onto ring to break the solid ring into individual rings....again this will show dark against the fabric when it glows

4. Fix Planet and rings to backing Felt (Glue)

5. Machine Felt brightly coloured merino clouds in the foreground

6. Stamp Sheena's City onto white Glow-in-the-dark Fabric, paint glue over cityscape to highlight windows and any areas you want to glow at night....Dust with the Glow-in-the-dark pigment powder and fix to image

7. Mount. Then Charge...either in sunlight or with a UV Torch and turn out the lights to get the nighttime effect 

There....I wish i'd taken more WIP pictures and that i had been able to capture the Nightscape...photography is definately not a strong point lol....Hope you enjoy

Machine Felting Project No 2... Beach Scene

As with graveyards, Beach scenes are another that i invariably end up drawing/creating, despite a personal dislike of seagulls, i do love a trip to the seaside.....mmmmm....freeesssh Donuts.........and im back lol. There arent many pictures in the how to...im still learning to stop and take pics.....but i hope you enjoy this as its a personal favourite.

Ingredients

* PFAFF FELTING MACHINE

* Variety of Merino wool Felting Tops

  Pure Wool Crewel Wool

  small amount of sparkly wool for sunlight on waves

* Glitter Glue

* = Items purchased from Hochanda

How To

1. Using the Merino Wool, Wet felt a basic seascape background....dont panic if horizon isnt level...

2. Lay in a straight horizon, distant land and highlights in the sea...including waves in the foreground using merino wool and the felting machine

3. Place sun for shadow direction

4. Start Layering up sanddunes, add a fence with shadows and darkness behind the grasses using merino wool and the felting machine

5. Use Sparkly wool to place some sunlight in the sea.

6. Use Crewel Wool to highlight the headland, waves in the sea and the light on the fence (Straight Stitch) ...then build the first sets of grasses using 2 shades of green crewel wool (Straight Stitch and French Knots)

7. Lay in sand dunes in front of grasses and add clouds in the sky using merino wool and the felting machine

8.Use Crewel Wool to Stitch Birds in the Sky,  Foxgloves and Daisies (Straight Stitch, French Knots and Open Chain Stitch)

9. Mount the image on a mountboard frame.

10.Create the frame layers on a peice of regular felt and use prev techniques to create layers of dunes and flowers..cut out and glue to frame to add depth to the Pic.

11. At this point i had a bit of a panic as i had left several glue fingerprints on the mountboard frame.

12.GlitterGlue waves added around the mountboard to hide my oopsie...and gives a great effect too.

I hope you've enjoyed...catch you monday.....

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Machine Felting Project No 1... Quilled Flowers

The Finished Picture

This was one of the first things i created when i received my Pfaff Felting Machine* and i played lol......

Ingredients

* PFAFF FELTING MACHINE

Cotton Backing Fabric

* Variety of Merino wool Felting Tops

Card Cut with Bigz Die 'Garden Flower'*

* 3mm Quilling Papers

* Lyra Pens

* Cosmic Shimmer 'Red Blaze' Gilding Flakes

* Quickie Glue Pen

* Collal 3D Glue Gel

* = Items purchased from Hochanda

How To

1. Using the waste from cutting the card flowers and leaves as a stencil, mark the backing fabric with the desired pattern 

2. Felt Background working from dark at the centre to light at the edges, for variety mix two adjoining wools together to a blend here and there.

3. Using Green quilling papers and the double point quilled shape, fill the card leaves with quilling

4. When dry use 3d glue to fix to the felted peice

5. Pick 3 colours and 3 shades within that colour and fill in the flowers using the petal form in varying sizes for the petals and tight circles for the centre

6. Colour any areas of the smaller petals with a matching Lyra Pen

7. Fix the large petals to felted background with 3D glue Gel...allow to dry and then fix the smaller petals to the flowers with 3D glue just in the centre - petals are free.......make sure the colours differ from those of large flower.

8.Use quickie pen to put in some patterning  centre and add gilding flakes...when dry brush excess free and fix to the centre of each flower, making sure the colours dont match any used in each flower.

If was to do this picture again i would use a coloured card rather than white....a gold or bronze maybe for the effect.