Powertex Classes

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Powertex Class where I made a fairy.  I finally finished adding the final colour to her so I can show you what she looks like now.   I also booked a class for myself and some friends, which happened today.  We had a great time and played around with even more techniques on an item that can be hung on the wall. 

The pack we started with

We had to shape her body out of Styrofoam. That was fun.  We used a stanley knife and a special heat tool that would cut and shape the Styrofoam.

Masking tape is used a lot.  Them image below was after we attached the Styrofoam to the pole.  The head and shoulders were taped on next, and then we taped on the metal base for the wings.

We then wrapped some shoelace type fabric around the torso to help keep the wings in place.  It had to be really tight and as neat as possible as it may show later (depending on how you decorate.

 Taping up the wings was interesting.  It proved quite fiddly.

I chose the green powertex because it can give a verdigris look to her depending on the colours I used later.  We also dipped t-shirt fabric in the powertex and wrapped the pole with it, making sure we had some texture.

 We also dipped t-shirt fabric in the powertex and wrapped the pole with it, making sure we had some texture.  It also got wrapped around the base of the body up to about her waist line.

The wings were done with muslin.  I love the tatty look they give.

The final pieces to add were the three layers of skirt.  I don't have a photo of this during the process but you will see is in the final photos.  We got three pieces of t-shirt fabric that wrapped around nicely.  They were also long so we cut strips into them.  They were dipped in the powertex, stretched and fitted around the figurine starting with the under layer first. Each strand was then knotted once or twice in different areas and then we started on the next layer.  After that was completed we did her shawl and added some flowers to embellish.  Finally once she was dry enough we added colour to her.

Today we made the below out of a circle of Styrofoam.  It was lots of fun.  I have know in process shots so you only get the finished product.

The first one is mine and the second one is Karens.  Tammy was still working on hers when I left so I have no photo.  I do have a photo of Pat and Louise's but they are in the photo as well so I am not sure if they would be happy with me if I posted it here.

Art Abandonment

Some of you may have heard of Art Abandonment and some of you may not.  You can check it out here on Facebook.  It is a public page.  For years I have been wanting to do this but never really knew what to make or where to abandon them.

Last year I found a tutorial on how to make little hats out of wool and toilet roll.  I found that it sat nicely on top of a plastic coke bottle and the lid helped to keep the shape better.  Since then I have been collecting plastic bottle lids and making a lot of little hats.

At first it was just for fun and I thought I would make a mobile out of it.  Spotlight sells tiny little wool balls (mentioned in a previous post) that make 2 hats.  Still I had a heap over and suddenly remembered the Art Abandoment that I have been wanting to do.

Well I did my first one on Wednesday night where I go for my gym class.  I went up to the cafe and ordered a small coffee as pretense for being there.  There is a little shelf cut into the bench where the cold foods glass display started so I put it there.  I was so nervous that I realised the little hat covered the sign that says PICK ME.  I then had to try and rearrange it without any one noticing but of course that is when everyone who works in the cafe decided to come and stand right near the glass!

My gym class is not far from the cafe area so while I was waiting for the class to start I heard the cafe being locked up; a high pitched unintelligible exclamation, and then a lot of laughter.  I think they liked it.

I had two more to drop off that night so the second one went in an empty pocket on a leaflet stand.  Again, there was suddenly staff everywhere when normally there are none.  My final drop was after class when it was dark.  I tied it to the fence in the carpark.

This is what they look like out of the bag.  I have included an extra long strand of wool so they can be hung.

Exercise wise I am having issues.  I want to get out there and get moving but I have got new orthotics and it always takes a while to break them in.  My right one is perfect and I barely feel that it is there.  The Left one has already been back once for corrections because I got pressure blisters.  I picked it up before my gym class and all was well with it.  I wore it to work the next day.  All day it was fine (remember I sit at a desk).  Walking the 1.5km to the train station ended in shear hell though.  Looks like my foot has found a new pressure point.  Yes ouch.  Thankfully I can wear other shoes, I just can't walk long distances in them.

This morning I was up earlier than usual (probably when I should be getting up without hitting the snooze button).  We have a 30s, 40s, 50s day at work.  I don't have the clothes but I do have the shoes and the least I could do is was my hair and makeup.  I still managed to be latish for work but I think I did a pretty good job considering I have never done this style before and I don't wear makeup much.

Finally here is a shot of the central train station this morning.  I just loved the clouds and the leafless trees.  Pity about the street light.

End of Week

I recently applied for a Team Leader role at work for my team (technically we don't have one and I have been acting as a go to person).  They needed someone with a Legal background which I don't have, but I had already expressed an interest in further training in this area.  Apparently it was very close but I just missed out to someone who has a law degree.  I am not overly upset about this.  I figured that if God wanted me in that role then he would open doors to it.

Sometimes Friday can't come quick enough and for some reason this week especially.  By mid morning on Tuesday it felt like it should have been Wednesday already, and Thursday by the time I left work.  Of course I slept in this morning and arrived at work an hour late.  Thankfully they don't care as long as I make it up and don't make it a habit.

One of the girls is leaving us to day to go back home to greener pastures.  Yes she is going home to New Zealand.  I offered to make her goodbye card.  It proved harder than most.  I like to cater the card to the person but how do you make a goodbye card for a mad Kardashian fan.

The first thing is to consult another Kardashian Fan (even though, quoting their own words, I am not good at that sort of thing.)  Eventually the second Fan came up with a way to include a Kardashian type theme without pasting a tacky picture of the girls on the card and including her other favourite thing: cats.

Here you are, the first ever Catdashian Card.

For all the crafty people out there I used jac paper (double sided sticky paper) for the cat.  I drew the image on the jac paper and cut it out.  I then stuck it to white paper (I find this shows up the colour of the glitter better as it can be a bit translucent).  I just pulled off the protective top layer but kept some for the eyes. The golden brown went first.  I then removed the eye protection and cut the lid section off before replacing it.  The dark golden brown was added next.  Finally the green was added.  I used a sharpie to create the eyeballs, nose and mouth.

The cat was going to stay on a white square initially as no other colour was going to be used.  As you can see I changed my mind so I ended up cutting the cat out again.  She looks so much better anyway.

Her eyes were also going to be white initially but then I thought green would be better and that was when I decided to add some green to the rest of the card.

Last weekend I did a full day class using Powertex.  I still have some colouring to add to my sculpture which will happen this weekend.  I will post photos once done.