Hi all our Powertex Addicts, here we are again with this month’s Inspirational Theme! OMG I was soooo excited to see a cross and wings in this month’s designer kit from Ashley… Straight away I had a vision of a rustic weathered board with a rusty aged cross… So, I went a bit to town on this one… I have given you two workshops in one… Woo Hoo I hope that you are excited… Because of this I will explain in 2 parts being Part 1 the Cross and Part 2 the Weathered Board.
I hope that you have as much fun as I did with this piece…
Materials that I used were:
- Winged Cross Kit
- Powertex Bronze
- Powertex Rusty Powder
- Powertex Easy Structure
- Powertex 3D sand and ball kit
- Easy coat glossy or matt
- Powercolour: Titanium white, Turquoise
- Colourtrix – Bronze Gold, Rich Gold
Tools required:
- Paint Brushes & Pallet knife
- Spray bottle – with a mix of 50% water & 50% white vinegar
- Cutting board (as a working surface)
- Scissors, Gloves / Apron
- Plastic cup or small plastic dish to put your Powertex into
- Container or old bottle with water to wash brushes in as you go
- Cloth to dry brush as you go
- Piece of alfoil (to use as a mixing pallet)
- Work bench and mat covered in plastic
- A wash basin with warm soapy water & a towel
- Glad wrap & Wire
Let the fun begin!!
Part 1 – Making the Cross
As always, I hope that you get those tunes cranking… It always helps me with my creative flow… Prep your area by covering your bench & mats in some plastic… Get all your materials & tools out… the most important thing is to ensure that you have a container of water to keep washing your brushes as you go or you may need to create a new piece of artwork for yourself with your brushes in it… Could be pretty cool… Remember to always stir your Powertex… In chilly weather you may need to warm it up 1st by putting some warm water in your sink or a bucket and place your sealed bottle of Powertex in this for about 5mins then give it a stir / put the lid back on and give it a good shake before using… Pour some Bronze Powertex into a plastic cup and cover with plastic or a disposable glove till ready to use.
1. Ok now it’s time to carefully push out your cross and wings and your Dusty Attic Keys. Paint one side of your cross wings and keys and leave to dry.
2. When one side is dry turn over and coat the other side and the side with the Powertex leave to dry.
3. Now to create some dimension and texture on your wings with our natural paperdeco. So, have you ever used our paperdeco? No, well once you have used this & see how marvellous it is you will be trying to add it to all your other mixed media creations. So cut a piece this slightly bigger than one wing … hmmmm how will this cover both I hear you ask… Very easily… Now go and wet this piece then pat dry to get all the excess moisture out. Now start stretching and pulling this piece apart. note: gaps will appear don’t fret look at my pic all is good … Once it looks like that you have more than doubled this piece’s size, halve it by gently pulling it apart. Place both of the pieces on a mat and start painting the Bronze Powertex onto the paper deco ensuring that you get into all of the fibres. Just worry about the top of this once you have it all covered, turn it over and repeat to the underside.
4. Paint another layer of bronze Powertex onto one of the wings then gently lay this painted piece of paper deco on top. Use your kebab sticks to lift pieces up. You don’t want it to be flat on the surface
5. Now to make our Cross & Keys look downright funky, rusty & grungy…
a. Get your alfoil pallet ready and your stippling brush, put 2 scoops of the Easy Structure Pasts onto different areas of the pallet. Then place into the 1st pile a small amount of 3D sand, small balls and Turquoise powercolour and mix well note: if you feel that it is too dark with the turquoise colour add some titanium white or if not dark enough add some more turquoise. Now into the 2nd pile of easy structure paste put a teaspoon of rusty powder, some 3D sand, small & medium balls and mix well note: this mix should be of a darkish grey colour if too light add more rusty powder.
b. Using your stippling brush get some turquoise mix onto it and randomly place around your cross note: you want to leave gaps here and there to add the rusty paste…
c. Now do the same with the rusty paste. You can layer it up to add more texture but you want it to look random. Don’t forget your keys – only cover in the rusty paste mix. Rinse you brush when finished
d. Now spray spray spray all the rusty areas of your cross and keys with your Vinegar spray (½ vinegar & ½ water) it should look nice and puddly. Wait ½ and hour then respray with the vinegar mix again wait ½ hour and spray again… If sunny place outside to dry in between sprays. By the time the 3rd spray has been dried you should start to see the transformation of rust appearing on your cross. Let it keep drying within 24hrs you’ll see a remarkable difference. Link to Rusty YouTube video By Powertex Australia Ashley Hay – I highly recommend watching this:
Part 2 – Weathered Back Board…
Added bonus lesson… Woo hoo… Party Party at RenWa’s
Note : I used a piece of Styrofoam but if you have a piece of MDF or a canvas you can do the same process but you may need to mask your virtual planks of wood in a different way to how I did… String would work being nailed or pinned tightly into position but remember you would need to lift it before the Powertex dried or it will be part of your piece. I will explain as I get to this…
- Paint Sides and top of your board with the bronze Powertex – allow to dry
- Going down the length of my board I ran pieces of wire wrapped in glad wrap. Note: I poked the wire into the sides of the board to hold into position for the next few steps. The wire is not a permanent feature it is just to mask these lines off while we do the next few steps then you will remove it.
- Now you’ll need gloves on for this next step.. Paint another light layer of Powertex on the top only & while it is wet you will sprinkle Stone art powder over the top and press down with your hand into place. Leave for 5 mins then gently dust off all the loose Stone art powder into a dish (you will use this again)
- Now carefully drizzle some Powertex down in lines up & down each of your lines… Some thick some thin… Then pour more Stone Art powder over this and pat down gently – not too hard as you don’t want to flatten this layer… Leave for about 10mins.. Then very gently brush the loose Stone Art powder off again, be careful not to lift your wet stripes underneath.
- Leave for a good hour… With your glove on wet your hand and rug your board going up and down your lined area.. It should now be damp looking… Dip you fingers into the Powertex and rub this into the surface… Only a little bit you made need to wet your fingers again to help this spread. You should still see some of the Stone white coming through in place. We are making this look very rustic. Remove your wire or string by carefully lifting it… If any areas start to lift just gently push them back into place… Let this dry till its touch dry generally between ½ hour to an hour.
6. Now get ready for dry brushing your board… You will need to put a little of the following colours onto your alfoil pallet – Titanium White, Turquoise & Easycoat glossy. Now first use your titanium white with a little easycoat glossy mix into a paste on your pallet and dry brush this along some of textured areas… Then make a mix of Titanium white and turquoise and dry brush into some areas to make it look really weathered and mossy…
Your ‘Weathered Board’ is now done…
How cool…
Assemblage
1. Lay your wings on top and lay your cross over the top to work out your layout… Using toothpicks push some of these under your cross into the board to lift it up and giving it dimension.
2. Paint Powertex under your wings to use as glue and place these back onto your board gently pushing it down into place
3. To adhere your cross – (get your Stone Art clay ready) pull your toothpicks back out and dip then into the Powertex (to act as glue) and push back into the holes making sure that you drop a couple of drops of Powertex into the hole… Then ensure that you paint Powertex onthe parts of your toothpicks that are visible. then roll some balls of Stone Art clay and mould them onto the top of the toothpicks leaving a flat top for your cross to be stuck onto…
4. Then paint some Powertex onto the tops of the stoneart and place your cross into position… Leave to dry for a good 24 hours before you try to stand upright … Dry Brush Rich Gold onto your cross very lightly on some of your rusty textured areas using Rich Gold and Easycoat glossy… And your piece is now finished TA! DA!
Now, how mesmerising is your piece?
I’m sure it has the WOW factor!
I love, love, LOVE mine and I hope that I have inspired and helped you on your creative journey and that you’re feeling the same way about your piece…
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog
Please don’t forget to post your creation onto our Facebook Group
for all of us to see and admire… click here to join
All the materials that I design with are readily available through Powertex Australia
I look forward to sharing more hints and tips with you in my next blog…
Until then Cheers to you all
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Powertex Funatic
RenWA ( Renee’ Warwick)
