Monday 22 December 2014

powertex in the Niagara region


We are happy to announce a new Powertex instructor and supplier in Niagara. She will be teaching in various venues throughout southwestern Ontario, including of course, Niagara Falls. 

Roberta Birnbaum

Roberta Birnbaum is a Niagara Falls artist and instructor offering classes and workshops in: mixed media, Powertex fabric sculpture, stone art decor, paper arts, and resin.  She holds workshops in her home studio and various locations throughout the region. 

Roberta also offers 'Classes2Go' which is a service where she will come to your group (minimum 6) in your home, rec centre, school and bring an art class to you, including all supplies and tools. It is a convenient, fun and affordable way to create with friends. 

Roberta's next Powertex workshop is scheduled for February 8, 2015 at The Niagara Artists Studio, Niagara Falls. 

DecorablesArt is her company and you can check out the website at http://decorablesart.com

She encourages you to email her with any questions you may have at decorables@gmail.com or call her at 289-296-3217 or for Toronto-area callers at 416-948-0906

 

Wednesday 3 December 2014

powertex classes on the east coast

if you are in the area check out the
 
 
The Violet Unicorn Art Studio & Shop
Phone: 902-463-5411
NOTE! I moved to a different hut!12 Government Wharf Road
Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia
Canada B3G 1M7
 
Wednesday December 17th, 6pm


also available , wine cuff classes
every Thursday before Christmas 

Sunday 23 November 2014

upcycle with powertex


A funny story goes with it:
I was “garage sailing” when I came upon this wonderful rabbit.
  It was on the ground beside a couple of outdoor statues
 but as I went to go over to it the gentleman said,
  “ Before you get to excited it is just paper Mache and not stone.
 “ I smiled at him and said that’s okay how much?
 He said I should give it to you for free but how about 99 cents?
 Still smiling I said I’ll give you a dollar for it.
  This is how it turned out after POWERTEX AND ME were finished with it.
 Yesterday, a client came into the studio and offered to buy it for $75.00
but I declined saying it was for display only.
 Talk about profit!!!!!
Sharon Brassard
  Romantic Designs Romantic Designs Artist Studio
www.romanticdesigns.ca

Monday 17 November 2014

powertex dancer

"daniella"
 
  even though powertex is a fabic hardener
you can still show motion and movement
 
using wire and foil for the body and styrofoam for the head
I cover the form with powertex and stoneart
the dress , a crochet doily , really finishes it off
 

Friday 17 October 2014

stoneart class with brigette

Stone Art class held in conjunction with Art Waves West
 in Leduc, Alberta at the end of September
More pics of the Stone Art class at Art Waves West. Considering none of these people had ever handled Powertex, much less Stone Art, they produced some amazing results. We had a lot of fun... got into a bit of trouble... but laughed a lot. The class next door was not impressed with the "rowdy Powertex bunch" that laughed and giggled and disturbed them. Not sure why they were upset... isn't art supposed to be fun?

Saturday 11 October 2014

two friends sharing one creative passion

 
We create material sculptures on rocks, wood or other materials - our creations range from 8" - 24" These sculptures are made from recycled materials; t-shirts, tablecloths, doilies, wool, mops, ribbons and buttons.  We use an environmentally friendly product called Powertex that hardens the material onto the rock or wood surface. They are all original pieces and an absolute joy to make and to enjoy in the garden or in a home.
We hit local thrift shops, use mementos from our family and friends, and have gone on "rock finding" road trips!!! Do you do custom pieces? YES!! We can take notes and inspiration from the memory or person or moment you would like to capture... Gramma knitting in her favorite rocker, a fairy holding a favorite piece of jewellery, father and son fishing, sisters playing, your first child... it is really open to whatever it is you would like to capture!!
 Ever since a certain professor in school inspired me to explore my creative side, I have been in one way or another involved with art...painting, ceramic, pottery stain glass etc. A chance visit to a Garden Show would lead me to this current project / passion, Fabric Sculpting. Each sculpture flows out of me inspired by past and present spirits. The added fun is to match each inspiration with a great rock found along my travels. I love the recycling aspect of these projects, using natural fiber fabric such as cotton t-shirts, linen, old doilies, antique lace to dress the sculptures to a finished state. I have truly found my passion and happy place in creating these wonderful sculptures.

 My hobby is an absorbing one...but then who's isn't?I love this work, it's been my passion since I was a little girl to search and collect rocks and pieces of wood. So once I learned about the art of Material Sculpting and how these pieces could be transformed using my rocks and bits of wood, I was mesmerized. Everything used is pretty much reused, from old doilies to tablecloths, wool, hankies and pot scrubbers. It is so fulfilling to have a piece of clothing from a lost relative or friend or even a piece of jewelry that can be incorporated into a sculpture that will carry the memory of that person. The only limit I have is my imagination!!!!

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Beth and Caitlin

"Beth"
Bronze Powertex and gold Power Pigments 

"Caitlin"
Green Powertex and Copper Power Pigments

 
using a plaster head, wooden dowel and base
building up the body with foil and masking tape
and 18 gauge wire for the wings
and for the dress and wings I experimented with a variety of natural items
Power cotton and handmade paper for the wings 
gauze, doily and cotton t-shirt for the dresses

Thursday 25 September 2014

sculpture by Eveline


 I live in the beautiful village Berlicum (NB) in The Netherlands. I have over 16 years experience with Powertex and all related Powertex products and have obtained all necessary certificates which a qualified Master Powertex Trainer requires to become a certified trainer and to provide workshops to train new trainers. It all started about 16 years ago when I first came into contact with Powertex, I was immediately hooked. In 2004 we immigrated to Australia where we started an imported and wholesale business with Powertex. In less than two years we had built a nationwide network of dealers and trainers, and Powertex had become a successful product in Australia. Our name was Astonishing Craft and Arts. Now it is belong to Ashley Bowley from Powertex Australia. Due to personal circumstances we returned to the Netherlands in February 2008, we sold our Powertex import and wholesale business to one of our trainers.
 After returning, I couldn’t sit back and do nothing! I had the urge to continue giving classes
 and share my experiences with Powertex and Stone Art.
I hope you'll be as excited as all of us who work with Powertex.
I wish everyone creative greetings.

Friday 12 September 2014

Sunday 7 September 2014

learning with Anja

 



 

 

I am working non-stop getting ready for the Studio Tour
 taking place on the third weekend of September from the 20-21st.
 Therefor I've added extra classes for October.

Each workshop will be a mixed one, where you can choose what you would like to create that day. New classes will now include the opportunity to learn how to make an ostrich, fairy, African figurine or a different style of blue heron (photo's to be included on my website shortly) as well as the ability to work with stone art, its a crushed paper mache if mixed with Powertex it makes a clay .

Powertex just launched a new product called Easy3DFlex, an inorganic filler/binder in powder form, mixed with Powertex which creates a paste to enable you to easily work with paintings or sculpt in 3D, this medium gives cracks in thick layers by exposing to heat.



I have already seen the results of working with this product and it looks great. The product just arrived in Canada,  and my first order has just arrived. I am hoping I can add this to the list of workshops in the fall….I will keep you posted!.
 
Mark your calendars TODAY to ensure you reserve a spot!


 

September classes:
Saturday  -   Sept 27th

 

October classes:
Friday  - Oct 3th
Saturday - Oct 18th
Friday  - Oct 24th
Wednesday -  Oct 29th

 

November classes:
Friday -  Nov 14th
Wednesday Nov 19th
Saturday  - Nov 29th
If a planned workshop doesn't fit your schedule,
 please let me know as we can plan on another date if you can bring at least 3 friends.

Looking forwards seeing you at one of the workshops!
 

 
Rolling Hills Studio 
Discover the 'Creative Artist' within you 
10445 Sideroad 17
 Sunderland, L0C1H0 
FB – Rolling Hills Studio

Thursday 4 September 2014

serene boy

"Benjamin"
one of the European plaster heads  offered from powertex  is " Jonas"
he is so serene looking and I decided to make him as an angel
using ivory powertex , cotton tshirt , cheesecloth and wire for the wings

Monday 1 September 2014

sculpting and powertex

Meet Morris Thompson  (Brigette's husband)
Moe served in the military before joining the local police service
he spent 30 years as a uniform officer
During this time, he began carving and loves to create the human form.
Wood carving led to a passion for stone carving and occasionally air dry and polymer clay
All of these mediums have contributed to some of his current work with Powertex

An homage to Degas’ famous sculpture...
 this piece won second place at
the Alzheimer Society garden sculpture competition.
 
 (face is sculpted (OOAK) using air dry clay
everything else is Powertex)




above
one of Moe's wood carvings and stone carvings

Monday 25 August 2014

heritage photo album



I have a suitcase of heritage family photo's.
 Do you have heritage photo's?
 I suggest to make a date and have some tea with family members
and get the names recorded of all the people in those photo's before families
 become smaller and we forget who is in those photo's.


Here, I have re-purposed some family doilies from the actual
family members in those heritage photo's. 
How fun would this be, to journal that the actual album cover is
made from grandma's doilies?  


Start out with a sturdy corrugated cardboard chipboard piece for the album cover
  Apply a liberal amount of gesso or acrylic paint, dry.
 Dip the doilies into powertex and cover the cardboard.
Dip and decorate the cover with additional embellishments
 and dry well a couple of days.


Documenting the family history is a great hobby that will be so valuable to the family as the children grow to appreciate their ancestry.

visit Ava's blog here

Wednesday 13 August 2014

bring me my herons


Yes, I said herons, not dragons like Khaleesi in Game of Thrones. Nothing against dragons, it’s just that I like herons a whole lot more and they’re easy to spot in southern Ontario. I had a great time this spring, creating a couple of four foot high herons using Powertex.

Because of the size, I needed some help in creating the armature and enlisted the services of my handy husband. He bolted two long rods into the base (a lovely piece of wood, that I had sanded and treated with varethane) and attached them to four lengths of coat hanger wire, molded to form the shape of the heron’s body. The attachment was the tricky part because he created a wooden ‘T’ in the inside of the heron’s body.

After the wire armature was secure, I began the process of filling it with balls of foil and then wrapping foil to cover the wire. Yes, I used a lot of aluminum foil and masking tape to shape the herons.

When the aluminum sculpting was complete, I began the process of wrapping the bird with strips of fabric coated with transparent Powertex (much like I would with a small lady figurine). Because of the size of the heron, I had to do this in stages, using gravity by positioning the heron in various poses. When the heron was completely covered with fabric, I used small, 4-8 inch strips of fabric to create the feathers, again soaking them in transparent powertex and placing then on the sides (wings) and neck of the heron. This was the fun part where I experimented



Sunday 3 August 2014

body in motion

I really love the simplicity of this sculpture
this basic dance pose is highlighted by using stone art
the texture shows off the form


Friday 25 July 2014

mermaid sculpture class with leanne

living by the sea has truly inspired Leanne!!
if you are in the Halifax area check out the Violet Unicorn for summer classes
there are 2 mermaid classes scheduled for August
plus mask making every Tuesday nite
 

Wednesday 23 July 2014

clear powertex with janice

  I have sculpted  in clay and I also woodcarve and do Pyrography. I am mostly an artist in paint, self taught since 1972 and have run the gamut of all sorts of paints and techniques.
With Powertex , I learned from talking to Brigette and buying supplies from her. 
My ladies are very colourful and have painted faces. I hand sewed their clothing, trying it on before I use the clear Powertex . The lady in the green dress is the only one whose skirt is done the way the little booklet suggested.  The hair on the lady in green is a lightweight cotton wool that I dyed with coffee after sewing it onto some tulle; the other two ladies have hair made of crochet cotton on a fabric band and then dyed with tea.

Monday 7 July 2014

image transfer with powerprint

working with powerprint is so quick and easy
not only can you use it with powertex and stoneart
it also works beautifully on leather, glass, metal and wood!!
the possibilities are endless
you can even transfer onto a terracotta pot
for my project
supplies needed
a canvas, corrugated cardboard, powercotton,
powertex in blue , ivory and bronze
stoneart and powerprint

 I mixed blue and ivory powertex to create the sky
working on the top two thirds I painted the canvas and then added stoneart to create some texture
paying more attention to the edges
I used bronze powertex for the "earth" and adding an extra thick layer in the centre
letting it sit for 5 minutes to create a "skin" I added stoneart  and gently rubbed it in
this made some really cool cracks
to add to the ground texture I painted some cardboard and powercotton
 
 


powerprint is so easy to use
simple apply a thin coat to the area and add your toner based photocopy face down
allow to completely dry ( use can use a dryer to speed the process)

once dried just add water and rub

Thursday 3 July 2014

sneak peak

exciting news
Brigette Thompson is on her way to Belgium
for the International Trainer's conference
joining representatives from all over the world
to learn new techniques and textures
using a new powertex product 
stay tuned for full details when
she returns home next weekend

Friday 27 June 2014

Tineke Doornbosch


When Tineke Doornbosch immigrated to Canada, she brought from Holland a zest for gardening and a zeal for garden art. It was only natural that she sought to embrace both of these passions with the study of fabric sculpting. Tineke was one of the first to introduce it to eastern Canada.
Our sculptures -which we playfully call "Garden Spirits"- have been instrumental in the growing interest of fabric sculpting in Canada. "We use a myriad of different materials to create our figurines". "We especially love working with natural products from my own garden and the natural world: cotton, stone, ceramic, wood, brick, wicker, grass.
Each of our creations develops its own name and personality. It's not planned that way. It just happens.. and it usually brings a smile to the face of my friends, family and guests. "We try to be environmentally sensitive in our gardens and we like our Garden Spirits to reflect that sensitivity. We've experimented with several different hardening mediums over the years and found that Powertex is the best all-round, environmentally sensitive medium for this type of art."

Tineke offers workshops from her home in Perth.
 It’s a fun day out for a bunch of ladies, (men are welcome too).
 A nice lunch is included and at the end of the day we’ll serve a nice glass of wine accompanied by a nice cheese platter and other goodies while we admire each others’ creations.
 No one will go home disappointed. Most students so far have come back for more.
 Please view our website: www.gardenspirits.ca
with some fun pictures of our Garden Spirits, shows and workshops.