Fabric Sculpture with Powertex, day school with Daphne Corcoran

Following Daphne's talk a couple of weeks ago, the day school was eagerly anticipated, and did not disappoint. Daphne brought a mountain of stuff for us to use, all the Powertex products, things to make texture with, paints and tools, and as it is a messy business, protective gloves.

The Powertex liquid is poured into a tray, and we used cut up T-shirt material to fashion a brooch or fridge magnet, to our own taste, using things we had brought, or raiding tables full of things Daphne had brought. This was a small project designed to give us a feel for using the material. The fabric is dipped into the Powertex, allowed to dry a bit, and then manipulated into shapes, and things added to make out desired item. The Powertex sticks to itself and also acts as a glue, it's very messy, so we played like children again! Then we moved on to other larger projects, everyone could make whatever they want, and people had brought boxes, bottles, canvasses, all sorts to decorate. One lady had brought an armature of a chicken, and made a delightful garden ornament by adding T-shirt material, bits of lace etc.

When the items were dry, we added colour with powdered pigments and varnish, lightly dry brushing to give more of a highlighted look. Everyone made two or three things, and had finished objects to take home, and it really was a lovely and creative day. Many thanks to Daphne for a great day school.

Daphne's tools of the trade

Hard at work!

Beautiful bowl moulded in a frying pan

Husband's box of keys transformed!

Brooches

Ready for colouring

Green Man

Tree Stump

Brooches

Vessel moulded round a glass

Petalled box

The fabulous chicken

Talk by Daphne Corcoran ‘Introduction to fabric sculpture with Powertex

Today's talk and demonstration introduced us to a completely new concept, albeit still using the fabrics we love. Daphne is an aficionado and tutor of Powertex, which many os us had not seen before. Powertex is a substance which will harden fabric and adhere it to many other surfaces, so that the fabric can be sculpted into imaginative shapes to decorate and make things, only limited by our imaginations. It can be painted and varnished so it is safe to display outdoors, and some magazines Daphne had brought showed pictures of charming garden ornaments (not gnomes!) made with it. If you google 'Powertex Images' you will see some amazing and beautiful things. Apparently is is very useful for stage props.

Daphne then demonstrated how to make the magic. The liquid is poured into a tray, and the fabric or other items (you can coat anything with it) is dipped into it and sculpted onto for example a box, or an armature for a figure, and left to air dry. Daphne had an armature of a charming sheep, and proceeded to to cut bits of string and yarn, dipped them in the Powertex, and manipulated them to make a curly coat, complete with a rose! It can also be be mixed with a paper mâché substance to use with moulds, as can be seen below in the faces.

The possibilities are endless, and those of us who are booked onto her day school next week are really excited about having a messy playday and making something quite outside our usual comfort zone.

Fridge magnets and brooches

A bowl or roses using a frying pan as a mould

Embroideries that have been hardened with transparent Powertex

Tools of the trade

Armature for a sculpture

Green man and Buddha plaques

Made with zips, curtain tape, lace, seashells

The fabric adheres to glass

Making the sheep's curly coat

Day School with Susan Ruark - Silk Painted Embroidery Pictures

Susan is one of our newer members, and gave this day school based on her beautiful silk painted embroideries. She had brought along many examples of her work, and demonstrated how to paint wet and dry. The ladies then painted their silk in random shapes, allowing the paint to flow and mingle. They then made a sandwich with wadding and backing and hooped it. Everyone elected to hand sew, so spent a relaxing day letting their imagination wander and using various stitches and threads to enhance their colourful creations.