Powertex Giraffe

Unique Powertex giraffe garden feature

Designer – Donna Mcghie

For this article I was asked to create a 3D animal using Powertex and recycled materials.  As anyone who is familiar with Powertex will know, the possibilities for this are endless. My brain was buzzing with ideas.  However, it was when I was sorting out stuff to take to the dump, that inspiration hit for a Powertex giraffe.

Follow my step by step to create a unique Powertex Giraffe for your garden

I was loading a broken floor mop into my van that I settled on what I was going to create. The mop was speaking to me, and what it was saying was one word.  Giraffe.  As I turned it round in my hands, a picture started to form in my mind.  I even had a ready made pose, with the head lifted high, as though nibbling on leaves.  Yes I thought, I’m going to make you into a giraffe’s head sticking out of a plant pot in my garden. 

A strange thing to think?  Maybe, but I’m willing to guess that anyone who is into Powertex will have had similar thoughts on a regular basis.

Look at that, a ready made Giraffe shape

We have a plant that overhangs our fence and I decided to turn this into a feature by placing my giraffe so that it can decoratively nibble on the leaves. I opted to only make the neck as I thought it would look quirky sticking out amongst my plants.

Materials List

• Powertex Bronze Fabric Hardener
• Powertex Black Fabric Hardener
• Stone Art
• Easy 3D Flex
• Colortricx Rich Gold Powder Pigment
• Colortricx Bronze Gold Powder Pigment
• Easy Varnish
• Old mop
• 2 Old toothbrushes (disinfected) If you would rather you can choose something else, just use your imagination
• Sand
• Material for eyelashes and hair on giraffe’s neck
• Something for the eyes, I used stones, but buttons would do as well
• Plastic bags etc for stuffing the face
• Tin foil
• Masking tape

Making a Powertex Giraffe Garden Feature

Create the head

I like to recycle a lot of packaging in this way

I scrunched up old plastic from packaging and old rubber gloves to form the shape of the face, before covering tightly with masking tape.

Create the base

Sand in the base that contained the disinfectant holder gives a bit of weight to stop it being too top heavy.

I filled the part that held the disinfectant base with sand before also covering with tin foil and tape to add weight.

Create the neck

Please excuse the photobombing from Logan my dog. He was very interested in what I was making

Using old plastic I padded out the shape of the neck all the way down, and bound tightly with masking tape before painting with Powertex Fabric Hardener.

Stone Art clay and horns

I used old toothbrushes for the horns, and stones for the eyes

I mixed Stone Art Clay  face and neck leaving some pole (and sand) free to bury in soil in my plant pot.

Make the eyes and ears

Top tip, leave some wire hanging over the end of the ears to dig into the clay to ensure they stay put

I molded some ear shapes using tin foil and wire, before covering with tape and clay and adhering to the head. I also pushed some stones in for the eyes.

Easy 3d Flex clay

Make 3D Flex Clay in exactly the same way you made the Stone Art Clay. Be sure to leave it somewhere warm to dry off and create crackle and texture

I dry brushed with Powertex Rich Gold Pigment before adding some Easy 3D Flex patches. A stamp added even more texture.

Fabric eyelashes

I wanted my Giraffe to have gorgeous long lashes

I used Black Powertex Fabric Hardener and some tassles from an old key ring to create luscious lashes for my Giraffe.

Use some fringing

This fringing that I got from the Scrap Store was perfect for my Giraffe’s neck hair

I soaked some of this fringing in Bronze Powertex to create the hair for my giraffe’s neck, and left the whole thing to dry off completely.

Dry brushing

Just look at all that texture in that 3D Flex!

The finishing touches

The final step was to dry brush the whole thing in Bronze Gold Pigment. This create a contrast to the Rich Gold that was on the Clay underneath the 3D Flex patches.

I wanted to be sure that anything  I used apart from Powertex was recycled.  Hence the stones for eyes, and the toothbrushes for horns.  I had thought of using old corks for the horns, and toyed with using hessian for the patches, but my love for Easy 3D flex won
out. 

If you decide create something similar, to ensure it is weather resistant please be aware that Stone Art Clay needs to be kept indoors for 6 months initially.

Gerald will stay safely inside until next year. Just before putting him
outside I will give another couple of coats of Easy Varnish, especially on the
Easy 3D Flex patches.

Powertex giraffe by Donna Mcghie

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Obviously if you choose to make your own Giraffe you can do it on as big, or as small a scale as you wish – using anything that is available to you at home. If you decide to make one please do post a photo over on our Facebook page as we love to see what people are inspired to create. 

If you are unsure about how to create Stone Art Clay, my fellow design team member Annette has great instructions in this blog.

Thanks so much for reading, I hope you are inspired by Gerald. You can see more of my work on my facebook page, and my website www.artandmurals.co.uk.

Until next month, take care and Happy Powertexing 🙂