Christmas Powertex bauble

Designer: Jinny Holt

For this months article, we were asked to follow another design team member’s tutorial. Brilliant idea but having to decide which one to follow was no easy task, I spent ages looking through the last couple of years and finally decided that I would follow Anna’s Christmas Powertex bauble blog. You can find that HERE.

Materials list

Ingredients to create bauble

• Ivory Powertex Fabric Hardener
• Large polystyrene ball
• Oddments of material
• Christmas star tree decoration
• 3d Sand balls and 3d sand
• Bister sprays in blue & brown
• Easy Varnish
• Limoncello gold pigment
• Easy 3D Flex
• Jewellery finding

Mixing texture paste

Mixing up

I started by mixing Easy 3d Flex and some 3D balls and 3D sand with some Ivory Powertex. I also added a few drops of water.

TIP: I changed from what Anna used, she used Easy structure and I wanted to use the 3D flex as it I love using it.

Adding fabric

Looking good

I immersed some thin strips of stockinette into my mixture making sure the material got a good coating. I then painted a layer of the mixture, leaving off the balls, all over my polystyrene ball. This gives the material a key to adhere to. I then draped the mixed material around the ball.

Covering the bauble

Material and mixture added

I added the rest of the mixture with a plastic palette knife to fill all the left over gaps and left to dry.

TIP: Like Anna, I also used a jewellery finding. I wrapped a bit of wire around the finding and stuck it in my ball for a loop.

Spray with Bister

Hmm I did not take a photo of this step as I must have got a tad excited with what I was doing. I sprayed the dried Polystyrene ball with the blue and brown bister sprays. Then I wiped it back with a baby wipe and let that dry.

TOP TIP: You can speed up the drying time with a hairdryer, if you don’t want to wait. When I use Easy 3D flex I prefer to let it dry naturally as you get amazing cracks.

Dry brushing

Bottom of bauble

I now dry brushed with the Easy Varnish using the Limoncello gold this step makes your piece pop and really stand out.

Adding the star

Adding the star

For the star I used up all the left over mixture from step one and added it to the wooden star to give it a new look. I had some course sand in my stash and mixed in that to give it a different texture. Transparent Powertex is used to adhere it down to my bauble.

Finishing touches

As it is a Christmas bauble, I felt mine needed a bit of sparkle for when the Christmas lights hit it. I used some glass gems and bling in coordinating colours.

Adding some pieces of metallic foil to the star and stockinette gave that bit of extra bling. I find sometimes that it is knowing when to stop adding!

Powertex Christmas Bauble by Jinny Holt

So Anna, thank you for inspiring me to recreate this article.

 If you would like more Powertex inspiration, you can find loads of eye candy on…

PINTEREST

THE POWERTEX STUDIO

POWERTEX ADDICTS

And you can find me at MUMS SHED 

I look forward to seeing your creations. It would be lovely if you could leave a comment and maybe even share but most of all be inspired and have fun creating.

~LIVE~LOVE~LAUGH~CREATE~

Jinny