Powertex Dreamcatcher

Designed by Donna Mcghie

Step by step guide to creating a Powertex Dream Catcher

The story behind my Powertex dreamcatcher. I will always have a bit of a soft spot for dream catchers.  When my daughter was young she suffered awfully from night terrors. 

We tried many techniques to get her to have a peaceful night, and spoke to many professionals as well.  One of the things we tried,  hoping that it would help her even if just a through a placebo effect was a dream catcher. 

I’d be lying if I said she slept perfectly once we hung up her dream catcher. The thought of it catching those bad dreams and holding them at bay definitely had a calming effect on her before she closed her eyes at bedtime to go to sleep.

Thankfully those days are long behind us now, and my daughter is now a young woman.  But she has seen the dream catcher shown here and I know this is something she would still hang up in her bedroom or living room.

For this dream catcher I used the gorgeous ink sprays now available from Powertex UK.  I just love how vibrant and easy to use these are, and how they automatically blend into each other to create almost an air brushed effect. 

Materials List

• MDF Dream Catchers with Feathers Pop Out Pieces
• Paperdecoration Light Pink
• Paperdecoration Natural
• Ivory Fabric Hardener
• Transparent Fabric Hardener
• Stone Art
• Powercolor Titanium White Pigment
• Interference Blue Powder Pigment
• Interference Red Powder Pigment
• Metallic Acrylic Ink Silver
• Acrylic Ink Aqua Spray
• Acrylic Ink Rasberry Spray
• Rasberry Sorbet Arcylic Paint
• Powertex Easy Varnish
• Powertex Easy Structure
• Cow Skull and Flowers Mould Set
• Powertex MDF Frame and Panel
• That’s Crafty Dinky Stencil Feather
• Ready Mixed Mahogany Bister Liquid
• Small Piece of Crochet from a charity shop (a doily would work just as well)
• String

How to make my Powertex dreamcatcher

Prepare the frame

This mdf frame is so easy to use

Paint the Powertex mdf frame and panel with Ivory Fabric Hardener and set aside to dry.

Mix up Stone Art clay

I used the mould for one cow’s head, but made lots of the flowers to add onto my final design

Mix up  Stone Art with Ivory Fabric Hardener to form a clay. I  pressed this into the Cow Skull and Flowers mould.

Spray with acrylic inks

I put the small raised square to one side for now and only sprayed the larger piece

I wanted to create a surreal dreamy effect, so popped out the shapes from the MDF Dream Catchers and used them as stencils, spraying over with my ink sprays randomly.

Add Easy Structure texture

The easy structure adds texture to the design

Put Easy Structure onto a pallet knife and smear it through a leaf stencil.  I also sponged silver acrylic onto the leaves.

Use Bister spray for depth

Bister gives added depth to the design.

I added more texture by soaking my natural paperdecoration in transparent hardener and placing around the edges. I also sprayed the edges with Mahogany Bister Spray.

Lay out Paperdecoration

I sprayed the cow’s head with acrylics to keep in with my colour scheme

Put together the inner section and add paperdecoration (soaked in transparent hardener) and the cow’s head. I did not glue it in just yet.

Once I was happy with this section, I secured it onto the larger piece.

I soaked my light pink paperdecoration in transparent fabric hardener and add this to my design also.

Mdf feathers

Once the easy structure was dry I painted my feathers with Raspberry Sorbet Acrylic and also dry brushed them.

My next step was to add texture to my mdf feathers by using the Easy Structure and my feather stencil. I put them to one side to dry.

Paint and add clay flowers

I used lots of these little flowers

Painted all the small flowers with Acrylic Paint and once dry, dry brush with White Powercolor.

Add crochet fabric

If you are clever enough crochet your own middle, or do what I do and scour the charity shops

I soaked some crochet in the Ivory Hardener and secured it into the mdf circles. Once dry, I sprayed with my inks and added flowers

Glue the pieces together

My mdf feathers are glued to the dream catcher to help secure the whole piece together

Glue the dream catcher into place and add feathers to the design.

Dry brushing

The finished Dream Catcher

Finally I dry brushed my whole piece using the interference pigments and the white Powercolor.

Finishing Touches

The interference colours were gorgeous to use with this project, as I honestly do think they have a dreamy quality to them.  I also used a sponge to add just a touch of the aqua ink to the tips of the feathers. I felt they needed something extra to help them blend in. 

TOP TIP: I was slightly concerned about the dream catcher adhering to the square, but found by putting glue on both the top of the dream catcher, and also the larger feathers it secured on nicely.

That’s all from me for this month. If you’ve enjoyed this Powertex dreamcatcher, I would be really grateful if you popped over to check out my Facebook page as well. You can also see my last design team project that’s great for Halloween.

Until next time, keep powertexing 🙂