Category Archives: 3D Projects

3D Projects

Stone carving… with a scalpel?

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As previously mentioned, I’ve just completed my level two training in the use of Powertex and their Stone Art product. I was considering what I’d learnt, and decided to attempt another piece to test a concept I’d had an idea for…

Carved stone studio sign in situ

And I think the concept works really well – I just need to tweak the colouring a little, but the carved lettering was really quick once the outlines were traced on to the ‘stone’ and with a sharp scalpel, there was minimum effort and mess. The pencil and brushes were added as an afterthought and were just as easy to ‘carve’ into the stone. I’d love your commissions for carved signs and just about any shape and size is possible! And postage shouldn’t be prohibitive… the sign is stuck on with double sided tape!

 

Powertex Certification continues…

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I spent yesterday getting more training in the use of the versatile fluid hardener, Powertex. This time we concentrated on ‘Stone Art’. Given that there isn’t a single grain of anything even vaguely resembling stone in the project below, it’s a very impressive product!

Powertex Stone Art - first projectThe base is the heaviest part of the project, and also likely to be the only part that isn’t weatherproof. I took the opportunity to get a stack of materials into stock (and find somewhere in the studio to store them!) so I’ll be playing some more as I get some samples ready for workshops later in the year. Thanks to Brit for another cracking training session.

 

 

College – Term 6 – Final Major Project – another light shade

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It’s another light shade, this time featuring cut-outs using silhouettes based on my own observational drawings. I’ve cut the silhouettes from heavy interfacing, used Bondaweb to fuse to a layer of white cotton, and then machine stitched them onto the card frame.

 

And this afternoon, I spent a couple of hours in a darkened room. The stress hadn’t got to me (though the same can’t be said for our tutor this morning!), but the need to photograph all my creations to date had. Here’s a selection:

lampshadewpheader.jpg

College – Term 5 – Final Major Project – another paper craft light shade

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Well after a flurry of activity over the last two weeks watching my new studio get installed, and then decorating it, constructing furniture and moving in – as well as emptying out and putting back to right the dining room, conservatory and some of the craft room – I have my first ‘working’ day in the studio.

Of the various things I have to catch up with, college work is one priority as I have a mid-way assessment tomorrow. Consequently, I have taken pics of my latest light shade in my series. This one features one of the patterns I gleaned from a visit to the Islamic artefacts at the British Museum, drawn into Illustrator, adapted for the round and then screenprinted in opaque white ink onto thick tracing paper, and then constructed onto a card frame. As with the previous post, here are photos of the shade in daylight, and internally lit at night.

Bottle Cap Memories

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It’s Altered or Recycled theme this month over at the WOW! Embossing Powder Challenge blog. This is what I came up with for my design team submission. I need to make an admission – my intention was to use recycled beer bottle caps for this project, but I’ve not had bottled beer for a little while and ran out of time to collect any from the pub… So the project has switched from ‘recycled’ to ‘altered’!

Do you find pouring resin too expensive? Or takes too long to set? Me too, so I came up with an alternative: I’ve used molten WOW! Clear Gloss Ultra High to create the domed glazing in each of the bottle cap frames, and WOW! Earthtones to colour the stamped lettering. Hope you like it, and more details on how to make your own are here.

I’m also happy to accept commission requests if anyone would like one made – all you’d need to do is provide the digital photos/scans. Email me if you’re interested.

 

I’m a Certified Powertex Trainer!

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Yesterday, I had a very pleasant day workshop with Brit from Powertex British Isles. Powertex is a range of products based round a liquid fabric hardener. Having completed the workshop, I’m now certified to train you how to make figurines such as these:

Guardian Angel

They are 19 inches high, and constructed from wood and plaster formers, foil, masking tape, pressed mulberry fibres and old t-shirts all coated with Powertex and pigments. Let me know if you’re up for a training session in my new studio later in the year!

College – Term 5 – Final Major Project – Paper crafted light shades

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It’s already March, and only two weeks before we finish Term 5. One more term to go, and that’s my college course done and dusted. If it weren’t for my new studio to look forward to working in, and the list of jobs to do in the house, I know I would be dreading the end of college. Though I was unwell last week, I did carry on with my final major project. It’s grown out of looking at Islamic geometric patterns – I’ve learnt to construct geometric shapes with a compass and ruler, transferring them into Illustrator, and then finally applying them to 3D polyhedra. I settled on a truncated cuboctohedron as my main construction, and played about with various construction techniques.

Here are just four of the anticipated dozen final pieces. Some are uninspiring in daylight, but come alive when internally lit. Others inspire in both lights. I can tell you that I got a blood blister in my finger tip from all the scoring of folds. I can reveal that the shadowfold light required 360 separate knots. And that I stuck down each of the 400 petals on the frilly one! All are handcrafted (though I did use the Cricut machine to cut out the shapes to my design!) and nothing more than fabric or paper and glue. They are roughly 6-7 inches in diameter and designed to sit over an inexpensive battery powered LED light (£1 for two in Poundland!).

Arabian-style Lantern

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I’ve created this Arabian-style lantern from scratch – paper crafting at its most time-consuming! For this version, I’ve used WOW! Embossing Powders to coat most of the surfaces and more pictures and instructions are here. A template for those brave enough to do the cutting is here.

College – Textiles – Term 4 – Final Project

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The choice of final project in textiles was to either design and make three tea towels, an apron or a Cornell-style fine art box. I followed my ceramics theme and chose the box, and thus embarked on a project to include every technique I could think of to transfer my patterns from my sketchbook to my ‘panoply of patterns’. Here’s the completed box, complete with my display sheets displaying its contents:

Completed-box---closed

 

Lots of techniques in here, from free hand drawing with a fabric gel pen, to free motion machine stitching, backstitch hand embroidery, iron on transfers, applique, fabric paint and quilting to name but a few…