Saturday 18 March workshop

Another Fantastic Day

What a great day at That's Crafty in Romford , Essex.

I hope I speak for everybody when I say we had a fab day Powertexing down south .

The ladies made some really lovely bottles and plaques.

It always amazes me how the same kit and the same tuition can give such diverse results, and that my friends is the beauty of Powertex.

Powertex Shining star

Powertex Shining Star For March

Well what a nice surprise.

It is nice to be part of a great team and have your achievement recognised.

It has been a very busy month for us  on the Powertex front, but well worth it .

Powertex works in progress

Sample Pieces Made at NEC March 2017

I had the pleasure of demonstrating on the Powertex stand this last week .

These are the works in progress from the demo  The top one is a Mannequin roughly 18" without the stand.

The skull plaque is  one of my favourite pieces, can't wait to finish it.

A Sunday Stroll

A welcome breather

It made a nice change this Sunday to have a nice stroll in the grounds of Rufford Abbey. It makes a nice change when you work 7 days a week to have a bit of a break so a couple of hours strolling the grounds and a nice hot chocolate gave just a little respite to the hustle and bustle that is a modern day life.

The guy in the top right had aright Bee in his bonnet and was honking his head off about something.

The Saga of the ever growing Garden update

Still getting bigger

Well progress is slow but it moving forward .

This picture shows how much of the trees we have removed and how it has opened up the space.

This picture shows what appears to be a tree but is in fact the old concrete clothes pole which I dug/wrestled out of the ground on Sunday. The next job was to bag  the rest of the detritus ready for the skip coming. I have temporarily propped up the neighbours fence on the right hand side until something more permanent can be put in place.

The next job is to Take down the Elderflower tree ( top left ) and the Cherry blossom down
(top right) I can then re-define the boundaries. The groundworks can then start. Watch this space.

Search engine issues

Hi all,
         It has come to our attention that the blog has been invisible to some search engines. I am surprised as the amount of traffic that comes to the blog is quite staggering. On the plus side it should be visible to everybody now and the visitor numbers should be even higher . To all those that do visit the blog and comment , thank you very much for your time and watch this space for some imminent blog candy.

Fantastic day at Samuel taylor Leeds

Another full day of Powertex Fun

A Powertex packed day at Samuel Taylor Leeds. Garden Plaques in the Morning and Solar powered bottle bling in the afternoon.

Some stunning finished pieces well done ladies.

Hope you ladies are back yo do the abstract canvas later in the year.

At the painting stage

Nearly there..... at the dry brushing stage. All looking good.

Powertex Garden Plaque & Bottle workshop at Samuel Taylor Leeds

All setup and ready to start a day of fun and crafting at Samuel Taylor Leeds.

Check out my sons bands latest music video.

Your Life & Mine - Nothing New (Official Music Video)

This is my sons bands latest video. Have a listen, watch the video and let me know what you think.
If you like what you hear they have just done a great cover of Ed Sherans Castle on the hill check it out on youtube.

Powertex Garden plaque 4 March 2017 at Craft-e-Liza

Introducing more people to the world of Powertex

Yet another enjoyable day introducing new people to Powertex. This time the venue was Craft-e-Liza in Mansfield ( quite close to home ) and a lovely bunch of ladies the majority of whom have never tried Powertex before .

The picture below shows the various stages of colouration from bronze through to Verdigris.

The finished plaque with the new Faerie on.

Informally explaining the qualities of Powertex before they got on with a cracking workshop.

The lovely finished garden plaques. Well done Ladies.

Zombie flesh " Experiments in dimensional Texture"

Texture Treat

I really loved making these, they were a complete pleasure and I love how they turned out.

This technique is called the "depths of decay"

Lots of visual layers.

I call this technique Zombie flesh but if you do it in blue tones it looks like moving water.

True Zombie flesh and tone ( I think having never seen a zombie )

Powertex Tip #2

Powertex Bister Swatches

Now this one may seem obvious, but you would be surprised. In workshops where I give a choice of colour I always like to have a swatch of each of the colours, to give myself and my students a chance to visualize what colours may look like together.

These swatches are Powertex Bister over Powertex Stone Art. I deliberately made the Bister more dilute and got the students to build the depth of colour up in layers ( drying between layers).

Hope this may be of use to someone. It saves me both time and products as the colour choice is made without actually using any product.

"Chockoblock" March

Busy. Busy, Busy, Workshop Preparation

Well March is going to be a busy month for Heather and I. We have 6 Powertex Workshops and 2 Powertex Demos plus a shabby chic book workshop all to Prepare for and to teach.

As you can see the production line is well and truly under way and Heather has been really busy casting all the plaster of Paris components for the workshops ( Don't know where I would be without her to be honest). The fact that we are a team in all this makes it all the more worthwhile for me.

She has been busy casting Faeries and flowers, while I have ben busy de-moulding and putting kits and equipment together.

All mini plaques are pre-primed with Powertex hardener to help them stay weather proof when they go outside.

My Bakelite Addiction

A Couple of Cool Finds

I don't know about you but I seem to have a real problem walking past old interesting pieces? I picked these up recently . The first picture is a vintage Brass filigree door plate and handle (no idea how old it is ) it looks rusty in the picture but it is actually brass with a fair amount of Verdigris.

Now I have to admit that I have a bit of a thing for Bakelite. I just like the feel and the look of it, I like the era it comes from the things that are made from it just feel well made Its just cool. 

This is a 1950's Ferranti Clip On Amp meter it is such a cool find it so reminds me of the 50's and the atomic era . Looks to me like a Robotic clamp . Do I use it on a project or add it to the collection.

Creative Expressions at Stitches

Trade Show February 2017

Not much has been posted on the blog in last few days and here is the reason why!!

John is with the rest of the Creative Expressions Team at NEC for their yearly trade show and launch of their new products.

Hope some of you have managed to find him.... apparently he has been hiding??? Think he may need to work on this technique.

Today is their final day so if you are in the area or at the show, pop along and say Hi and check out the Creative Expression stand.

xxx - xxx

John Glossop Powertex Canvas "Distant Dunes"

Powertex Bister Crackle Abstract

Here is another one of my Powertex Canvas'

This one is done with Powertex Ivory hardener and brown bister and a small amount of Powertex clay. Although there is no theme to this ( its an abstract canvas after all ) it reminds me of running through the Dunes as a kid, hence the title.

If you see anything you want most of my pieces are for sale.

Pre-release Play With Tim holtz Distress Oxide Pads

Hmmm Me Likes

Being in the profession and working for the company Creative Expressions, I get the occasional perk. This Perk comes in the form of a chance to play with the new Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink pads.

These are a fusion of Dye based ink and Pigment based ink and create a great oxide effect when spritzed with water. This is a coming soon product and this is just a sneak preview but I would definitely put them on my wants list 12 colours as shown below.  Enjoy, I prefer them over dark card stock.

The full first release colour palette

Cathartic De-clutter

Surely its For the best?

Well I have to admit to being a bit of a hoarder, no seriously I like nothing more than to trawl car boots, charity shops and even admit to digging in the odd skip. I am a bit of a magpie who likes nothing more than the thrill of the chase. Now I know that a lot of people I know are like this. I like to collect interesting things, nothing unusual about that I know but I have probably realised today or maybe its been dawning for a while (at last the penny drops ) that I have started, I don't know why or when, to be forming emotional attachments to items, even bits of clothing. I know this is stupid but we all still do it, I am saying we, because, I know I can't be the only one. I know some people are anal about de-clutter , I don't want to be like that. The collecting is in itself a hobby to me, basically I like to find the stuff whether it be a cool old book or my latest folly "anything Bakelite". Now its got to the point where I have to start letting things go. A little example of this madness; I have just cleared my wardrobe out. Now in there I found three shirts from Next , they must have been bought about 5 years ago and still have the tags on. Not unusual like I said but I have moved home and cleared my wardrobe out at least three times since moving, so what is the problem with me throwing stuff out? I think I have every paperback that I've read in the last ten years, what gives? is it some kind of illness? Well that's it my outpouring so to speak. The conclusion, I have realised that I need to get rid of lots of stuff. I appreciate that emotional stuff is stuff with memories attached to it. So I have decided to sell a lot of stuff, and spend the money on things and people that have a true emotional connection and not just clutter.

I could always make a living buying and selling the type of stuff I like collecting, that would be doubly rewarding.

Wish me luck. This could be painful.

 

Adventures in Grandparenting

The Future

Exciting times for me and Heather, our First grandchild on the Horizon ( hopefully not the last, come on Jarred, Zak and Beth) . This is baby Lewis . Congratulations to the parents to be Daniel and Leighann.

we are all here waiting to spoil you x

John Glossop Powertex workshop Craftstation Kirkby in Ashfield

My Latest Powertex Workshop

Photo's of  my Latest Powertex workshop just to give you some Idea of how much fun we have in the workshops. I would like to think they are really in formal, really informative and hopefully fun and productive .

Texturizing Powertex Stone Art clay

 

Don't ask

All the ladies hard at work