Craft a magical fairy house
Fairy houses are a fun and magical project for any crafter. They are good for beginners, make great gifts and can be displayed outside. A fairy house was one of the first projects I ever made with Powertex.
Gather up some Powertex supplies and create magical homes of your own with this guide to fairy houses.
Supplies
- Clean glass jar with lid
- Foil or polystyrene pieces for the roof
- Masking tape
- Powertex Universal Medium, I used Black
- A paper plate or dish for your Powertex liquid
- Fabric pieces, scraps and textures
- Clay shapes to decorate, fairy door, flowers, leaves etc
- Gloves are optional
Supplies to add colour
- Powertex Powercolor pigments, I used blues and white
- Easy Varnish
- A flat 3/4 inch paintbrush
- A non stick surface to mix your paint
- Paper towel
Create the base of your fairy house
Build the roof onto your lid. I use foil for this by screwing up a large ball and then layering up foil and tape until I have a shape that I like. Polystyrene shapes are also good for this part.
Cover everything with masking tape and ensure it’s fixed to the lid firmly.
Layer on your fabric textures with Powertex
Cut your fabric into pieces ready to use. Pour about 100-200ml of Powertex onto your plate and top up as needed. You will coat each piece of fabric with Powertex Universal Medium either by hand or with a brush.
Coat them thoroughly but not dripping wet. Layer coated pieces onto the jar and roof until they are covered. The Powertex is sticky and is also adhesive.
Keep lots of wrinkles, overlaps and textures in your layers. This will give your fairy house lots of character. Make sure you can still unscrew the lid cleanly.
Adding some details with clay and textiles
There are lots of ways to add gorgeous details to your fairy houses to make them unique. I like to use clay pieces and textile scraps such as hessian, string and fabric flowers.
I create my fairy door with Stone Art clay or air dry clay in a mould. You can buy ready made ones or make your own with fabric, clay or even cardboard.
Paint everything with Powertex Universal Medium and use it to glue your pieces into place.
When you are done, leave it to dry for a minimum 3 hours, overnight if possible.
Adding colour with Powercolor
Powder pigments are intense and can be mixed into a paint easily in small amounts. I used Easy Varnish to mix them as this also protects the colour and the fairy house can go outside when cured.
Use a flat paintbrush and a craft mat or similar to mix your paint. Put a little varnish onto your mat. It dries quickly so work with very small amounts. Wet the brush a little with varnish and then dip this into your pigment to pick up some colour. Mix thoroughly on your mat and add more if needed so the paint is a dryish mixture.
Wipe any excess onto a paper towel and then “dry brush” the colour over the textures on your fairy house.
I recommend you start with darker colours first and build up the colour slowly. Enjoy mixing and blending colours together to create a beautiful layered effect. If you’re unhappy with your colours you can paint over them as you like.
As a last layer, mix a light coloured paint to brush over your highlights.
Powertex is weatherproof when cured
Your fairy house will be sturdy and set after three days and cured after three weeks. It’s worth giving yourself this time if you plan to put your little magical home outside or give as a gift.
After three weeks, it will be weatherproof for a magical resident to move in and add a little magic to your home or garden.
If you want to level up your fairy houses, take a look at these rainbow fairy houses.
1 Comment
5 Powertex project ideas for beginners - Blog - Kore Sage | Mixed Media Artist · 13th November 2022 at 4:54 pm
[…] Get some tips on making fairy houses. […]
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