After submerging pieces of fabric into a bowl of wet black liquid, Sandy Clark begins draping it around the neck of a wine bottle.
She repeats the process and then grabs a small white clay mask and adheres it to her work, coating it generously with the same black substance.
The end result will be a handmade ornament that hangs on the neck of a wine bottle people can give as a gift.
The liquid is powertex fabric hardener. She discovered it a few years ago and it has opened up a whole new world of sculpting for the crafter.
What Clark loves about creating sculptures is that she can get into the creative zone.
“It completely puts you in a zen space. [I] can easily lose a full day in my craft room,” said Clark.
She has been a crafter for about 25 years and has explored various different types of crafts.
Her living room wall is covered with canvas sculptures she’s created.
“I don’t know where the creativity comes from,” said Clark, adding sometimes she’ll start working on a project and it goes in a completely different direction than she originally thought.
She also makes sculptures and items for the outdoors, because the liquid is weatherproof. There is a transparent version, but it needs to be varnished to withstand the elements.
“It just allows for so much and you don’t have to have a creative bone in your body,” said Clark.
She is running numerous workshops this summer and fall to teach people techniques she’s learned.
She runs a fridge magnet class from Aug. 20-21 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for $50, a sculpture class on Sept. 17 and 24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for $125 and a mask canvas class is slated for October.
For more information please go to http://playfullypowertex.com or e-mail playfullypowertex@gmail.com.
arts@nanaimobulletin.com