CFCAF2015 Classes with Maureen Carlson

Maureen Carlson 4-Hour Classes
at
Laurel, Maryland
February 16 and 17, 2015

Spinners and Whirligigs:
Artful Toys for the Creative Desktop
&
A Balancing Act:
Kinetic Art for the Creative Office

For more info about future events at Cabin Fever Creative Festivals, go to https://polymerclayfests	For more information about Maureen Carlson Classes, see http://www.MaureenCarlson.com/teach.htm
Folk Toys Maureen made her first spinner and balancing folkart toys in a class that was taught by Pier Voulkos in 2001 at the Courting the Muse polymer clay conference in Bryn Mawr, PA. Those pieces have been beloved and useful objects in the 14 years since then, but Maureen waited until the summer of 2014 to develop the concepts, with Pier's approval, into a week-long class that she titled Folk Toys and Other Things That Move. Now Maureen has adapted what she learned in those classes, plus her own sense of play, into both the Spinner and Whirligig Class and the Balancing Act Class that she taught at Cabin Fever. Both classes used a combination of white and colored polymer clays to create the forms. Additional color was added with alcohol inks and acrylic paint. And yes, they do move!	Spinners and Whirligigs: Artful Toys for the Creative Desktop
	At Cabin Fever, people had a wide variety of class offerings from which to choose. 9 people signed up for the Spinners and Whirligigs class and 8 signed up for the Balancing Act class. Some people took both classes that are shown on this page.


The Spinners and Whirligigs Class students got a lot done in just 4 hours. These are ready to paint and assemble. Photos were taken by Linda Hess.

Posted below are photos of some of the finished, or almost so, pieces. If you were in this class, and if you have more photos that you'd like to share, send them to Maureen and she'll do her best to get them posted.

This is the finished spinner of Alison Torres. She added the coloring at home and sent the photo.	Linda Hess took this composite shot of all of her projects from Cabin Fever. You can see her Balancing Act piece peeking in from the mirror.

Ann Kruglak plans to add a longer stick and then perch a fish in the middle of the waves. Photo was taken by Linda Hess.	Sue Geibel finished her spinner by using Doreen Kassel's oil painting technique.
A Balancing Act: Kinetic Art for the Creative Office Pictured here are some of Maureen's plain white polymer pieces, and then the same pieces with color added. Alcohol ink was used to add the coloring.



_{This class was fun. And the students were so resourceful!} Adding their humor were Linda Hess, pictured here, in the middle, and Annette Harris, on the right. Linda and Annette both took the Balancing Act class, while Myra, who is Annette's sister, looked in on the process. .

Linda Hess added words and wire.
Getting everything to balance was the hardest part. It required patience! Here Maureen is helping Sue Geibel find just the right balancing point. .


Success!!!!	Sue sent this photo after she returned home. Notice that she added more beads and replaced the cat with a dog and some bones.

Sue was a busy person while at Cabin Fever. She took all three of Maureen's classes.	And above we see projects that Linda Hess completed after she returned from Cabin Fever.
At Tuesday night's party, Linda Hess, Annette Harris and Teri Walters share some creative fun. The lips-on-a-stick were made by Teri, who not only created these but made at least 15 other ones which she shared with lucky recipients.
	See you all next year???