The winter is barely started, but Cabin Fever is coming right up! Cabin Fever Clay Fest, that is–February 18-23, Â 2011 in Laurel MD. This fourth annual celebration of polymer clay has a fantastic line up of instructors including:
- Christi Friesen
- Cindy Silas
- Doreen Kassel
- Ellen Marshall
- Grant Diffendaffer
- Jeffrey Lloyd Dever
- Judith Skinner
- Julie Eakes
- Kathryn Jo Ottman
- Lindly Haunani
- Louise Fischer Cozzi
- Nan Roche
- Patti Euler
- Ronna Sarvas Weltman
- Sarah Shriver
- Sarajane Helm
thats me–I’ll be there making faces–literally! The next book that I’m working on is Making Faces, Molds & Forms, and I’ll be teaching a class with lots of information and hands on show-and-tell from the upcoming book. Â Faces can be used in making jewelry, dolls, for decorating boxes, mirrors, shadow boxes and more.
Making Faces–Modeling & Moldmaking
This session begins with the fundamentals of proportion, scale, and anatomical placement. We will build miniature faces using scrap clay and simple tools.
After baking we create molds, comparing the advantages of various formulations including plaster of paris, polymer clays, and RTV silicone molding compounds.
Pulls from the molds we make will be manipulated and decorated in many ways. Apply acrylic paints in a variety of fashions that range from childlike innocence to sophisticated vamp! We will cover making stains and antiquing, faux wood and ivory finishes, and more.
Learn the techniques of “plastic surgery” to create strikingly different faces from a single original mold. Using swirl and feathering techniques, filigree, foils, metallic leaf, glitters, paints, stains and inks, and more we will embellish faces both fanciful and realistic.
Plus, we will explore the use of Hydro-Shrink, a product that is cast into the mold, which then shrinks up to 50-75% so we can make molds just like the original but at smaller scales.
The details in a face say so much about the character-whether creating a doll, a pendant for jewelry purposes, an icon or a totem or a decorative object for use in frames, mirrors, and other furnishings.
Create your own unique faces that can be used to make all these and more, and know that NOBODY will have one just like yours!
CONDITIONED CLAY, ready to use in class is strongly encouraged. Premo and Kato brand clays are the strongest but any kind will do.
Students will need:
- minimum 6 oz. clay (scrap or any color is fine, for making faux ivory bring 2 oz. each white and translucent)
- sharp blade, work surface, modeling tools
- other materials for use in class will be provided including 2 part silicon and hydro-shrink
click here to access the registration page
I’ve also got classes scheduled closer to home.