A Taste of Fodder School
Three teachers, Three complete classes.
One delicious taste of Fodder School!
Curious about Fodder School—but not quite ready for a whole year of it?
We made something just for you!
A Taste of Fodder School brings together three complete classes from the original Fodder School 1, taught by Wendy Solganik, Megan Whisner-Quinlan and Tiffany Sharpe.
You'll make your own gorgeous mixed-media fodder. You'll learn what to DO with it. You'll explore watercolor, collage, handmade books, altered fabric, block printing, painted papers, botanicals, bookbinding and a whole lot more.
And you'll experience the thing that sits at the heart of Fodder School:
First we make the stuff. Then we make stuff WITH the stuff.
All three complete classes are together in one classroom, ready for you to explore at your own pace.
JOIN A TASTE OF FODDER SCHOOL!
One Time Payment ($167 USD +tax)
3-Part Payment Plan (3 x $60 USD +tax)
WHAT EXACTLY IS FODDER?
Before we go any further, perhaps we should explain ourselves.
Fodder is the stuff we make to make other stuff.
It's the hand-painted paper, the wonky little botanical, the fabric you stamped and stained and printed all over, the scrap you couldn't possibly throw away (because LOOK AT THAT COLOR), the weird little bit of something sitting on your art table that suddenly becomes exactly what a collage needed.
We make it. We collect it. We use it. And then, naturally, we make more.
That's fodder. And that's the idea that started Fodder School.
A Taste of Fodder School
Not twelve classes. Not an entire year of content.
Just three really good ones.
This is for the person who has wondered what Fodder School is all about but doesn't necessarily want a year's worth of classes.
It's for the person who wants to learn some new things, make some cool stuff and see what this whole Fodder business is about.
And holy moly, are you going to learn a LOT.
FODDER SCHOOL 1 HAS BEEN RETIRED.
Fodder School began with Fodder School 1, when twelve artists came together to teach their approaches to mixed media, collage, bookmaking, painting, mark making, fodder making and creative practice.
It was the beginning of this whole wild Fodder School adventure. But Fodder School 1 has now been retired and is no longer available for purchase. We didn't want everything from that original year to disappear with it. So we selected three wonderful, substantial classes from Fodder School 1 and brought them together to create something new.
THREE TEACHERS,
THREE COMPLETE CLASSES.
And when we say complete, we mean complete.
These aren't excerpts. They aren't shortened versions. They aren't a handful of videos pulled out of the original classes. You're getting each teacher's complete original class from Fodder School 1.
Each teacher first teaches you ways to MAKE FODDER using her own favorite materials, techniques and processes. And then she shows you how to USE THAT FODDER to make something.
So while there are three main finished projects in A Taste of Fodder School, you're learning far more than three things. Take a look!
A “little” taste, a whole lotta learning!
A Taste of Fodder School includes three complete classes from the now-retired Fodder School 1.
Three different teachers. Three different approaches. Three substantial projects.
And a wonderfully broad introduction to the world of mixed-media fodder making.
One Time Payment ($167 USD +tax)
3-Part Payment Plan (3 x $60 USD +tax)
THE FODDER KEEPER PLUS
with Tiffany Sharpe
Before you even begin building Tiffany's incredible Fodder Keeper, you're going to learn...
Watercolor!
Tiffany starts at the beginning, walking you through watercolor materials and foundational techniques before moving into beautiful loose botanical painting.
You'll explore:
• Watercolor supplies and materials
• Watercolor basics
• Painting watercolor leaves
• Painting watercolor flowers
• Painting apples and mushrooms
• Fussy cutting your painted botanicals
• Using up those watercolor practice papers instead of throwing them away
In other words, there is a lovely little watercolor adventure hiding inside this class before you even get to the main event.
And then...
You’ll make the Fodder Keeper!
If you're going to make all this glorious fodder, you're going to need somewhere to PUT IT.
The Fodder Keeper is a handmade book designed specifically for the somewhat ridiculous quantities of papers, scraps, botanicals, collage bits and assorted treasures that mixed-media artists tend to accumulate. But this isn't a plastic organizer from the office supply store.
The thing that holds the art becomes art, too.
Tiffany walks you through the construction from beginning to end. You'll learn how to:
• Paint papers for your covers
• Transform ordinary file folders with paint
• Measure and cut chipboard
• Create sturdy handmade book covers
• Cover chipboard with your own painted papers
• Construct and attach a spine
• Cut and prepare file folders and page protectors
• Create pockets
• Sew pockets
• Tape and reinforce pockets
• Arrange and stabilize signatures
• Bind the finished book
• Add charms and finishing details
When you're finished, you'll have a beautiful handmade book that also happens to be ridiculously useful.
Make the fodder. Make the book. Put the fodder IN the book.
We do love a full-circle moment.
COLLAGE CLUSTERS
with Megan Whisner-Quinlan
Megan doesn't start by handing you a pile of scraps and telling you to make a collage.
She starts at the beginning.
First, we make the stuff
You'll learn Megan's approach to creating your own collection of collage fodder.
You'll explore:
• Making botanical elements
• Creating handmade collage papers
• Building a collection of materials to work with
• Playing with color, pattern, shape and texture
• Creating pieces that can be mixed and matched
• Organizing all those little bits and pieces so you can actually FIND THEM AGAIN
That last one may be worth the price of admission!
Once you've made all this wonderful stuff...
You’ll make Collage Clusters!
Megan shows you how she takes individual pieces of handmade fodder and combines them into small, layered collage compositions.
You'll explore:
• Choosing pieces that work together
• Combining botanical imagery with handmade papers
• Layering color, texture and pattern
• Working with scale and proportion
• Building small compositions
• Creating focal points
• Developing balance without making everything perfectly symmetrical
• Letting unexpected combinations happen
• Knowing when to add another layer
• Knowing when to STOP
And here's one of our favorite things about collage clusters:
They're fodder, too.
Make a bunch. Put them in your journals, Add them to handmade books, Use them on cards, Incorporate them into larger collages, Stick them in a drawer and rediscover one six months from now when it suddenly becomes EXACTLY the thing another project needed.
You're not just making a finished project. You're learning a way of working that you can return to again and again.
THE WAGE PEACE BOOK
with Me! (Wendy Solganik)
Okay. We're going to do some things to fabric.
Before I teach you how to construct the handmade mixed-media Wage Peace Book, you're going to make an entire collection of altered fabric fodder. And this is where things get REALLY fun.
Alter it, Stain it, Print it, Mess with it!
You'll explore different ways of taking ordinary fabrics and making them decidedly less ordinary.
You'll learn about:
• Choosing fabrics to work with
• Turning humble paint rags into glorious art materials
• Aging and staining fabric
• Using coffee and aging fluid
• Experimenting with synthetic dyes if you happen to have them
• Using alcohol inks on fabric
• Bleaching and removing color
• Adding layers of marks
• Combining different treatments on the same piece of fabric
And then there is...
And then we’re going to do some things with paper!
You'll explore making Mother Board and then layering it with paint and marks and stencils as ways to get pattern, imagery and deliciously imperfect marks onto your handmade book pages.
You'll play with:
• creating grunge
• collage
• stencils
• mark making
The goal is NOT to make a tidy collection of perfect book pages. Thank goodness.
The goal is to make an interesting pile of gloriously imperfect book pages that look like YOU made them.
Then we're going to use them.
The Wage Peace Book
Once you've created all that delicious fabric fodder and book page fodder, I’ll walk you through the process of turning it into a substantial handmade mixed-media artist book.
And when I say I’ll walk you through it... The book project ALONE contains 23 videos, along with extensive written and photographic instruction.
You're not getting a quick project demonstration. You're learning the process.
You'll explore:
• Handmade book construction
• Working with fabric as a bookmaking material
• Combining fabric, paper and mixed-media elements
• Building layered compositions
• Incorporating more collage fodder and imagery
• Adding words and text
• Creating individual pages while thinking about the book as a whole
• Working intuitively
• Making decisions as the book evolves
• Embracing irregularity and imperfection
• Turning a collection of handmade fodder into a finished artist book
And because this is me we're talking about, there is also some Thought Fodder tucked in there.
Because sometimes the stuff happening between your ears needs a little attention, too.
A Taste of Fodder School FAQs
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Yep. And this is exactly why we wanted to create A Taste of Fodder School. Calling these "three projects" doesn't begin to describe what's actually inside.
You're learning watercolor.
You're painting botanicals.
You're fussy cutting.
You're painting papers.
You're altering file folders.
You're working with chipboard.
You're making pockets.
You're sewing.
You're binding books.
You're creating collage papers.
You're making botanical fodder.
You're building collage clusters.
You're altering fabric.
You're staining it.
You're dyeing it.
You're block printing it.
You're faux block printing it.
You're mark making.
You're experimenting with alcohol ink.
You're removing color with bleach.
You're making fodder. You're USING fodder.
And you're making two completely different handmade books plus an entire collection of collage clusters.
That's a heck of a taste.
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THREE ARTISTS. THREE DIFFERENT WAYS OF WORKING. This is one of the things that has always made Fodder School special.
There isn't one Fodder School style. There isn't one Fodder School palette. And there definitely isn't one "right" way to make art.
You get to step into another artist's creative world for a little while…
You see what materials she reaches for.
You watch how she makes decisions.
You learn her techniques.
You try things you might never have thought to try on your own.
You borrow what works for you.
You change things.
You combine ideas.
You make mistakes.
You discover things.
And little by little, all of those experiences become part of your own creative vocabulary. That's the point.
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Maybe you've been curious about Fodder School for years. Maybe you're relatively new to mixed media. Maybe you already make mixed-media art but want to add some new techniques to your toolbox.
Maybe you love handmade books. Maybe you're intrigued by watercolor. Maybe you've been wondering what the heck people are talking about when they say "fodder."
Or maybe an entire year of art classes sounds completely overwhelming right now.
You don't need twelve classes.
You don't need another giant commitment. You don't need to keep up with anybody. You don't even need to know what you're doing before you begin.
You can just start here.
Three teachers. Three complete classes. A whole bunch of new things to try.
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You do not need to be an experienced mixed-media artist. You don't need previous watercolor experience. You don't need previous bookmaking experience. You don't need to already know how to make collage. And you certainly don't need to own every art supply known to humankind.
You'll receive supply information for the classes, and your teachers will walk you through the processes step by step.
Bring your curiosity. Bring your willingness to experiment. Bring whatever weird scraps you've been saving because you couldn't bear to throw them away.
We'll take it from there.
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This isn't a live challenge. There are no assignments due on Friday. Nobody is checking whether you finished your homework. And the Fodder Police will not be coming to your house. 😂
Your classes are waiting for you inside one easy-to-navigate online classroom.
Watch. Pause. Make. Come back. Rewatch something.
Spend an entire weekend making fodder. Disappear for three weeks because life happened. Come back and pick up where you left off.
This is YOUR creative time. Use these classes in whatever way makes you happy.
Come get a Taste!
Join A Taste of Fodder School
No entire year of classes. No giant commitment. Just three really wonderful Fodder School experiences gathered together in one classroom.
Make some fodder. Learn some things. Try some stuff you've never tried before.
Make a glorious mess. And then make something with it.
One Time Payment ($167 USD +tax)
3-Part Payment Plan (3 x $60 USD +tax)
Willa Workshops General FAQs
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There are no refunds on online courses
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You will have “Lifetime” Access to all classes unless otherwise mentioned—"Lifetime" is relevant to the lifespan of the Willa Workshops business (I don't plan on leaving anytime soon!) or the longevity of the technology.
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This class includes captions in English and multiple international languages. If you would like captions in a language not currently provided, please email evan@willawanders.com with your requested language and specific course.
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All Willa Workshops lesson content is prerecorded video. Once your purchase is complete, you will have instant access to the classroom, and are free to work through the content at your own pace
You can access Teachable and watch the lessons in your browser (PC, Mac, Android) or the Teachable app for iOS (recommended for iPhone and iPad)
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No, at least not available as local downloads to your device. The Teachable app for iOS may allow you to download lessons for offline playback.
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No. One student per registration. This is an honor system that if violated will result in your removal from the course with no refund.
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Please do! Always tag @willa.wanders and mention the course in your post description
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Yes! Please keep them for yourself, give them as a gift, or sell them.
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That's a hard no.
There's an endless amount of incredible art tutorial content in every Willa Workshops course. For some creatives, it's tempting to want to use these videos as a well of inspiration for their own creative enterprise, YouTube channel, brand, etc.
Willa Workshops Courses are not sold with permission for anyone to use it in this way--specifically, as a source of inspiration for any one's free how-to social media tutorial content, whether that be on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok or any other social media platform.
If you are a creative who loves to share your work with the world, that's wonderful! I love it when participants share their finished projects in photos and videos on social media. Please tag me @willa.wanders, I'd love to support you!
But making how-to videos of yourself while creating from the lesson content or obviously inspired and derivative of Willa Workshops course content, and then posting those tutorials on any free social media platform, will get you banned from Willa Workshops with no refund issued.