Chrestensen Burghout Designs

"Creating Original Art Through Wood"

Editorial - Feb /07

by Toni Burghout

Marilyn Carmin : "Often Imitated, Never Duplicated"

February 2007

When I first started cutting for recreation, I found Marilyn Carmin's wildlife fretwork patterns commanded my attention. Her style and composition of design was something that "spoke" to me.

For years that followed, I admired her work and purchased several of her patterns and a book on relief cutting which I still cut from and refer to.

Marilyn has been a regular in Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine for sometime, and she has come up with some of the most original composites of wildlife fretwork.

Recently I had noticed a decline in detail to her designs, and didn't see the clarity or have the same feeling towards her designs I found in the magazine. Instead, I witnessed other designers trying to imitate what Marilyn had once captured in her designs. It appeared to me that others (designers) were simply "redesigning" what she had originally done. I wanted to see Marilyn pull off one of the "oldies" and show that she still had what it took to create something others had not seen before.

I was pleasantly surprised with Marilyn's "My Spirit Soars", in the April 2007 issue of Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine. I simply couldn't resist this one - it looks like her older work which has inspired me over the years.

Thank you Marilyn, for your fine design(s) and for creating the way only you can.

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