Belinda Under the Sea

How many grown up little girls remember diving to the bottom of the pool and keeping their legs tightly together pretending to be mermaids?  Or hosting pretend mermaid tea parties under the water?  We'd pour the invisible tea from the invisible pot and hold our invisible cups and saucers and sip before we ran out of breath, rising to the surface glorious mermaids all!

The fascination and enchantment with mermaids, these sirens of the sea, goes back hundreds of years. Mermaids are one of the oldest mythological creatures.  The first known story of a mermaid dates back to 1000 B.C.  when Assyrian goddess Atargatis, ashamed at having killed a mortal man that she loved, tried to conceal herself in a lake.  When waters failed to hide her, she turned herself into a creature, half woman, half fish.

Mermaids have made appearances in fiction and fairytales, and are especially popular in areas surrounded by water, such as  

Ireland and the islands of the Caribbean Sea.  Mermaids waver between being trapped, and being dangerous.  But, the most consistent portrayal of mermaids is certain superiority to mortals. In love, they are vulnerable, so often falling for gruff sailors or fisherman.  Or they are bewitching, enchanting said men to their watery demise.  

Poets such as Alfred Lord Tennyson and Shakespeare have written poetry about mermaids.  J. M. Barrie has Peter Pan introduce Wendy to mermaids.  "Oh," cried Wendy, "to see a mermaid!" (1904) 

Statues have been erected to these mythological sirens.  Most famous is The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, Denmark. From Bonita Springs, Florida to San Francisco, from Greece to Rome to Hawaii, mermaids grace fountains, gardens and beaches.

Every summer I get on my mermaid kick.  This year it began 

much earlier, but in truth, if you're a mermaid lover, you are always looking for the next gracious image of a mermaid.  I've lost myself for hours on Pinterest saving off vintage and contemporary images-artworks, and with the advent of my new printer, I've been making stickers of them to decorate my daily journal.  The more I look, the more I find, and just recently purchased two more books off Amazon of mermaid lore and history.  While I don't, yet, have a favorite volume, my first was Varla Ventura's Among the Mermaids (2013), and this I purchased years ago.  Its the perfect beach read.  And, if a beach is not near, the pool, the patio, right before bed for dreams of under the sea enchantment.

Last month my husband gifted me a trip to Baltimore in July, to attend the UFDC's Dolly and Me By the Sea convention.  I had to go.  As I love everything nautical, this will be such a treat.  While not necessary, its a joy to bring along a pocket doll, and I chose Belinda, my Ruby Red Galleria 8" dolly. 

Surely I could have packed her a little bag with some nautically themed RRG outfits (she's the same size as Ten Ping), but the idea of bringing her as a mermaid with a couple changes of tails seemed more fun an idea.

Both Belinda and Ten Ping have been accessorized by RRG with these darling little soft cloth dollies, and I would make one based off the "thinnest" one in the collection, as a mermaid dolly for Belinda.  

I've been working on these three costumes for a long time.  Just researching the right fabrics took effort, and then to decorate the costumes was even more effort.  I heavily invested in no less than eight different metallic lycra fabrics for this project.  With most sellers, you cannot purchase less than one yard of 60" fabric, so you can just imagine what I have left over.  There are also fabrics that were simply unsuitable.  And sewing on these fabrics was a pretty miserable experience.  I used a jersey needle,

however, I'm not sure that was the best choice.  Maybe I should have looked up what needle would be best to use, but there you go.  I didn't.  Some fabric was just too thick, like pleather.

Finding little seashells and charms was another matter.  Its not that there aren't a billion possibilities and selections, its just that I didn't know what I was doing or wanted to do.  So I often just sat dumbfounded, and would return to Pinterest to look at more mermaids - which is currently, my favorite pastime.  Mermaids and beach scenes.

Like a true collector, I had to buy a couple of mermaid dolls as well.  They're out there.  Whether they're vintage bathtub toys like Sea Wees and TNT's vinyl offerings, or the highly articulated Eledoll, they're great.  Its nice to have a proper selection.  There's a lady on Etsy that makes OOAK Barbie mermaids, and I had to have one of those, too.  She makes incredible resin stands for them that allow the doll to appear as if she's swimming.

So its not like I didn't have lots of references, but I still found creating my own a distinct challenge.

The first outfit I made for Belinda was with this "mini" scale metallic mermaid fabric.  Most scale fabrics are designed for human costumes, and the green was the only one I could find with a small enough scale.

Mermaids love jewelry. Pearl strands and gemstones.  For Belinda's first "tail", her little top is fastened with pearl straps that come together with a barrel clasp.  Her hair comb is decorated with sparkle frou-frou from the edges of the metallic fabric.  The fins are of the same edging. 

I found a seller that had nicely drilled tiny shells and added a few to both her hair comb and her costume.  I also used decorative fish net to drape her tail with, which allowed me to hang little charms and drilled shells off of.

Another investment was in sea spray.  Sea vegetation works beautifully to enhance the costume further.  I will attribute both the fish net and sea spray to a lovely Etsy seller who made hair jewelry with these items.  She was generously instrumental in helping me find these add-ons as well.  Some people like to remain anonymous on Etsy, but I thanked her profusely.

The second costume I made was supposed to represent a Koi or goldfish.  Finding orange was not meant to be.  This fabric was actually called "copper", but its more of an orange-red.  Both this and the final costume's fabric is considered sequin dot fabric.  So not individually sewn on sequins, but stamped on mirrored dots.  All these have two or four way stretch, which is essential for a good tail fit.

I didn't take as many photos of the green tail, and too many of the others, but I like how her dolly came out in the goldfish photos.  

Let's talk about Belinda's mermaid dolly.

In one of the dressed doll Belinda's, she came with a little rag doll in a lace dress.  Ruby Red Galleria actually made this lace dress with a snap, so I undressed her and sketched a rough outline of the doll on paper.  This was my pattern.  I had three similar dolly rag dolls by RRG and this one was the thinnest, although I feel that all of the tiny rag dolls are slightly different in dimension depending on how the seamstress sewed them up and stuffed them.  That's my opinion anyway, so this little one is on target as unique.  I also used their basic embroidered face format for her features.  I intended to have the DCM thread hair bundled up like Belinda's, but that's not really "rag doll" style.

So I twisted the sides and sewed them down for a more dramatic look, then decorated her thread tresses with shells, jewels and a connecting chain.  These are permanent adornments.  Perhaps I should have made the dolly's hair a bit longer, but the length is okay.

Dolly would get a matching tail for each of Belinda's.  The first two are from the same pattern, and the third is simpler, but unique.

For Belinda's hair piece, I used the style of mini clip I chose for all the bows while dressing Peggy Sue.  I have a lifetime's worth of them.  You can't purchase them here.  Only in China, and I haven't seen a seller on Etsy selling quantities of 10, 20 etc.  Yet.

Making this tiny hair jewelry without damaging Belinda's mohair wig was near impossible.  Her wig is actually brushed up, ponytailed, then the ends curled.  I would never in a million years try to undo it and smooth it up again.  Mohair is  terribly unforgiving.

That said, each hair ornament had to be made in such a way as to do as little damage to her "do" when putting it in and taking it off.  

I took a close up of this one to share a bit how I made it.  The natural seashells were colored with alcohol markers.  I let them dry an entire day, although alcohol markers dry instantly - typically.  There was some reaction on the shell's surface that made the color just a little sticky.  Almost used the word "tacky", but I don't want you to think my work is "tacky".  LOL  I also colored white paper roses, and sewed those on as well.  There's a brass seahorse included in the dangling charms.

Belinda's necklace is one long strand of chain with glass leaf beads and other jewels at the ends.  When wrapped around her neck several times, the necklace stays on, I don't have to fiddle with clasps.  The ends can hang down her back, front or one on each side.

Both the green scales and the Koi (let's call it that), tails are for daytime wear.  But, for the evening, and when, and if, I attend any dinner events at convention, Belinda will need to dress up, so the last tail I made her would be for this purpose.  I'm calling it Breakfast at Belinda's after Breakfast at Tiffany's.  

You have to admit that its a rather "Audrey Hepburn" look.

Once again, I used a sequin dot metallic stretch fabric, but this one in silver with what they call "holo" dots.  Hologram dots that sparkle like a rainbow.  Very fishy.  What ocean fish has silver scales?  I don't know.  Salmon have silver scales with pink flesh, but that would make this a mermaid of the lake costume.  Overthinking things here.

I used the same format in the pattern by making the fins the edge fabric.  It is also run through with sparkle threads.  You could call this the selvage, but there's so much of it, maybe six inches, that I just consider it fabric.  However, instead of a bra top on young Belinda's child chest, I brought the length up high for a strapless gown look.  

Just having a little photo fun with sea spray and fish netting.  Belinda is upheld by a vintage Barbie stand.  They work so perfectly for a swimming look!

The main difference with the evening tails is that I added little back fins to both Belinda's costume and her dolly's.  This was made from a see-through metallic stretch fabric.  One of the mistakes I'd purchased not realizing how see-through it was.  Or perhaps thinking I'd use it for fins, but alas, her feet would show through!

I folded a piece, then cut a wavy shape on the edge and hand sewed it to the back.  If you look at real fish, their fins are translucent.  But, mermaid costumes must hide little pink feet. 

I was surprised this came out so well, and the tiny costume was made in the exact same way.

I played a bit more in decorating this evening tail as well.  I had to invest in some silver chain, and had some fun looking for silver sea shell-nautical themed charms.  Natural shells would not do for glam.  They also needed to be light enough, that once sewn on, they would not pull the costume down off her body.  

I did find a seller with a mixed selection of shells and sea critters and used these to dangle from her draped chain the runs from under her arm and across to the beginning of her fins.  There's a silver conch shell, a seahorse, a star fish and a turtle.  And, this is where it got fun.  I added a little silver tea cup and saucer with a pearl inside the cup, to the end of the chain.  Mermaids like to collect treasures from sunken ships, and why not have Belinda find a charming tea service?  A mermaid would think this an unusual item, but pretty!

For her head piece, I used the stingray charm from this set and made a little crown with pearls and long silver beads with tapered ends.  I purchased some silver jewelry wire to assemble it.  I chose the stingray because he has a jewelry loop on one end, and his tail acted as the other loop for the wire.  A close up of the crown can be seen in the portrait photo at the start of this journal post.

While I'm finished with Belinda's mermaid wardrobe, I'll continue to enjoy the quiet time of looking for artwork images I've never seen before, and will continue enjoying the old and new books on mermaid lore and history.  Back in the early 80's, I collected greeting cards with beautiful mermaid images, and scrapbooked them in an album along with other themed cards.  Mermaids have been a lifetime enchantment and curiosity to me.  The stories, poems and historical anecdotes only enhance my enjoyment of mermaid pursuit.  

I'll leave you now with a close up of Belinda's dolly, and her wrap chain necklace with a little fish bead on one end, capped pearl on the other.

I've included several of my favorite mermaid images below for you to enjoy.  Of note, are the works by Claire Fletcher from Hastings in the U.K.  I just discovered her work recently, and have saved off everything I could find that she painted mermaid related.  I'm also overly tickled by the vintage ads for Fairy Soap.  One has a poem and I hope you'll enjoy it as well.  Remember that you can click on any photo to see it close up.  Helps when reading a poem!

The unofficial first day of summer is here, and I hope you've been enjoying beautiful weather and maybe a barbeque or two.  For us in California, it is already too hot to be out past noon.  Wherever you are, I hope you'll enjoy being outdoors in nature, and perhaps near water during these soft and balmy days.  Let me know if you spot a mermaid!

Love, Melissa 

Michael Parks

Claire Fletcher

Claire Fletcher

Claire Fletcher

Claire Fletcher

Image used on cover of Among the Mermaids

A Hot Air Balloon Ride with Grace and Dolly

Where's the Alice?  Well, she's coming.  She's in the hopper.  When I finished Paloma the Puppeteer, I took a few days to monkey around with trying to make mermaid costumes for dolls.  One in particular, my Belinda, an 8" Ruby Red Galleria doll.  The second costume I made came out well, but the first I wasn't happy with.  I'd really like to have three for her.  

I purchased almost $200 worth of metallic fabrics off Etsy, as I kept trying to find the right scale and texture, and most of it I can't use.  Then the May Club Grace box arrived and I put all that aside as Dolly Dingle needed a matching dress for the Hot Air Balloon ride, which was the month of May's theme.

Its funny, but one of my "before I die" wishes has always been to take a hot air balloon ride.  My husband says they're too expensive and he has no desire to go up in one, and that's where the dream sits to date.  How important is this to me?  Its a dream.

We need our dreams, and Grace seems to be fulfilling many of them to date.  And, I just adored the multi-colored dot dress we received for her wardrobe.  It came with these darling multi-colored strappy sandals that Rachel Hoffman had special made just for the dress.  Between her and Diana Vining, the creativity has no bounds.

I'd been "hot air balloon" dreaming since the last Club Grace.  The image of the Wizard of Oz as he takes off in his balloon without Dorothy, has stayed with me since childhood.  What a wonderful way to travel!  I'd even considered making Grace a purse of that very balloon with the words "Omaha State Fair" stitched on it, but didn't.  It was beyond the effort what I was willing to put into it.

So, yes.  This months' Club Grace box was a delight to receive.  I immediately started looking for fabric with tiny multi-colored dots, and received a half yard of dot fabric

that just wouldn't do.  Way too big,  A quarter inch dot didn't sound too big, but it was.  So I tried again and found a vintage cotton - you know, that lovely thinly woven cotton that was never intended for quilting - on Etsy, and hit the BIN on it.  When it arrived I was thrilled.  Its so delicate and was the perfect size dot for Dolly Dingle.  The best thing about this vintage cotton is that there is plenty of it left to make something for another doll some time.  Rare is the time I come across a fabric I'm in love with, and this was it.

I made her a little summer dress with shoulder straps and flounces.  I still haven't quite figured out the length each flounce should be, so I simply gather and pin and cut off the length if its too long.  The rule of thumb was three times the width of the bodice edge, but you can't do that with the second flounce.  I don't even enjoy making ruffles and flounces, but I do enjoy seeing them on my dolls.

I was tickled to find a box of Dots candies in the Club Grace box as well.  Rachel always includes candy.  Chocolate most of the time, but the warm weather is here and chocolate melts.  However, it was brilliant to think of Dots candies.  I haven't had those since I was a child.  Gummy Bears are much better tasting, but the novelty is rich.

Diana Vining had created and included a printable page of paper toys where you could make Grace a Dots purse.  Included was a cut out of a tiny Dots candy box to make for the dolls.  Now why didn't I think of that?!  I'm so glad she did because I had so much fun with them, and the idea.

Since her files are pdf files and I've not been real successful turning them into jpegs, I searched online for Dots and found an image of a 17oz. box that would be the right format for a back pack for Dolly.  Have to have some originality!  

Like with Grace's first Summer Fling tote, I printed the image on printer fabric and made it from that.  Its not the greatest fabric, but is perfect for totes and back packs.  

Thinking as I write, I might have created Dots candy earrings for Grace, but then I would have had to look for beads that looked like little high-crowned domes.  Now that I've had the idea, I may just make her pair and pretend they're Dots.

The real challenge was making these sandals for Dolly to match Grace's heels.  I'd just made red sandals for her so it wasn't a great stretch, but I wanted the multi-colored straps on hers like Grace's.  The process is a bit like braiding or weaving, took a little effort, but they came out cute.  As I'm getting better with shoeing those tiny feet, I may remake her original black Maryjanes.  I was never happy with the way they came out.  The height of the back heel form needed to be longer.  Shoes take a long time to make.

Then of course, Grace finally got her hot air balloon purse.  The basket hangs from little chains.  I used the same technique for this that I used for the baubles hanging from Paloma's cornette.  

I pursued the Dots paper toy page a little further.  The candy boxes were the last things I made.  Grace needed one for her purse and Dolly needed one to hold in her hand.  It was such a darling little box and looked adorable tucked under her fingers, but I went a step further and made it into a wristlet so it would display better.  

I now have a festive and spring-timey display for May's Club Grace.  I've added lots of fun and beautiful images below for you to enjoy, some with notations.  I've decided to tackle one more mermaid costume for Belinda and if that goes well, I'll make the third, then share them with you.

One of the reasons I've been hesitating with the new Alice is that my doll shelves are so crowded, I won't have a place to display her.  I can't stop creating though, so I must start letting go of some of my dolls or putting them away for a rainy day.

Before I sign off, I have to let you know that Blogspot is messing with me again.  They want me to export all the subscriptions to something called CSV.  I read their instructions and looked for two hours for this "analyze" thing they wanted me to start with and couldn't find it.  Even my husband, Mr. Tech, tried and couldn't find it.  There is no online support help for this blog either.  I'm going to keep trying as YOU are as important to me as my keeping this journal.  Their changes start in July.  From what I've read, if I don't figure out how to export the subscriptions, you'll no long get an email when I write a new post.  This bothers me a great deal, but if I can't find out how to do this, I hope you'll find me again and re-subscribe.  Taking you with me on this creative journey has been my inspiration.  The blog is not going away.  I'll keep writing and sharing.  Its just the current subscriptions that will go away if I can't export them.  I hope you'll continue to follow me for years to come.  If you don't get an email from me in July, please look for missemouse.blogspot in an engine search.

If any one of you can give me a clue about this export thing, please write in and help me out.  I am so technically challenged.  And, I'm just learning how to use my first smartphone, too.

Wishing you all the best and most out of this glorious time of year!  Up, up and away!

Love, Melissa

Dots candy wristlet and box in purse.

Dolly's back pack

Rachel's visionary work!

Diana Vining's gorgeous imagery.

Diana's school room with Jocko

Wonderful vintage fabric!

Balloons over Cappadocia, Turkey

Sedona, Arizona

Balloons over Burma

Remmie Lou promote Dots candies

 

The Puppeteer, Paloma

Its been a very long time since I stepped out into the realm of fantasy and the surreal, and I've missed it terribly.  While sometimes its good to shake things up and try something new, I think we always return to the things that make us happiest.  Inspire us.  Give us feelings of belonging, if only to ourselves,  and contentment.  

Since last summer I was captivated by dolls from doll conventions, and the challenge of dressing them.  Peggy Sue, Grace Marie Fitzpatrick, and finally Dolly Dingle.  And, I enjoyed myself.  And, I'll possibly sew for Grace again if the inspiration hits, but the creating of fantasy and storybook dolls is my heartbeat.  It makes my senses come alive, and takes me to places out of the ordinary.  It gives me a place and time to express myself, to dream a little, to write a story of my own that may not have been told yet.  Its something I do for me.  

Sometime in January, I was on Pinterest browsing art images.  Michael Cheval has always been a favorite, but when I saw this image (I may have been looking under "mermaids"), I knew instantly that I needed to bring this enchanting young puppeteer and her marionettes to life.  Two things captured my imagination most, and those were her hat and the funny little blue bubble doll at the front of the parade.  

While studying this painting, title unknown to me, I noticed the underwater set and the ghost ship in the distance.  The puppeteer was like buried pirate's

treasure.  Her bodice glittering like gold doubloons, he blue skirt like gentle waves, and the incredibly charming puppets strung from a marionette tri-board, a chest of toys.  She's a master at song, dance and story.  She belongs to an Italian troupe of performers and I named her Paloma.  She is modern and historical, she is mystical, she is timeless.

It took me awhile to get her started, but first I must thank Betsy for the extraordinary Christmas gift of this Maggie Iacono doll.  Betsy has many Iaconos, and often wants just the clothing from seconds.  And, lucky me, this beautiful doll, in the body size I love, arrived last December.  I instantly knew I do something magical with her, like Tara Tree-tops, and was just waiting for the right idea to come along.  Then Michael Cheval's painting danced across my screen.  

Italy, being part of Greek culture before becoming the Roman Empire, was really the birthplace of the marionette.  Marionette performances were not just for children, however.  They were morality plays for the mostly illiterate masses.  Politically themed satires would also be portrayed in marionette performances, throwing insults or lewd behavior by marionettes was easier to take from a doll if delivered by a human.  For example, Punch and Judy.

In Sicily, romantic poems were performed in traditional puppet theaters with hand-made marionettes of wood, an art form call L'Opera dei Pupi (Opera of the Puppets).  Both puppetry and L' Opera, and the Sicilian tradition of Cantastori (singers of tales) are rooted in the troubadour tradition in Sicily during the reign of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in the first half of the 13th century.  Still today, you can see this form of puppetry in the puppet theaters of Palermo. 

The surname, Paloma, is derived from the Italian word "palombo", which means a "ring dove" or "palombella", which means "wood pigeon".  May I introduce to you, my little dove, The Puppeteer, Paloma.

It was a tricky start with Paloma since finding a wig for her was going to be difficult.  I ordered a long, wavy red wig from China, and what arrived was not as pictured, and in the trash it went.  After several failed attempts at wig buying, I found an old Lawton doll with red braids, and tried removing the wig and taking the braids down.  A lucky success. I think at some point I would like to have the wig dyed a deeper red, it is human hair, then re-braided and finally smoothed long again.  

I thought I'd try what I considered the most difficult thing first, and found a complimentary blue lambskin leather, to match her silk skirt, to make her gauntlets from.  Since 16" Iaconos have lovely fingers and hands, fingered gloves seemed appropriate.  No mitts for this girl.  My sharp little John James needles stitched hundreds of tiny blanket stitches to sew these fingered gloves for Paloma.  Leather, except the very thinnest, is tough to sew through, so I used my needle nose pliers to pull the needle through each stitch.  Accomplishing these gloves felt good.

In the painting, I noticed light pink slippers or shoes of some kind on the feet tucked beneath her bottom.  I like boots.  Booties.  They lend a certain medieval feel to a costume.  Paloma needed comfortable, yet sturdy shoes for the multiple performances she would give.  The booties are tied in back with a thin strip of the same light pink lambskin.  I like working with lambskin.  Its smooth and has a buttery, soft feel to it.  After these two accessories were made, I started on her costume.

I used a very lightweight silk to make the skirt and the ruffles that fall from her arm bands.  As an artist deciphering a painting, I would almost say that the original costuming was white, and given to blue hues due to the nature of lighting and the set.  But, since this doll will stand on a shelf with others, I chose blue for the cloth.  That was my interpretation at any rate.  She also needed color to stand out as brightly as the puppets she performs with.

The second complication was finding a leather for her armor.  Yes, this is how I interpreted her bustier and arm bands.  This would not be stretch costuming material, but something with weight and shimmer.  The only thing close was gold metallic snakeskin leather.  The first batch I bought was way too thick.  Disappointed, I tried again and searched long and hard until I found a .06 weight from which I could sew.  Interesting.  This leather is stamped for the snake skin effect.  I think a sheen of metallic is applied to the leather, then stamped with heavy presses to cut into the top layer.  I learned all of this while waiting for it to be made, since I thought I was buying ready made.

I edge stitched the pieces of the arm bands and the bustier because even as thin as the leather is, folding it or making pleats added too much bulk for a small doll  Leather was also required, since the hat would be made of the same.  Both pieces are closed with Velcro.

I had a lot of fun making this hat.  I am referring to it as a cornette.  Its very similar in shape to the winged hats the nuns in France wore.  The other shapes added to it make it surreal.  Not to mention the baubles!  Much went into creating this cornette for Paloma.  It is comprised of two patterns of the hat.  Once the bottom pieces were cut, cloth wires were glued to the edges, then the top piece was fitted on.  It was made in two sections.  The top  

wings, and the crown with flaps.  It has a pointed center over the brow and somewhat resembles the chain mail that knights wore under their helmets.  Once again, in reference to armor.  It feels so long ago that I made this hat since the puppets took so much time, but two things stand out now, one a difficulty, the other a solution.

I had to make the dangling baubles, and chose to hang them from chain.  There are nine baubles on each side.  Studying the painting, it was difficult to figure out exactly how they hung and at what intervals and lengths.  I finally concluded that there would be two in back.  Affixing them was maddening at best, but was done prior to adding the top layer of leather.  I used my fringe glue to affix each chain end over the edge wire, then used a great deal of glue to set the leather top piece on and crossed my fingers.  What you have is a sturdy little cornette helmet.  The last items to add were gold ball halves interspersed around the top of the crown.

Let's backtrack a bit.  The third thing I made after her boots was the little princess.  This is what I'm calling the bubble dolly.  I love her.  She's such a surprise and so unusual, that the story I give her is that the other two marionettes were made by a master puppeteer, and Paloma made this one herself just for fun.  

The little princess is made rather like a little sea ghostie.  I needle felted her ball head and wrapped that in silk separately.  There was no way to get the look with one round of cloth covering the ball, tied at the neck like a sheet ghost.  I tried.  Add to that, lace was included at the skirt's hem, and the look would not have been right with lace stitched onto a circle.  So her skirt is a length of silk, separate, then cinched to the neck.  She has a pipe cleaner stem stick body beneath.  Her gold neck circlet is gold leather over needle felted wool, and her tiny gold crown is a finding or jewelry charm.  I had to order her eyes from China to get the right size and color.  

The little princess took three tries to do, even though she looks like a simple puppet.  Getting the scale, and size right for these puppets wasn't easy either, and made more difficult when needle felting since its hard to determine the outcome.  

The second doll is Lucy.  Its just a name that came to me.  She's a funny little lady with a very long, pointy nose and she's the puppeteer of little princess.  She was entirely needle felted before I dressed her in cloth.  I love her simple black shoes that seem to have no connection to her otherwise Renaissance costume.  Tall pointy hat.  Ruff.  Really, just a mixture of styles in history.  The wide red cuffs are pleated silk.  The skirt and top are cotton and the ruff is cotton grosgrain ribbon.  Her hat was made from metallic gold scrapbooking paper and red silk ribbon.  A small gold-brown tassel tops the tip. 

A lot of work goes into needle felting, but add in costuming and you're making a whole doll.  Check it out.  This ambitious little 

project consists of four dolls.  I'd like to add that much work went into the hands of the two larger puppets.  Each has five wire and needle felted fingers.  What a task!

And, now we come to the most colorful puppet of them all.  The jester.  This fellow just makes me happy to look at him.  One of the most difficult things about making him was judging his size.  I was continually measuring each puppet to the next according to the painting, and yet with needle felting, its a guess how big, or small, each will turn

out.  Little princess was estimated in size to a Paloma sitting on her feet.  The Iacono will not pose this way and had to be posed standing, especially to hold the marionette board.  I even think Lucy was scaled correctly, but the jester turned out a little larger that I would have liked.  There.  I said it.  I try to justify all this by saying a doll's dimensions are unlikely to be those of a human, but I try.  

The jester is about 6 1/4" to the top of his head, but the wild hat and dangling, long pointed boots give him extra inches.  He is the puppeteer of Lucy.  

After mapping out and doing most of his face, and equally pointy, though more human nose, I began with his legs or stockings, then needle felted his boots.  All under things.  His hat had to be studied deeply under the mag lamp and was a puzzle to create.  It is a puzzle.  Like a jockey's hat with color blocks and chin strap, yet three tails sprouting from the top.  These were made up with wire armature so that I could bend and curve them.  I proceeded to the face 

coloring after the hat.  I tried something new and used watercolor pencils to color his features.  Wool sits too thickly and doesn't blend when pinking checks.  Lucy's pink cheeks were needle felted, but it just wasn't going to work with the jester. 

He has a collar, or hint of an under tunic beneath his harlequin print tunic.  White ruffled cuffs were needle felted to the edges of his long, "pushed up" sleeves.  As if there weren't enough challenges with this project, I had to needle felt his costume.  I had no idea what to do, or how to accomplish it.  When this happens, I try different things.  The only solution I could come up with was needle felting wool into cloth, and cutting out the tiny diamonds, placing the pattern then needle felting that all together.  It was insane.  I don't think this was as successful as I'd hoped, and knew the complications before I even began.  When you cut wool like this with scissors, you have a sharp edge that refuses to felt to other pieces.  You need fuzzy edges.  Regardless I did what I could and tried my best not to lose the integrity of each diamond.  It was impossible.

The fact that I finished him with any success is a tribute to my great patience and drive.  

Finally, I had to make the tri-board.  At first I made it too long and realized this after I began stringing the puppets to it.  A quick redo on the main end board by shortening it, helped a great deal.  Stringing the dolls took two days.  Seriously.  This was agonizing compared to hanging the baubles on the cornette.  But, I just take breaks, think about it, come back to it, try again.

I used jewelry thread for the stringing.  And, discovered that tying the strings to the board first helped a great deal.  Also in the final stages, I hung the whole piece from a wire hanger pegged on with clips.  This way they all hung and I could judge better the length of the strings.  The board had to be made as one to pose with Paloma standing and presenting it.  So it is not an exact replica of the painting, but inspired.  As anything I do is.

By far, this was the most ambitious project I have ever taken on.  Or was Gay Event?  Well, I guess its the most ambitious project I've taken on in a very long time!  I hope you'll find the lovely Paloma and her marionettes intriguing and delightful to look at.  Now I need to find a place to display her.  An equally difficult task.  I feel good though.  I accomplished what I set out to do, and that was do something wonderful with my Christmas doll.

I have an Alice project on the table next with a new artist inspiring me, with more needle felting to come.  Can't do an Alice without characters from the book!  I can't express enough how freeing its been to learn needle felting.  Any little doll or toy that I want to make to accessorize a doll, can be accomplished through this craft. This is why I picked up the craft.

In two of the photos below, I attempted to show the details of the marionette board itself. 

I hope you have a marvelous month in May.  The earth is singing right now! 

Love,

Melissa