For the better part of my life, I lived 50 minutes from the coast. I grew up loving the sea and would make as many trips over the Santa Cruz mountains to the beaches between Capitola and Half Moon Bay, as possible each year. It was the high cliffs of the rocky beaches, and large outcroppings such as Greyhound Rock, that would make me take those long, twisting drives from the suburbia to the misty, wet air of the coastline. I wasn't a sun bather, but one of those who'd walk the lengths of sand, and find a perch of rock that gave me a couple of hours of day dreams and peace. I'd study the tidal pools for signs of sea life and collect abalone shells from a beach called Ano Nuevo, or New Year's Beach. This one is famous for the resting migration of sea lions, and long ago, in the 1970's, was able to see the sea lions, before you needed guided tours. Sea birds, the seagulls and sand pipers, and the brown pelicans (although the white ones are my favorites), would keep me company from overhead, and I'd watch for seals bobbing in and out of waves. Oh, how I miss the ocean! Yet, one of the most beautiful coastal areas I've ever been to was Exmoor, in the U.K., and the White Cliffs of Dover (after which I named my dog, Dover). And, just writing this passage, I can feel the sharp winds off the coast blowing through my hair, and smell the salt sea air with the sound of crashing waves.
My love of the coast was my inspiration for Alice By the Sea.
My friend, Betsy had sent me this 16" "vintage" Maggie Iacono doll about a year ago, and I tucked her away knowing that someday, just the right project would come along for her. And especially, because she is a felt doll, needle felted characters would do wonderfully with her. I had been wanting to make the Mock Turtle, as well. I hadn't seen this little fellow done in needle felt yet, and he simply intrigued me. As I once again opened my 1962 version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, to the illustration of the Mock Turtle, the idea for a seaside Alice was born. And wasn't there another seaside adventure in Through the Looking Glass? Yes. That of the Walrus and the Carpenter. I once again slipped down the rabbit hole and have been gone for a month working in wool, dreaming of the sea.
I didn't quite know what to do about dressing the doll at first, but I wanted her dress to be a back drop to her seaside friends, the Mock Turtle and the Walrus. Two characters that would represent both books. While I was determining what style of dress to create for her, I began a more traditional dress for her in wool felt with an entirely different Alice theme. I'm not saying it was a complete failure, but my heart wasn't as into it, as Alice By the Sea. During this week of creative muddling, the idea for a middy dress came to be. So new wool sheets were ordered and when they arrived, the "muddling" was bagged, literally in a plastic zip bag for another day - maybe, and I started straight away on Alice By the Sea's costume.
I've done many a middy dress for other dolls, but doing one in wool and designing it as a back drop became a focus, and study, of the illustrations by the sea. One thing they both had in common were their white cliffs. These limestone outcroppings can also be found in Ontario, Canada, and were most likely connected, as one continent, at one time in the earth's early history. I have appreciatively explored both coastlines. Anyway, so yes, this was a common denominator in both illustrations and would thematically connect the two characters into one lovely story of Alice By the Sea.
Of course, I've been studying Maggie's work for a long time, but particularly since I created Tara Tree-tops from the other Iacono Betsy gave me. Maggie has done some awesome fabric art with her dolls, and I could not, and would never hope to do, what she does. But, I did pick up on how she appliques her flowers and sometimes little vignettes to their wool felt costumes. Complimentary thread hand stitching, or top stitching.
I'd fully intended to make the entire dress out of the blue felt, and fidgeted for days, while making the bodice, trying to figure out how "to make sand". One of the most darling things about the illustration of the Walrus and the Carpenter, is the portrayal of the oysters in their little boots. I wanted to include some along the hemline of her dress. All I can tell you is that a great deal of trial and trial went into the design of it.
What I came away with was the depiction of the puffy clouds, the white cliffs' coastline, and the curving stretch of sand from the Walrus illustration. After much fussing around, and some determination to try it, I made the drop waist skirt portion entirely of the sand color. A "piece" of sand was stitched onto the bodice to make the "bay", and the cliffs were stitched over the clouds meeting at the horizon line. Thin strips of white wool were hand stitched onto the cuffs and sailor collar for trim. A red bow of wool felt brightens and cheers up the dress nautically.
Then we came to the oysters. Here was another deliberation of what to do that took a few whacks. Somehow, just the shape of each oyster wasn't going to cut it, just stitched onto the "sand". They needed depth, or shading. So I cut a slightly larger oyster shape in brown wool then stitched the two pieces together by embroidering the texture of the shells. Each oyster had to be made before sewing them onto the dress.
The set to the right (in these photos) were done in shades of gray rather than the taupes of the others. This was done to give some dimension to the scene. In the illustration, they are in shade, or rather their backs are away from the sun as where the others have the sun shining directly on them. Good grief. How literal did I want to take this without cutting out gray shadow shapes to stitch on at their feet?! I'm a "less is more" kind of person, yet I still love detail.
As the doll would seldom be seen from the back, I omitted any landscaping on the back side of the dress. But, I couldn't help including three more oysters in case anyone ever picked her up to take a look. Her long hair, a new wig, also precluded any desires to embellish the back. Finally, just to dress things up a bit, I tried including a strand of seaweed (in case you didn't know what that light green thing was, lol). Each little oyster got an embroidered pair of legs and a set of little boots in wool felt sewn on with one stitch of embroidery thread. This was a lot of work, those oysters.
Alice By the Sea needed something on her feet. Maggie has used microsuede for her Mary Jane shoes, and I considered doing this, but the style just didn't seem right for this outfit. So I spent three days designing a pair of side button boots to fit this doll's foot. I intended to do them in black, but then found this oyster colored piece of leather in my stash, and determined that was it. Little black glass bead buttons close the leather boots. I think this would be a good time to add that I did style her human hair wig to show off her cute little ears, and tied the hair back with a large black silk bow. I also redid her make up. She was terribly pale when she arrived, so I enhanced her eyes, cheeks and lips to brighten her face. I used watercolor pencils and powdered cheek blush for these purposes. Or porpoises, as we now get into her needle felted friends. (Sorry, couldn't help myself! Hope you're still with me. There was a lot of work put into this one.)
I never start a project of any kind without doing my research. Learning everything I can about the subject helps me understand and empathize with my subject - to bring it to life. And, so it was with the Mock Turtle. If you've never read the story, that's okay. The illustrations are just as much fun to look at, and help tell the story visually, competently. (When I was little, I never read the stories, but chose just to immerse myself in the pictures. They were enough for me.) So I reread the Mock Turtle's story.
When Alice is encountered by the Queen who is dragging her off to the games, the Queen insists she learn of the Mock Turtle's story. They come upon the Gryphon first, then a bit further down the beach, they encounter the Mock Turtle who is terribly sorrowful. The Mock Turtle then begins the tale of his life under the sea, and his upsetting "education". He is also taught how to "uglify" himself, rather than beautify. His story is long, and leads to the chapter where he discusses the Lobster Quadrille, which is a dance performed by the Gryphon and Mock Turtle for Alice. Sadly the existence of the Mock Turtle is for the purpose of Mock Turtle soup, and the silly fellow ends his chapter by singing about beautiful soup. That's three chapters in a nutshell for you.
The Mock Turtle is a strange little character. Our minds are a fascinating thing. We see the word "turtle", think "turtle", and see "turtle" by association. But, the Mock Turtle has very little "turtle" in him besides his shell. It often isn't until we try to recreate something that we notice all the little details, and figure out just what we're looking at. My hat's off to you, if you saw, and recognized these instantly. I think my mind is lazy at times.
What we have here, to my interpretation, is the head of a cow, with some kind of little horn, only one of them. He has the ears of a pig and the feet of a pig. His tail looks to be that of a lion, and he has fins. Turtles usually have little feet. Go ahead. Look them up. They have toes and little claws to move around on. I did some research on the anatomy of turtles just to get a head start, then of course had to go off course to make what is the Mock Turtle. Study of his little home, his protection, the shell, was helpful though. My head hurts just thinking about the study of this illustration to make him into a needle felt for Alice By the Sea.
What should be intriguing to the viewer, is being able to see for the first time, what he looks like from all sides, ala Miss E. Mouse. Of course I had to make this all up, but now we know what he might have looked like. The most difficult part of making him, was all of him. But if I had to choose just one area of difficulty, it was the folds of his neck. Maybe he was good practice for creating the Walrus, but there was a lot more detail in him than the Oyster Eater.
At about this time, I was ready to be done with this project. I think I made the Walrus in three days' time, but just as much love was put into him as the sorrowful, uglified Mock Turtle.
We often hear, in politics or important announcements, a part of the poem, the tale of the Walrus and the Carpenter. "The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages - and kings..." This story, and the poem, were told to Alice by Tweedledum. Here there is a stunning day, a beautiful day by the sea, which was actually night. And, along the sand come walking the Walrus and the Carpenter, and bid the oysters to come walking with them for a "pleasant walk, a pleasant talk". The eldest oyster was reluctant to leave his oyster bed and lead the others along for the walk. "Their coats were brushed, their faces washed, Their shoes were clean and neat - and this was odd, because, you know, They hadn't any feet". As it turns out, this little party was nothing more than a ploy to get the oysters out of the water so that the Walrus and the Carpenter could have a feast. Alice liked the Walrus best "because he at least was a
little sorry for the poor oysters".
Tweedledum's poem is one of my favorite passages between the two books. Read it sometime.
And, so I began to sculpt the Walrus. Naturally, I did some research on walruses. They dive into deep, dark waters to fish for their oysters. The bushy whiskers are sent out like little fingers, feelers, to help search for their meals in lightless conditions. The tusks help pry the oysters from their beds. They are mostly bubbler and fins and I love the way Tenniel depicted the Walrus in a very dandy suit. Even before I began him, I knew I would use these little brass, domed buttons for his vest and coat.
I think the folds of his pants at the "ankles" were probably the most troubling part of creating him. I actually used three photos to create him. One was from an illustration on the inside cover of the book I have, one was an actual walrus looking at you, and the other was the illustration of the Walrus and the Carpenter with the oysters. Walruses don't have legs or wear shoes...or coats and vests for that matter, and it took a lot of imagination to create him in a needle felt. Again, I think the fun of these two needle felts is the chance to see, imagine them, from all angles.
The Mock Turtle is almost 5 1/2" tall, and the Walrus is a solid six inches tall.
I've been working long and hard on this entire project and it was one of the most enjoyable I've done. It gave me the chance to dream of the sea and the coastal areas I miss so much. It gave me an opportunity to deeply study Tenniel's magical illustrations again, and create a wool felt dress for a 16" Maggie Iacono doll. And, remind me how difficult side buttons boots are to make. Each doll foot is different. One size does not fit all. This project gave me a chance to do many things I constantly need refreshers on. But, mostly, I just love Alice. And, the sea.
Love,
Miss E. Mouse (aka Melissa)
So I headed off to my studio once I'd had my tea, and started puttering around. The idea for a true Etrenne kept niggling at me. What was I thinking?! How could I possibly make a doll accessory and have it be incomplete? So I began making a leather bound sketchbook to fit inside Mary's art sketch box. I lined the inside with a cotton dimity, cut the pages, made a cotton binding, covered it in a nice green leather, but I wasn't having fun. It was just something to pass the time. But, then I started really thinking about her pencil, and asked myself, "What did Victorians actually use for sketching those botanicals?" 
Although the history of pencils can be traced back as far as 500 years, the first mechanical pencil patent wasn’t applied for until 1822, when John Hawkins and Sampson Mordan patented an “ever-pointed” pencil in Britain. Vague details exist of a brass propelling pencil that used a spring as early as 1636, and an actual early mechanical pencil was found on the wreckage of the HMS Pandora, a ship that sank in 1791. The propelling pencils, or push button lever pencils had refillable graphite leads. As I was researching how these decorative mechanical pencils were rendered, I found some incredibly beautiful ones, some with fascinating details. But, of course they were. They were Victorian. It leaves me wondering how often these were used for writing as well as drawing, since they were far handier to carry along than pen and ink bottles.
So I got busy and picked up a little basswood stick and started carving a little pencil with my X-acto blade. I knew right away that I wasn't going to be able to create anything as decorative as a sterling silver mechanical pencil, but that was okay. I think the shape enthralled me as much as anything else. Its the shape of a pin vise. Its the shape of a hypodermic needle. Its a vial with a very narrow hole going all the way through it. Engineering wise, this makes me wonder if the latter implements were conceived from the general idea of the mechanical pencil. Think about it.
A couple of days before, I was changing out the costuming for my Ruby Red Galleria Ten Ping Family dolls and decided that yellows and greens would be a fine summer clothing theme for them. However, poor cousin Ping Li did not have anything to match. So I got busy and made her a summer set to coordinate with theirs. I used the same pattern for her wrap top, that I used under the smock for the winter set. I added a skirt for warmer weather, and made her a new pair of slippers to wear as well. Now the Pings can go on a picnic with cousin Ping Li.
