The Alice Project...wigged!

The Alice puppet project continues....and now the Hatter is Wigged! My mohair in the exact shades of the color Johnny Depp wore in the movie arrived yesterday, from a fabulous Etsy seller called
Split Rock Ranch . I only expected a small amount of this mohair, great quality. (I am thinking of turning my reproduction Francois Gaultier french fashion doll into a red hair if I find a pattern to make her a wig, maybe even make a bjd wig for one of my tinies. This mohair has a great curl and texture to it.) Check their feedback and you will see the appreciation photo, one of these above, in her feedback.
I did not make the hatter's hair as large as the character in the movie; working in miniature is always a compromise in trying to achieve the realism factor. I have this great top hat from my Goodreau bjd that is the perfect shape of the top hat in the movie, just an ugly yellow with a brick road pattern on it, and it fits his head perfect. The hat will be glued on in any event, so no need to add mohair where it will not be seen. I have some black sateen that I can alter the hat with, and jewelry findings along with ribbon. I worked with the thick electrical wire last night for his thighs and calves on the puppets' legs which have to move as his arms do, I am quite pleased with how the puppet is coming out. Hopefully, I can go thru the fabric stash and find some of the pink polished cotton I have that will be his shirt, and start working on dressing the torso. The frock coat and trousers are harder, since the legs have to be fully complete along with shoes. So may be only a couple of things I can do until I can order his shoes.
My biggest search now will be for the tiny spools I need to make his spool sash, with the different colors of thread he wore. I have looked at images online and this appeared to be attached to a chain of some type. I have found these spools before, but for the life of me, can't remember where I bought them, so will keep searching. As a last resort, I may end up sculpting them out of clay.
I will have more pictures on this project at another time! Enjoy! 

The Alice Project...

So, my 'Alice' Project has begun....and progressed thus far. One of my resolutions last year, or rather, goals was to do the projects that I never had time for. One was a to create a Marionette puppet. I have been totally enthralled with The Magical Marionette Theatre , a blog by a fellow miniaturist Patricia Cabrera of Wooley Tales Miniatures. It is simply stunning, how she and her family built and created a puppet theatre, that looks as though it stepped from the movie Sound of Music. Remember the part where Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children perform a puppet show for their family? That was one of my favorite parts of the movie, 'One Little girl and a little goatherd, yoda lady yoda lady yoo-hoo...' lol. So I decided that I would try , at least try to create a marionette this year. It turned into an obsession. First, I researched many links on google and watched many marionette shows on YouTube to figure out how they were strung, made, and moved.

When I began sculpting, I originally wanted to create Alice, who I thought may be more simpler and I had the blue silk in my stash. I wished to base my marionettes on the Tim Burton movie, which seems more realistic as Alice is grown and doesn't really remember Underland, so therefore thinks it is a dream. But then the Hatter came out of my head and onto the clay. I must admit for several days I was stumped as to who exactly I had sculpted. When I began sanding and smoothing, it then hit me I had the bones of the hatter's facial features, which came together with paint and sanding. I have already ordered his orange mohair for his wig and eyebrows from Etsy. I am thinking of using a pair of bjd boots for dolls that I have seen on Ebay, which will be on his feet.

So far, here is my progress....

So far, so good. I have been rather ingenious as I have not been able to carve the marionette's body out of wood, as most marionettes have wood bodies. Patricia had all of hers carved from wood and used resin and polymer clays to make the head and hands. I have seen some work of Japanese miniaturists who used La Doll and it is finally available here in the USA, which I got at Michael's. The torso is made of a block of styrofoam, carved to fit the size. His arms are a reynolds wrap form around wire, wrapped with masking tape, and covered with clay. The wires are looped at the joints and the puppet will be strung when he's fully dressed. I will probably order the shoes and start working on his thighs and legs while waiting for the boots to come. I already have a top hat to customize. I do not want to start on another puppet/marionette until I fully finish this one, and must admit working on this is fun!I could not believe that the Hatter's makeup came out so perfect like in the picture, I am usually not very good at sculpting or painting eyes...unless the character is 'mad as a hatter'...lol.

Since the Hatter is the first character that 'jumped' out of my head, I am mostly waiting for the next Alice in Wonderland character to fall out of my imagination and into the clay. I have already thought of how I would do the tea scene and the scale of the characters would be 1:4 scale in doll scale, as I have some perfect large pieces that would do well with puppets. Alice will be pretty complex, as there will have to be multiple Alices, since she grows and shrinks. Hopefully the Knave or one of the queens will pop out of my head. No deadlines on this one, since this creation is going so well!
Have a Frabjous Day!
~~Lisa

The Dolls' Christmas....

*Note: The dolls had a great Christmas, as did I. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and will have a Happy New Year. Enjoy the pictures, and thank you for the interest in my blog and the dolls' adventures here at the 'Patch. ~Lisa

Gracie got ALOT of presents....really I think sometimes I spoil that doll! But she has worked so hard on the blog. And everyone deserves their own sock monkey and Bubble Cut Barbie, right?

And then there is the magic of Christmas, and the tree....

Not many presents this year, for me, but squee! I did get Kit's stove this year. The dolls' kitchen is well on its way to getting together. Kit was certainly pleased!

Kit's American Girl stove is really an awesome piece. I had a great grandmother who had one of these, but it wasn't blue. The frying pans, wooden spoon are from a $1 packet from the dollar store. The spatterware red coffee pot is from an antique store, as is the blender. The cheese grater is from World Market. The 'pie' in the oven is actually one of those $1 candles from Michaels with the wick pulled out. The pancake mixes in the colander are from a dollar bag of doll food from Michael's, the colander I picked up at a gift shop somewhere. The table and chairs are from Molly's collection I purchased a few months later. I have so wanted this piece and bought it on sale, it was my present from hubby Chris. :)

I hope to post more pics soon after the holidays, enjoy!

More Christmas photos of the 'Patch at Pumpkin Hill...

Not much is going on, except new Christmas pics of the residents of Pumpkin Hill. Surprises have already been wrapped and are under the dolls' tree, and Kit has a new Christmas dress- she is so happy and cute in it!

Felicity has also acquired the bedwarmer, which was a great acquisition! We are currently trying to win Felicity's bed on Ebay, as well as other items from her collection.  Felicity was happy with this early Christmas present!

Things are underway for the dolls' Christmas dinner as well at their Open House...

So far the table is partially set, but far from finished...the turkey looks a little lonely, so the girls and Miss Ashton have alot of cooking to do! Have a Happy Holiday week!

Christmas in Felicity's parlor....

Hi everyone, it's me Gracie, finally catching up and blogging again. It's great to be here & Dixie pointed out that she did the last blog, so I needed to catch up. hmph! But here it goes. Felicity has decorated the parlor, and we have a seperate spot for the tea table & the tea cabinet. Miss Lisa finally got us a proper tree, and all kinds of surprises are already wrapped.

Yep, and I have a new musical instrument for Christmas as well- I think it's an oboe or a clarinet. I have enjoyed sitting about tooting it! If you'd like to see a video of Felicity's parlor, here it is, uploaded on YouTube channel- KingWilliamMinis is our channel name!

Merry Christmas! More to come later!

Christmas with the dolls on Pumpkin Hill....

Chrismas preparations have begun for all of us dolls on Pumpkin Hill, down here at the 'Patch. Felicity of course, has logs on the fire and lit her candles. It took so long to find a tree! Hopefully, Marigold and Wren will settle down in their nest once it is built. Marigold loves to have her winter nest in the Christmas tree, and sleep by candlelight.

Miss Lisa has been in a whirl of decorating- even painting the den so the tree would 'look right'! She finished painting the den just before Thanksgiving...and then took me with her & Mr. Chris to the hotel in Williamsburg where the Miss Virginia Job's Daughters pageant was being held. Miss Lisa helps the bethel and went to see the two young ladies from her Bethel participate in the pageant. To learn more of Masonic youth such as Job's Daughters,  CLICK HERE .

Here I am in the hotel with my suitcase. And my new dress for Christmas! Maizie got one too, but more on that later. Pageant was fun. Afterwards, Miss Lisa went shopping, at the Christmas Mouse and the Yankee Candle store. She bought some candles, and also Gracie got a Santa hat.

Miss Lisa went a little crazy with the pictures in Yankee Candle's Christmas world...it even SNOWS in there at certain times of the day! This is a special place because they keep this part of the store a Christmas village all year round. As a doll, I wouldn't mind living there..especially with all of the Santas!

This is Gracie's santa hat...it is supposed to fit the really big jar candles, but it fits Gracie just fine.

Maizie and I in our new dresses. At Thanksgiving (yes we celebrated with the other divas from

The One Sixth Scale Dollhouse ) I got to meet Santa and have a serious talk about what I want for Christmas. Don't know if the old guy listened....but he seemed interested.

Thanksgiving...oh wow, the food! Miss Lisa wanted us in the family shoot with our new dresses on. What a feast!

                                                                     
Mini American Girl Emily had a blast, and so did we. Getting ready for Christmas is so much harder for us tinies.  Miss Lisa hasn't yet decorated our dollhouse...she has been so busy.

We also have a new resident , er several new residents! Miss Hitty arrived, as have Mini American Girls Felicity and Julie. So Gracie and I have alot of blogging and catching up to do...but we've been having too  much fun.

I'll end this blog entry with the really really BIG porcelain dolls, who have their OWN tree in the front window!

These are Miss Lisa's BIG porcelain dolls. The one on the left with red braids is Big Rebecca, and the other one is known as Big Amanda (to distinguish her from Miss Lisa's daughter, Amanda) Miss Lisa redressed them in antique toddler dresses from the early 1900's (that's another thing she collects- antique toddler clothing!) These dolls are wearing crinolines under their muslin/lace dresses. She won the dresses on Ebay.

There are many many more pictures, more to come!

Merry Christmas!

Way down South with Dixie Doll...