Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Alice is in the Building!


It's 11 pm & in an effort to avoid another sleepless night, I have been brainstorming all day & well into the evening on the "Alice Project," as I have affectionately come to call it today!

After running an idea past my mom this morning, I think that I have the basics figured out on the external structure of "The Project" & spent all my free time today researching how to make a papier mache art doll for my Alice.

First of all, it's hard to find any online help on making these art dolls! It would appear that artists who specialize in this rather odd area don't divulge their secrets too willingly!
And! Who knew that papier mache could be so complicated! There's the original "French" way of making pulp first & then sculpting with it. But it takes a day or two to make the pulp! Then there's the way we did it in grade school with the balloon & strips of newspaper, but apparently, that way is outdated & probably wouldn't work for this anyway! So off to the library I went with Maggie in tow!

Once there, the meager selection of doll books depressed me & the papier mache titles were slim pickins too! The only book I found was "Make Something Ugly for a Change," by Dan Reeder. He describes an altogether different way of using paper, paste & cloth than what I'm used to! But, I'm game! I'll give it the 'ol college try! At least he has talent & wonderful instructions!! His collection of "merry" monsters is outstanding! Check it out at www.monster-man.com.

Later, after a little more research online for a back-up plan, I began to sketch my Alice's face this evening & think that in honor of Tim Burton's macabre style & upcoming version of Alice in Wonderland, MY Alice will have a little dark side to her. I found inspiration in several drawings of Alice, as well as some Japanese Anime images. We'll see if I can replicate my Alice-face onto the form once I have the doll done!

I think I can safely say that I am on my way to being 10% done with the concept! I am hoping that once the doll is done, the rest will just fall into place!

See you tomorrow, when I will be ass-over tea kettle in goo & newspaper!

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