Idea Development – The tunnel

As stated in my initial idea for the tunnel my intention was to make it using two hula hoops and some fabric. I got as far as to buying the two hula hoops but during a group critique one of my peers told me they had a kids bed tunnel they were throwing out that i could have. As it was made to go onto a bed it is a fair size, and would probably do the job. When they brought it in for me i saw that it was perfect, however since it was designed for a bed without being attached to it, it layed flat. I took it to the workshop and Johnny suggested that it should be screwed onto two wooden lats and that would solve the issue. As it was designed to be attached to a bed it already had the holes for the screws so it was a quick and simple job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am happy with how the tunnel turned out in the end and it works so much better than the two hula hoops ever would have. Next i need to decide if i will change the look of the fabric, this could be achieved by stitching new fabric onto it, or painting it. However at the current time i am considering to just leave it as i like the childish element it brings to the piece.

Reading the books

Along side watching all the movie adaptations of Alice that i own, i read both ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there’ so that i could better understand where the movies had gotten their inspiration for the films and to see how closely they kept the the actual storyline of the original book. As well as reading these i read ‘Alice’s Adventures Underground’ the original manuscript of the story. Sent to Alice Liddell, the inspiration behind Alice, as a Christmas present off Lewis Carrol who made the story up for her and her sisters one summers day when she was a child. The book is written in Lewis Carroll’s handwriting and has his own hand drawn illustrations. It was interesting to see how different the story originally was to the version we all know today. Characters like the mad hatter and cheshire can’t aren’t even in the original story at all.

Lewis Carroll’s illustration of Alice in the story

Lewis Carroll’s drawing of Alice Liddell

Idea Development – The Queen of Hearts

For making the Queen of Hearts i decided to go for the mannequin wearing a dress idea as i felt it would work best for the materials i was using. So i ordered a mannequin online, for only £50 it was surprisingly good quality. I took an old dress i owned, i had kept it for sentimental reasons from my previous relationship, but since that relationship is over i felt fine destroying it and felt that it was suited to the rest of the materials i was already using. As the mannequin is very skinny i had to alter the dress so that it would fit her better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a heart shaped cushion cut in half i stitched it onto the chest of the dress. I also added two identical frogs heads to either side to get a bit of symmetry in the dress. Using the sewing machine to attach the teddies was very difficult as even with pins they would move about and was hard to get them exactly where i wanted them. I decided to instead use a glue gun as it would be quicker and i could get them right where i wanted them. I slowly built up the front of the dress using cut up bits of the teddies. I then worked on the back of the dress. Using the other side of the cushion i put it in a similar placement as on the front. Again i then built up the rest of it out of the teddies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that i have fully finished the dress the next step for the queen is to sort out a wig for her so that she is no longer bald, i may also make her a crown to show further that she is the queen of hearts. I am also considering making her a cape out of playing cards however i am unsure if i will actually follow through with this idea as it might be a bit overkill and take away from the objects of the dress.

Salvador Dali Illustrations

Dali was commissioned in 1969 by Random House to produce a series of 12 Alice in Wonderland illustrations. They have such a bright energy to them. They have a different feel compared to Dali’s usual style of work. They are almost unrecognisable as works by Dali, however in every illustration there is a figure of ‘Alice’ that is one of Dali’s iconic figures from a piece with an image of a girl with a skipping rope, first used by Dali in 1935.

Landscape with girl skipping rope – 1935

New Logo

I commissioned Graphic Illustrator Dwayne Campey to design a new logo for my M Dawson Art page. You can find more of the works, and contact Mr Campey via his website; https://www.dwaynecampey.co.uk