wire wonderland

modflowers: wire wonderlandJust before my sister came to visit, I received a commission request.

Four dolls. Each four-and-a-half inches high; each a mini character from Alice in Wonderland. There was to be the White Rabbit, Dormouse, Mad Hatter and Alice herself.

Well, I didn’t get them done very quickly, what with all the fun of my sister’s visit. Sewing really didn’t get much of a look-in whilst she was here.

But eventually, they emerged…

modflowers: wire wonderlandmodflowers: wire wonderland modflowers: wire wonderlandmodflowers: wire wonderlandmodflowers: wire wonderlandmodflowers: wire wonderlandmodflowers: wire wonderlandIt seems the recipient liked them, as she sent me a photograph of them in situ in their new home:

modflowers: wire wonderlandIt was whilst I was making the White Rabbit that I had a bit of a revelation.

I wanted to make the Rabbit’s ears look a bit less soft-toy, and a bit more… well, Wonderland-y.

I’ve made lots of rabbits before and their ears have normally gone something like this:modflowers: wire wonderlandPerfectly fine in their way, but not Wonderland enough for my liking.

So I had a think and a rummage, both in my brain for ideas and in my stores for stuff – and I decided to insert wires into the ears, to make them poseable.

And it worked!

modflowers: wire wonderlandMuch better!

Since then I’ve been experimenting with making other bits of my dolls poseable with the addition of hidden wires.

I had the bright idea of making little wiry legs. I had used wire for bird legs before, but I wanted these to look more human. So I decided to cover the wire with yarn.

This was my first attempt (he has wire arms too)…

wire wonderlandIt seemed to work ok – though it was something of a battle to get him to stand up on his own, we got there in the end…

modflowers: wire wonderlandSo I made another…

modflowers: wire wonderlandmodflowers: wire wonderlandAnd then, because some of the wire I was using was green (a cheap roll of garden wire actually, from Wilko, meant for holding up beans and the like) I thought I’d see if I could make flowers with wire stems, for the little ones to hold.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as these new floral accessories proved most useful in addressing their wobbling problem and getting those little feet to balance and stand upright! modflowers: wire wonderlandmodflowers: wire wonderlandIt’s a revelation to make dolls that can be posed. Actually, it’s a little bit addictive.

So now I find myself snipping and bending, twisting and wrangling, as I keep experimenting.

I’m all wrapped up in a wonderland of wire! ♥

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9 thoughts on “wire wonderland

        • I have a bit of a thing about dolls with skinny legs – when I first learned to make them at a workshop I was told off for making the legs too skinny – they thought I’d made them too difficult to turn, but I was determined!

    • I have to admit, I was rather pleased with how Mr Hatter turned out. I was fine with doing his clothes as I had a vision of how I wanted him to look, but I had no idea how to do his face until I tried, and it just came out ok first time – so pleasing!

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