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Monday, April 5, 2010

Inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland



Spring reminds me of mushrooms and I wanted to do one. But then came the question as to what creature to put with it. I had already done a little mouse peaking out from under one last year. The next idea was the caterpillar in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" . I didn't want my caterpiller to be like the illustrations in the book  or like the ones from Tim Burton's movie. So I read the section where Alice first meets the caterpillar and made mine from that reading.   My little guy is 3 inches tall just as in the book. I took some liberty by puting a fez on him. It just seemed to go. His little hookah is made from a black stone chess piece and some very expensive beads. I went to the bead store to find the right ones and ended up only being satisfied with the sterling silver filled and gold plated ones. You would think that a caterpillar would be a fairly simple creature to create. But he was rather complex. He was hand dyed and shaded and his legs were seperately attached and his front legs were sculpted from Apoxie Sculpt. The worst part was sculpting his face. I wanted him to be insect like but have human charateristics. A realistic catterpillar would've been pretty creepy.  I used to think they were kind of cute as a kid and kept tomato caterpillars for pets. But I don't think the general public would think so. I hope you all like him ~Robin
P.S. His eBay auction starts this Tuesday at 6:45 pm PST with the usual reserve price of $135.00 and the Buy It Now of $224.00

9 comments:

Julia said... [Reply]

I am speachless!!!What a wonderful little miracle you've made!!! I am really impressed by your work...he looks like he has just come out of the book :-)

julietk said... [Reply]

Sweet :-D he should meet my cheshire cat.

Cheryl @ Bingle Bears said... [Reply]

Robin, he's absolutely fabulous! Marvelous work as always!

Robin Andreae said... [Reply]

Thanks Liza, Julietk & Cheryl!

Jen said... [Reply]

Sorry, but I've got to point this out - C.S. Lewis is the author of the Chronicles of Narnia series. Lewis Carroll is the author of Alice in Wonderland.

The mushroom and catepillar are really neat!

Robin Andreae said... [Reply]

My mistake. Thanks Jen! I should've caught it.

Unknown said... [Reply]

Awww he's absolutely gorgeous, i love your work :)))

Wendy Luane Barber said... [Reply]

Oh my! He's wonderful! You are so inspiring. I've started a leprechaun/something. Haven't quite decided yet. I love your pieces. Are they all dry felted? Or do you wet felt too?

Robin Andreae said... [Reply]

Thanks, Karen :-)!
Wendy, this one is all needle felt. He did get wet when I dyed him. But he was already felted save for his legs. I sometimes use wet felting techniques. I really like nuno felting. I can't get that sheer look with needle felting.