The Pastry Chef

For someone who’s obsessed with food and miniatures and miniature foods, Re-ment is a godsend. Well, not really, since collecting it can burn a serious hole in one’s pocket. I was able to amass a serious collection a few years back and am now the proud owner of many hard-to-find and discontinued sets. Unfortunately, I have collected so much that it required multiple shipments for me to transport it all to Oz from the US (my parents simply gave me this look when I suggested that they send it to me bi-monthly), so I only have a few sets here at my disposal.

Luckily, I had the foresight to bring fourth my entire cakes and bakery collection so I was able to do this:

I know, I know, I should use my free time more constructively…like maybe figure out how to stop the ants from coming in and dying in my bathroom.

Another Alice

I’ve been totally obsessed with Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass for as long as I can remember. It might have something to do with the fact that I appreciate madness and mayhem and absurdity in the everyday life, and Lewis Carroll has written stories chuck full of it.

This is my not-so-PC version of Alice. Whilst working on it I started reading another take of the Alice story called “Splintered” by H.G. Howard. It’s always fun to see how other people interpret the classics. I’m only a couple of chapters into it, but so far it’s enjoyable.

What annoys me the most about the film versions is that there had to be some sort of achievements Alice needs to pertain in order to grow up as a proper lady. It sort of takes the whimsy out of everything. Why can’t it just be good, meaningless fun? I believe the best Alice movie has got to be Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer’s stop motion version entitled Něco z Alenky  (“Something From Alice”, or simply “Alice” in the English translation. It’s suitably creepy for those of you who like dark things. The critters in the movies looked as though they’ve been salvaged from a taxidermist’s garage sale. Best of all, this movie can be streamed off Netflix! For those of you who are turned off on the idea of foreign films because of the subtitle issues, don’t worry. Dialogues in this one is minimal.

Introducing Trixie

Trixie came about after I read The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. The story took place in Alaska, a perfect read during the sultry Australian summer months. It’s a fairy tale written for adults about a childless couple thriving in the Alaskan wilderness, a mysterious girl who may or may not have been made out of snow accompanied by a red fox, and unexpectedly, sewing.

I miss my dirndls. That’s right, I owned not one but two dirndls and I used to wear it un-ironically (it also doubled as a Halloween costume—wherein during the day, with a red cape, I was the Little Red Riding Hood as not to offend my students and colleagues. At night, however, I became an Oktoberfest beer wench. Dirndls are marvelous things).

When it’s time to choose an outfit to make for Trixie, I went straight for the Little Red Riding Hood ensemble since it’s a great excuse to make a mini dirndl.

I also made a little button clasp shaped like a pretzel. Perhaps there’s a larger one in the works for myself to wear?