From Somewhere in Time

I've seen plenty of Alice in Wonderland cakes and cupcakes, but these are some of the best. I spotted them in an interesting blog called "Fairy Tale News" - go to this link and you'll see more.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas - and I wonder if anyone got such a splendid Alice present as I did! My friend Marjorie is a wonderful stitcher (here is a link to her blog) and she made our whole family a set of beautiful stitched Alice characters, which will certainly be decorating the tree next year. We had one character each - I had the caterpillar



and T. had Tweedledum and Tweedledee (which you can see above).

Here is the Herald -


One of my favorite characters - The Mad Hatter in all his lovely detail...



And no prizes for guessing this one - she has something of the look of the Tim Burton character about her.



I thought at first this central character was the White Rabbit, but then I realised he wasn't white (duh)



In fact, I don't believe there was a White Rabbit. (Oh - my friend Andrew Sellon just pointed out that he was the Herald)

The Cheshire Cat was a little thinner than I always imagine him, but I love his ruff....



My mother had Alice herself - I'll photograph her next time I visit!

We were all thrilled by our characters, and they created a real sensation during our Christmas celebrations.

Viewing someone's collage site, I was inspired to pull this image out - I have sometimes wondered what LC might have looked like today.

The original photo (of his face) was taken in the 1860s. Although Alice in Wonderland was published then, it wasn't a very happy time of his life.

Still, perhaps the slightly troubled and thoughtful expression in this photos, is just a result of the long exposure!

My friend Yoshi, from Japan, has sent me some beautiful Japanese chocolates with pictures of Alice.

Here are close ups of some of the pictures on the chocolates:



The lobster



A rather sinister Cheshire cat, and....



My favourite, the Pig-Baby!

This is a genuine Victorian poison bottle, owned, of course, by an Alice fan. It always surprises me how many people are inspired by Alice to create art and craft works. Just heard about Alex Pribnow's work - Alex is the owner of the bottle.

He tends towards the darker and more gothic side of Alice, in fact his site is called "Malice in Underland" Personally, I don't care for the darker interpretations of Alice but there are other styles and it's worth taking a browse through the site here.

Yes, this is the splendid Tate Liverpool in Albert Dock. Most Alice fans will have heard about the exhibition there. I hope to get up to see it, although the way things are going, it will be finished before I manage to haul myself up there - although I hope that's not really true. (It ends on 29 January).

The exhibition is about art that relates to Alice, of course, and I know there are some very interesting items on display - they've been lent by important collectors, and are unlikely to all be in the same place together again.

I've been exploring the exhibition website, and saw there's a children's activity flagged, so I took a look here. It certainly has a very pretty and magical seeming introduction which you roll a mouse over to animate. Unfortunately, it then switches to a distinctly banal "Hey kids, you can do cool things" pair of presenters and thereafter resembles some not-very-interesting children's TV. But then, it's not aimed at me, so perhaps I'm the wrong person to criticise.

Still, I wish they'd continued with the magical and exciting stuff.

In fact, the most mysterious and magical introduction I have seen to anything Alice-related is the promotional video for the paperback of Karoline Leach's book "In the Shadow of the Dreamchild" I like the music better than Leach's book, and really think it should form the basis of some wonderful animation instead of languishing on the website.

Tweedledum and Tweededee, above, do remind me of someone. Twin Tory politicians, perhaps? Oh dear, I've never been much good at putting names to faces.

Anyway, the Tweedles adorn an invitation I've received to a private view of John Vernon Lord's "Alice Through the Looking Glass," at the Illustration Cupboard in London. This distinguished illustrator has a love of fantasy and nonsense and his book work includes "Alice in Wonderland" and "Hunting of the Snark" as well as works by Edward Lear and fairy tales from all over the world - I specially like his Icelandic Sagas.

The date and time for the private view is not that convenient for me, but if I do get along, I'll ask him to autograph my invitation, and ask him who the Tweedles are modelled upon.

And, whether I go to the view or not, I will make time to go to the exhibition of his wok. It runs from 18 October - 5 November and the address of the Illustration Cupboard is 22 Bury Street, St. James's, Londno SW1Y lAL. (Follow them on Twitter at @illustrationcup. ) It's a fantastic place and a must-see for anyone interested in contemporary children's book illustration.

Oh, and here's a selection of the works that will be on display - click the link

Lewis Carroll has many students and fans in Japan, and I was lucky enough to receive a lovely gift from Yoshi Momma, a major Japanese collector. He knows the illustrator Hirai Takako and he has asked her to inscribe her 2012 Alice calendar which he gave as a gift to me.

I love it. On the back, it shows each month's picture.



I like all the pictures, but my favourite is February



I don't know whether to use this calendar every day next year, or keep it in its wrapping in perfect condition ...

I'm often amazed at the way Lewis Carroll and his work will crop up in the most unlikely places. Googling for something else entirely, I came across a list of Masters' Theses at McGill University School of Architecture. More specifically, this one:

"Caroline Dionne, 1999
Geometrical Behaviour: An Architectural Mise en scène for A Re-enactment of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The content of this thesis is two-fold. The first part takes the form of an essay while the second part presents a theoretical project for an architectural installation. Using these two modes as different ways to address similar issues, the present work proposes to question the instrumentalisation of geometry in today's architectural practice. The work of Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson) and, more specifically, his masterpiece, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, will be approached and interpreted in order to observe the participation of geometry-of Euclidean geometry-in our understanding of the notions of space and time, and to reveal their paradoxical aspect. The aim is to explore how geometry, language and nonsense bear intimate connections to our perception of space and time. Once revealed, these connections will enable us to address the following question: can architecture be comprehended and experienced as an event? "

I'd like to have seen this installation. Caroline Dionne later co-founded the artists centre Espace Tilt in Switzerland.

My picture, at the top of this post, shows a piece of architecture which I find fascinating - the empty and semi derelict Commonwealth Institute, London. It will soon become the new Design Museum.

The renowned, even somewhat notorious author, Salman Rushdie was interviewed recently in a children's magazine. The subject was his reissued children's book "Luka and the Fire of Life." During the interview, he was asked what his biggest inspiration came from, and he replied "It comes from many different things, but I feel I am most indebted to Lewis Carroll for everything that the Alice books have given me. Every time I re-read the adventures I am struck with how fabulous they are."

I'm always glad when I read something like this. I am so familiar with the books myself, now, that I find it quite easy to forget that they are amazing. Their amazingness is what drew me to Lewis Carroll in the first place.