Cards From Alice
Hi folks, and happy blog day! Today’s subject starts with one Alice and ends with another. I love the way these two ends meet, and the new directions it has taken my creative interests and abilities.
Let’s start with the first Alice, my sweet great auntie. Our relationship was an easy one to adore, the flashbacks are filled with Bronco games, family all around, and some of the most amazing homemade Mexican food I’ve had to this very date. Fresh menudo, tamales, Spanish rice, green and red chile, enchiladas, and her famous hand-made tortillas! I credit her entirely (and the star players of 98 and 99) for the fact that I’m a die-hard Bronco fan. Boy, were those 2 exciting years!! A majority of the time her and I spent together was during my middle school years. Pretty often, I would call her to pick me up, using the guise that I was ill, usually. She knew it was seldom that I was actually sick, but she understood the deeper things at play. We would go home and watch all the best in daytime TV, her favorite was always Judge Judy. Auntie also had some of that fiery personality to balance her tender sweetness and she had a phenomenal sense of humor.
Did I mention how much she loved Cripple Creek?! To catch you up, Cripple Creek is a gambling town up in the mountains of Colorado, and Auntie Alice seemed to find her way there a lot, regardless of weather, and even health. From these trips she had managed to build a collection of “house” cards, and before she passed in ’06, she gifted me 4 decks of her playing cards. They would end up being the last gift she would give me, and I absolutely cherished them.
For many years, I held onto these cards and refused to use them for playing, in fear of possibly losing any. The only time they saw any play at all, was when I was making sure the decks were still complete, or enjoy a seldom game of solitaire. I kept them stored away in a box for safe keeping, but I really wanted to make use of them in some way. Once, a friend and myself had the idea to have a “Mad Tea Party” theme for our 21st. We talked about creating the decorations from the cards, but sadly those plans wouldn’t end up sticking.
Years later, I was finding myself on the downside of artist block, and much more frequently then I could stand. Most of my creative energy went to paintings, but all my inspiration fuel had long burned out. I couldn’t care less about painting at the time, and I randomly remembered the box that held my cards. I proceeded to count them, and noticed after all these years, I still hadn’t lost a single one. I felt a deep need to use them for something… something special.
This brings us to the 2nd Alice in my story. For essentially my whole life (give or take 2-3 years), I have been an admirer of the original animated Disney Classic, Alice in Wonderland. I could delve into the wildly imaginative scenarios, vibrant colorful hybrid creatures, and the curious riddles throughout the movie, it took my mind on an epic journey every time. No movie (not even the remakes) do I love in this same way, and it’s still so very inspiring to my psyche. I use it as a reminder, to not take myself too seriously, I pop in the movie and I let the curious madness consume me!
It all kind of just struck me one day, I finally had an idea of what I could use these cards for. The only struggle was, I needed to be brave enough to do what would be necessary to make this inspired card art. I used my obsession with Alice in Wonderland, and the ideas began to flood my focus. My mind’s eye could see it all; card soldiers, red painted roses, tea cups, Mad Hatter’s Hat, and teapots! Only problem remained, I still had to be brave and trust myself. I didn’t know if I was really willing to cut and rearrange these cards, and more so, I had to be okay with possibly coming up short of the idea, and end up left with ruined cards. …. Typing that kind of made my stomach hurt all over again, haha. I wish I had recollection of what actually pushed me off the edge, all I know is I’m thankful the curiosity took over and didn’t allow me box those cards back up.
Experimenting was rough, and I managed to burn the crap out of my fingers with my hot glue gun, attempting to put together these card structures. I had no map, or agenda, but these 3D pieces were coming together much better than I had anticipated! I wound up making a pretty decent spread of things for the first experiment, or the 1st generation as I refer to them. Epoxy seemed like the obvious next step to help maintain stability and keep outside elements from damaging them. Crazy enough, for being my first time coating 3D items in epoxy, things went pretty smoothly, and nothing had been ruined! My bravery had been rewarded, and there lied so much potential. I listed these items on Ebay and to my amazement they all sold rather quickly, and lead to an immediate commission for a new set.
This 2nd generation consisted of 3 card soldiers and a large teapot. My first teapot had been made of standard JUMBO cards and didn’t really measure up to much, so I scoured the internet for other options. I was rather excited to find 5×7” playing cards to build my teapot and use as card soldiers! I insisted on using this next commission to change up some of the design, I wanted to make this generation unique from the last. Tightening up the design and giving more attention to the tedious details, it was becoming quite time consuming. Epoxy was no longer my friend, but a necessary ally, and the card structures needed to be sealed and fully protected, no exceptions would be acceptable to me. Eventually I managed to complete and sell the work, while still feeling reasonably satisfied with the outcome.
At the start of quarantine I received my current commission, and this would become the 3rd generation of playing card artwork. An order for 3 soldiers, a large teapot, and a large potion bottle with a “drink me” label. In all honesty, I had yet to contemplate or calculate the setbacks both COVID and apartment living would present me with, while working on this commission. For the record, I’ve officially stopped taking these types of commissions on playing card art. This isn’t me saying I won’t make card art in the future, I just won’t ever create under (what should be shorter) time frames. Fortunate for me, my client is a dear friend and incredibly understanding of the delays the circumstances have brought, and remains supportive and excited. COVID impacted my online orders, as well as my ability to purchase gloves, which I desperately needed for epoxy. While living in an apartment made me miss the outdoor workshop I had previously, and the ability it gave me to use my noisy power tools to fix any epoxy drips/flaws in a flash. I won’t even get into the days that I had zero motivation and no mental ability to focus and be productive. Let’s just say this commission was a large part of what I addressed in “Creative COVID Coaster”. I was wielding a dual edged sword, and on one side I felt completely validated and proud of the fact that I had created new art that felt genuinely unique, and people actually were drawn to buying it. On the other hand, I was knocked down with just about every step taken toward completion and that didn’t feel great at all. I’m still pretty embarrassed to admit that I’m barely in the process of finalizing these pieces, but I won’t stop until I’m finished and pleased with how they look. Even if I have spent months filing and sanding away, and making an obscene amount of small epoxy applications, I intend to make it well worth it. I’m finally seeing the light at the end of this tunnel! And I’m pretty ready to be out from under this commission, but excited to get the artwork off to its new owner.
In short, I’ve realized in the last 4 or so years, that as much as I enjoy making these collections, I definitely need to create a schedule for production and release. Working based on requests leaves much too much room for excessive time frames, and a lot of beating myself up haha. This small goal, is a part of a much larger highway I’m attempting to steer this career down, I’m hoping to establish schedules to create the many different things that are fascinating to me, and hopefully things I can begin to profit off…. So I can make more and more and more things 😀
So there you have it, how my two Alice’s connect to one another. It still tickles me that I make Alice in Wonderland art, from cards that were my aunt Alice’s. Feels like a sign that I’m doing exactly what I should be with them.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this week’s post, I hope you return again next Thursday! Sending out lots of love<3
<3 Miki Len
