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Fairy
Tale Characters Come To Life
In McMurray
Barbara Holsopple
Pittsburgh
Press, Sunday Oct. 24, 1965
Fantasyland,
that illusive childhood dream world, has become a real place, thanks to the
imagination and creativity of Iaulanda Turner.
In a small room of her McMurray home, Mrs. Turner has created a special world
of miniature fairy tale characters. Here Little Bo Peep searches for her sheep
while Alice in Wonderland plays hide and seek with the Wizard of Oz and Jiminy
Cricket.
There are sugar plum fairies that put the magic in Christmas and little characters
called "pelfs" because they are half pixie and half elf. Choir boys
sing their hearts out while Wee Willie Winkie runs around in a red and white
striped nightshirt.
The characters - 34 different ones in all - are made from wired felt, scraps
of fabric, sequins, ribbons, lace and other odds and ends. They range in size
from five inches to six-and-a-half inches.
Mrs. Turner, mother of a married son and a five-and-a-half year old daughter,
began creating her characters three years ago while her husband, Monte, was
hospitalized after undergoing major surgery.
"For a while, we weren't sure whether my husband would live and I guess
I turned to the dolls as an escape mechanism," Mrs. Turner explained.
"There were made as Christmas tree decorations so that Jamie would have
something from her childhood to take into her adulthood. Being an older mother,
I was fearful that I might not be alive to see her in her own home with her
own family."
Mrs. Turner continued to create new characters during the eleven weeks her husband
convalesced at home. Christmas came, and the family strung popcorn and cranberries
around the colorful dolls suspended from the tree branches by thin gold threads.
That January, two weeks after Mr. Turner returned to his job, Mrs. Turner broke
her arm and was unable to continue the intricate work on the dolls.
Last fall, at the request of friends and neighbors, Mrs. Turner again set up
shop. She often spends 12 or 14 hours a day filling orders and creating new
dolls from children's literature.
"The first dolls were traced from cardboard patterns, but I have so many
orders to fill that my husband now makes dies for the body parts and does all
the cutting for me." Mrs. Turner said. "I use interchanging parts
anyplace I can."
Faces on the dolls are painted with a marking pencil. Finishing touches may
incllude ruffled petticoats and pantaloons. The soft wire running through the
bodies makes it possible to bend the dolls into various positions.
Mrs. Turner markets her dolls under the trade name of "Iaulanda's Story
Tellers." Although, primarily purchased as Christmas tree ornaments, the
dolls have been used for many other purposes. Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary watered
flowers in a garden display at a PTA luncheon last spring.
Mrs. Turner has had no formal training in art or crafts, but her inborn talent
is on display throughout her home. She has done all the papering and painting
in the house. She has made braid rugs, patchwork comforts and draperies, as
well as upholstered most of the furniture for her Early American decor.
She sews most of her own clothes and all of the clothing worn by her daughter.
"My hands have to be busy all the time," she explained with a smile.