It's October and the wee faeries have once again descended on the grounds of the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, leaving behind their fantastical handcrafted abodes in 26 locations throughout the 11-acre property.

This year's theme is "Wee Faerie Village in a Steampunk'd Wonderland." The dozens of artists, working both individually and collaboratively, who created the fantastical faerie houses were asked to interpret chapters (that they were allowed to choose) from Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," as well as place their creations in a Steampunk setting.

For those who may not know, "Steampunk" is a term coined in the 1980s to describe a design aesthetic that combines history, fantasy and the Victorian era. Steampunk artists marry Victorian shapes with modern technologies, often using old-fashioned materials like brass, copper and polished wood.

"Imagine a miniature Victorian world viewed through a steam-powered futuristic lens," explains David Rau, the museum's director of education and outreach.

Rau points out that Miss Florence Griswold was a contemporary of Alice Liddell, the child that inspired Carroll's stories, and that both would have grown up in a rapidly changing Victorian world.

He adds that "Alice Among the Fairies" was actually one of Carroll's original titles for his book before it was published in 1865 as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

Visitors will be given Alice's Wander Guide to guide them through the story starting with Alice going down the rabbit-hole and ending with her awakening from her dream of Wonderland. Artists have hidden an object in each "house," challenging viewers to find it, further engaging them in their creations.

NEW TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Quite a few artists return year after year to build different theme-based faerie houses. This season, several new local artists are participating.

It's mostly a family affair for David and Linda Smalley of Niantic, their daughter-in-law Adriene Krefetz and grandson Toby Krefetz Bowen of Massachusetts, and good friend Jan Sauer of Waterford.

The group has literally gotten onboard, creating a boathouse for their chapter titled "Alice Grows Inside the White Rabbit's House," in which Rabbit sends Alice to his house and once inside Alice grows until she fills the entire structure, and then after eating little cakes, begins to shrink and runs off into the woods.

"We wanted to do something with lots of detail," says David Smalley, speaking for the team, "and came up with the idea that the White Rabbit, when he wasn't being the Queen's minion, would have some other jobs. One was to run an old boat yard and the other was to run a clock shop.

"And then the idea is when the faeries saw this derelict boat yard, they built this little house for themselves," Smalley continues. "Since we couldn't put it on the water, we wanted it near the water (the Lieutenant River) in a natural setting."

Smalley is a sculptor and taught art at Connecticut College in New London for 38 years. He likes working in metal and is adept in the medium. He enjoyed crafting the cabin sides and the roof of the wooden houseboat out of copper, which he notes is a trademark material of Steampunk.

"The hardest thing was to develop scale and so I figured I'd start with the framework of the house and that helped everybody see what scale they should be working in," he notes. "Once we determined scale, I could do my part and they could do their part."

He credits the rest of the artistic team with creating all kinds of tiny objects out of Sculpey (polymer clay) that they painted and decorated.

"The idea of magnifying glasses (as portholes) was just serendipity. You can really see the (details) inside the house," he points out.

Although it took longer than expected to craft their faerie house, they had a lot of fun, Smalley says.

"It just came together," he says. "We had a wonderful time, it will be wonderful to see the reactions. I hope people take their time with this one because, boy is there a lot to see!"

In contrast to the compact size of "Alice Grows Inside" - a mere 30 inches long - and its minute detailing, artists Polo Esther and Brian Stephens, both of Old Lyme, have created a more abstract wall-less faerie dwelling in "Alice Cries a Pool of Tears." In this chapter, Alice falls into a pool of her own tears and meets fellow creatures while swimming.

Although this is the first time either Stephens or Esther have participated in the faerie house construction at the museum, they have collaborated on other art installations and have developed a rhythm of working together. They recently returned from an artist residency together in Bulgaria.

Designed around a large tree, mirrors embedded in the moss represent the pools of tears. Hollowed out and painted gourds and glass bottles painted with "Drink Me" (causing Alice to grow) and "Eat Me" (causing Alice to shrink) hang from above. Ladders and a little door and window on the tree, identify it as a house.

"I liked the idea of making pools of tears," Esther says. "It's something that was important in our picking this chapter."

"It was a fun chapter, too," Stephens adds. "Alice is going from the real world that she knows to the fantasy world. It's the beginning of when she falls down, before she realizes she's upset. She's calm enough to drink and eat something before she's completely in the new world."

"Our focus was on building more of an environment than one single house," Esther says. "It was kind of spontaneous, improvisational. We just reacted to the land, the environment."

"Everything we used, we gathered from right here - no more than a mile from here," Stephens says. "The only thing we had to import was the tears (which are glass beads)."

Esther has a nostalgic connection to Carroll's story, which made working on this project particularly meaningful.

"When I was little I had a record of 'Alice in Wonderland.' I was raised in Poland, so the kids were all listening to this record constantly. And I remember those songs still, in Polish! It's nice to come back to that."

IF YOU GO

What: "Wee Faerie Village in a Steampunk'd Wonderland" outdoor exhibit and related programs

Where: Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme

When: Through Nov. 2. The museum is open Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended hours on Sun. from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the show.

Cost: Admission is $15 adults, $14 seniors, $13 students, $5 members, and free for children 12 and younger. Admission includes outdoor walking tour of the Faerie Village, the Florence Griswold House, Chadwick Studio and Rafal Landscape Center. It also includes admission to the Krieble Gallery featuring "Life Stories in Art," an exhibit highlighting the contributions of three Connecticut women artists.

Info: www.FlorenceGriswoldMuseum.org or call (860) 434-5542.