Madame Alexander dolls are generally so syrupy-sweet that one finds oneself scrabbling for the nearest insulin vial. However, their 2006 collection included an (admittedly-cutesy) homage to Alfred Hitchcock in the form of vignettes from Psycho and The Birds.

The one for The Birds is almost beneath us, consisting of nothing more than a blonde doll with some fake crows attached to it, but the Psycho one looks reasonably easy to re-create (for much less than the $115 price tag–yeeow) and would make a cute desk accessory or coffee table accent.

The materials list looks pretty straightforward:

• Blonde doll
• A couple of doll bath towels
• Doll-sized bathtub, preferably white and claw-footed
• Loop of wire to support shower curtain
• Curtain rings (depending upon the size of the model, large jewelry “jump rings” might work)
• Plastic for shower curtain
• Flexible tubing for the shower “pipe”
• Black paper cutout of Norman and his knife
• Base to support the model – painted wood should be fine, but you could get fancy and use mosaic tile to simulate a bathroom floor

The shower tubing could be silver-painted plastic (like a soda straw), but since it’ll be supporting the shower curtain attachment you’ll probably want to strengthen it with some wire inside.

Many items such as bedding come in transparent plastic zipper bags, which should be about the right weight for a doll-sized curtain. You could also use some translucent white fabric with a fairly tight weave.

The bathtub and accessories should be fairly easy to find at toy stores or shops that specialize in dollhouse miniatures; much depends upon the size that you want your finished model to be.

Full-size “Psycho” shower curtains are available online, and a photograph of one of those could be printed and cut out to stick to the curtain.

The doll could be posed by sticking heavy wire up through the bottom of the tub and into one of her legs.

Check out the About.com miniatures section for lots of resources for creating miniature vignettes. Soon you won’t be able to look at a doll without thinking of creative ways to mutilate it. (Not that some of us don’t do that already.)