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Goals for 2022
All right, it’s time for goal setting. I like goals. I like working towards things. I’m trying not to be too ambitious this year, because I am starting late and sort of feeling still pretty drained as I recover from some medical treatment (nothing life threatening) and also plan my wedding for June (also not life threatening, I hope).
1. 100 Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 Paper Dolls
Currently, there are about 68 Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls on the blog and I’d really like to hit 100 before the end of 2022. If I included all the Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls that I’ve shared on Patreon, I am probably closer, but I think 100 on the blog is the goal. Of course, I’ll still be putting up my monthly Jewels and Gemstones paper doll for my Patrons. Sign up at the 2 dollar level if you’d like to see those.
2. 10 Historical Paper Dolls
When I asked my Patrons, historical paper dolls won for the thing they wanted to see more of. So, since there are ten months left in the year, I’m setting a goal for 10 different historical paper dolls. So far, I have a 14th century one waiting in the wings and a few more that I have ideas for. If there’s a time period you’d like to see, leave me a comment and I’ll consider adding it to my list. Right now, the top of my to do list is the 1980s, which my Patrons requested last year.
3. Send Things to OPDAG for Paper Doll Review
I feel like this is has been a goal in the past and I have failed miserably at it. The next theme is Animals and after that is Mad about Plaid and Checks. I tend to wait until the last minute to do these and then run out of time. So, my goal is to submit something to those two. I actually love drawing checks and hate drawing plaids, so I should be able to do something. Animals does have me a little stumped I confess. I have a cartoony style, but I don’t think it’s super kawaii which I feel like Animal paper dolls should be.
4. Finish Another Book/Print Project
My first ever book project (You can pick up a copy here) was super fun, complex and I really want to do another one. I have an idea even, so I want to try to finish that. I also have other ideas for print projects, but I can’t 100% decide if I am ready to expand my Etsy store in that direction or not. Anyway, another book is doable and that’s my goal for 2022.
5. Continue with the Newsletter for 2022
I love doing my Newsletter, so I want to continue with it for 2022. It makes me happy and I hope it makes other’s happy, too. Sign up here, if you haven’t. There’s a paper doll in every issue.
6. 10 Dolls Du Jour This Year
Yeah, I did like four last year and I feel guilty about it, okay? So, I’m shooting for ten. I like them. I don’t know why I seem to not instinctively want to draw more of them. The paper doll series deserves more love.
And that’s it! So, I’ll check in with these around Rosh Hashanah as I usually do in September to see how things are going. In the meantime, I am should get too drawing, because those 100 Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls aren’t going to draw themselves, let me tell you.
DDJ: It is Pirate Paper Doll Time!
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Happy March!
There are paper doll themes I think I’ve done a lot of- like pirates-, but then when I actually go through my own archives I realize- I really haven’t done that very many pirate paper doll sets. (I have a similar relationship with fairy paper dolls.)
The problem, I suspect, is that I don’t feel like there are that many ways to draw a pirate. So, I guess that’s a factor. I should expand more into space pirates or steampunk pirates or… I dunno… Need to think on it.
Anyway, one of the things I am doing over on Patreon is working on my goals for 2022. One of those goals is more Dolls Du Jour, I was slightly embarrassed to realize I only did 4 last year. Plus, they were nearly all based on things I actually drew in 2020. (This isn’t super uncommon. Some things sit on my computer a long time before I finish them, because I am fickle and have more ideas than time.)
So, anyway, one goal is more Dolls Du Jour. I have been finishing up my Goals post. The hope is to get that up later this week, so it’ll be “Official”. I like having all that sort of thing in one place, because I will refer to it later. I know I will.
More and more over the last few years, I havecome to think of the blog as a long form sort of art project. I like having most things here, because I know I own this space. No algorithm can interfere with what I’ve built here.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to support the blog, then there’s a way to do over on Patreon. My Patreon projects for this year is a gothic/steampunk fantasy thing for Vivian and a set of Antique Doll paper dolls. I’m super excited about both.
A Whimsical Winter Paper Doll to Print
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In my world, it is still way below zero and the snow is still deep. People tell me spring will come, but I am beginning to have my doubts. I’m antsy and super tired of winter. Up here, some people call this feeling the “heebie-jeebies” – that antsy icky anxiety that comes from wanting winter to end. This time of the year time seems to blur together. There’s not enough day light yet and there’s not enough changes in the weather. You start wonder- will Winter ever end?
Different people deal in different ways. I deal by being deeply and intensely attracted to all things cheerful and whimsical. I want hats that look like pandas and pink shoes. So, I designed this paper doll set to capture the whimsy of winter- the things I seem to crave as the dark and cold feels like it will never end.
Other coping strategies this time of the year for me include covering my planner in flower stickers and sticking unicorn washi tape all over my journal . What do you do to deal with long winters? Or do you live in a place where spring is already on the way? I’m only a little jealous.
By the way, I have restarted my newsletter for 2022 quietly. If you haven’t signed up, you can do that here- Newsletter Sign Up. It usually goes out about every two weeks and there’s a paper doll coloring page in every issue.
If you’d like to support PTP in a more direct way (plus get extra paper dolls very month and access to a backlog of wonderful things as well) you can sign up to be a patron on Patreon. It was a slow start to 2022, so you haven’t missed anything new there.
Happy Valentine’s Day with a Rockabilly Vintage Paper Doll
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I have a deep fondness for Valentine’s Day paper dolls despite having a long history of having truly awful Valentine’s Days. However, my grandmother used to send me and my sister cards for Valentine’s Day and they often included paper dolls, so I like to continue that tradition here in her honor.
So, first off, Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope it is, if not great, at least uneventful and, tomorrow, there’s a lot of cheap chocolate available which always seems like a nice perk. It’s also a good time to get some roses on sale if you like roses. I confess to being more of a peonies person myself, but each to their own.
For today’s Valentine’s Day paper doll I wanted try out something I hadn’t done before, so I slipped into the world of vintage inspired rockabilly fashion. If that wasn’t a stretch enough, I then gave myself the challenge of coloring the whole thing without using any red, because I do think the color schemes for Valentine’s Day can get a little boring. How. much pink and red does one person need?
If you’re looking for even more Valentine’s Day fun, I did a Valentine’s Paper Doll Coloring Page in my first newsletter of 2022. (Sign up here if you’d like to get it.)
Meanwhile, you can get any number of additional Valentine’s Day paper dolls from previous years here and let me know if you’ve got plans for the holiday in a comment.
All the Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 Paper Dolls of 2021
Normally, I have a few paper dolls that I have finished at the end of the year and they over lap into January. As usual, I did this year as well and because of various life events, I decided the best thing to do would be to wait on my round up until I’d posted all of them. I knew I would be away from the site for a while and it seemed the easiest thing for the pre-scheduling I knew I would have to do. As I did with my 2020 round up, I decided to break down the paper dolls into categories.
Contemporary Fashion Paper Dolls
Historical Fashion Paper Dolls
In Chronological Order By Era
Fantasy, Steampunk, Sci-Fi and Fairy Tale Paper Dolls
This was not my most productive year on the blog (though this doesn’t count my Newslettter or my Patreon content), so there were 27 different Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls shared on the blog today, taking the total Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 count to 77, I think? I might be adding that wrong- it would not be the first time. There are, of course, the Patreon exclusive Jewels and Gemstones as well for my 2 dollar and up patrons, so there’s a few more, if I wanted to add them all together.
I always look at my stats at the end of the year and while this is a little early, I think I can still do it. The numbers are always odd, because my most popular post of all time, according to my Google Analytics is this Marisole Monday Black and White Modern Girl post from 2010. Why? Not sure, but I think it has something to do with how Google values “age” of pages and that image is all over Google image search and Pinterest.
To my own surprise, it wasn’t a Jewels and Gemstones paper doll that was my most popular post in 2021, but rather my retro space foray with the Dolls Du Jour (who have been a bit neglected this year… I should draw more for them). Second place goes to my 1860s historical paper doll and another DDJ post gets third place- my foray into fantasy renaissance gowns. The rest of my top 5 slots are taken up by non-paper doll posts (like this book review and my book announcement). I don’t really know if any of this means anything (especially because most people just go to the main page and don’t click into the specific posts, so really… who knows?) But I do find the numbers always interesting.
Since I am in recovery mode from some medical stuff, I am taking a break for a few weeks. I hope to be back for Valentine’s Day in February (because I love Valentines Day paper dolls) and until then I hope everyone has a lovely few quiet weeks.
I’m opening up comments, because I am super curious: What was your favorite paper doll of 2021 as we settle into 2022?
Pearl as a Pulpy Fantasy Warrior
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Yes, I did watch a lot of Xena: Warrior Princess at a young impressionable age, why do you ask?
Seriously though, I get the whole idea of the male-gaze and I get the whole idea that this sort of armor isn’t practical and I understand that there’s a lot of patriarchal sexist BS wrapped up in the whole “women warriors must be sexy” concept. I get it. I really do.
And yet, I just like drawing sexy pulpy armor. It is important to acknowledge the problems of the patriarchy, but still like what you like. And lord knows I’ve done by fair share of non-pulpy armor over the years (here and here and here and here and here and here and…. I could go on.)
Meanwhile, this set began with my first ever Pearl paper doll from 2019 which was inspired by Callisto’s Armor from Xena: Warrior Princess. I really liked that armor when I used to watch that show as a kid, but now I look at it and I think- Wow, it’s so short! I can’t imagine it was comfortable for the actress, but I digress. I tried to use the elements from the original paper doll set to design the additional pieces so that it would feel like a cohesive piece.
Next week there will be a round-up of all the 2021 Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls (and yes, I know it is 2022 already but I drew all these in 2021). And then I am taking a few weeks off to continue resting and recovering from some surgery (in case you are wondering, almost everything I’ve posted here and on social media was pre-scheduled, because the internet is like that). I hope to be back in time for Valentine’s Day (as you know, I love Valentine’s Day) and with some new paper doll content. We’ll see!
Diamond with her 1960s Mod Dresses
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When I think of the 1960s, these playful swing dresses come to mind. They really don’t show up until the second half of the decade, but they are so iconic. I knew when I decided to so some 1960s sets that I wanted one to be mod styles like these. My other two themes are sophisticated (see Sapphire from last week) and a beach summer set which was a Patreon piece.
There are, as always, a lot of different sources for today’s dresses. Working left to right, the orange dress was inspired by this Bill Blass dress designed for Maurice Rentnerfrom the Met. The blue dress is from Simplicity 7852 in 1968. The red and white dress is from Simplicity 6405 dated 1965. I did not draw the matching coat which I sort of regret. Coats that matched slip dresses were certainly a trend I noticed. The mustard dress is based on an illustration by Creators Studios, a New York design company. The pink dress is from Butterick 3398 from about 1966.
Her flower shoes are here from Charles Jordan in 1965. Her other shoes, hats, and purses are from John Peacocks’s 20th Century Fashion Source Book.
I have one more paper doll from 2021 that I have finished to share, than there will be a round up post for all the 2021 (though I know it is 2022) paper dolls for the Jewels and Gemstones. After that I plan to take a few weeks off as a treat and we’ll see how I feel. I love doing my Valentine’s paper dolls, so I don’t want to miss that this year.
Sapphire: A Fashionable 1960s Paper Doll for Printing and Playing With
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After I did 1970s sets (one with Sapphire and one with Opal) and a 1950s set, drawing some 1960s paper dolls felt pretty inevitable. The 1960s are a fashion era I like, but haven’t done as much drawing from. I think because my mental image of the era (super 1960s mod dresses) exists and the actual mainstream fashions which were much more conservative. I love the wild mod looks, but most folks weren’t wearing them.
So, today’s 1960s paper doll is Sapphire with a very ladylike wardrobe from mostly the early 1960s, though I didn’t notice that until I was labeling everything. Here’s a few of the sources- her underwear comes from Sears in 1968. Her bra was based on several different years like this one from 1962 or this one from 1964. The pink suit is from McCall’s 6437 from 1962. Her hats both come from my John Peacock book on 20th century fashion, The Complete Fashion Sourcebook.
The evening gown was based on this Vogue 1452 pattern from 1965 designed by Galitzine of Italy. The green suit is from Vogue Couturier Design 1127; ca. 1962 designed by Michael of England. The 1965 Montgomery Ward Spring Summer Catalog was the source for the yellow polka-dotted dress.
You can, of course, see a lot more 1960s fashion references and inspiration on my 1960s Pinterest board. I tend to collect a lot and then pick and chose when the drawing point happens. There will be another 1960s paper doll up soon, as I have a second one finished as well.