Meet Fleur, our new Dictionary Girl Paper Doll

dictionary-girls-fleur

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series} {Click Here for the Dolls to Dress}

Today’s Dictionary Girl paper doll was colored after a friend of my friend complained that I didn’t have enough brunette pale-skinned blue-eyed paper dolls like her and she thought this wasn’t fair. Well, there is some truth to her remark, since I tend to favor variety of skin tone over variety of hair color. That all began when I realized the internet was full of printable paper dolls and they all seemed awfully white. Still, when a someone demands a blue-eyed brown-haired paper doll, and when they live in the same apartment building, it seems hard to refuse.

So, here is Fleur. She has the same skin tone as Alyssa and therefore can share shoes with Alyssa though I can not promise wigs will work since they have two different hair styles.

What sort of coloring would people like to see for the next Dictionary Girl?

Baroque Maiden: Fantasy Printable Paper Doll

baroquemaiden_paper_doll

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}
Today’s Marisole was supposed to go up last week, but somehow it didn’t happen. I feel like I start every post apologizing these days which I am trying to stop doing. I have mixed feelings about how she turned out. I really like the colors, but the style seems like I do a lot. I have mixed feelings about it. When I think of the baroque era of art, I think of rich dark colors with golds and reds and purples and black which was the inspiration for this color scheme. I gave her blond hair to contrast with the dark colors of her dresses.

A friend of my send me the link to these wonderful paper dolls from the Museum of Childhood in London. You can download them and print them out. Beautiful full color historic dolls. It’s so nice having friends who support my odd hobbies. So a big shout out to my friends.

Jesse: A Guy Paper Doll with Clothing

printable-paper-doll-jesse

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}

So when I asked people what they wanted to see on the blog, male paper dolls won out. I don’t really see the appeal myself- after a while, I think guys clothing gets boring, but I am trying to provide what people have asked for (also I have had this drawn for months and coloring it was fast), so here is Jesse- another Puck paper dolls. He joins the other Pucks which can be found with their female counter-parts the Pixies. In total, I’ve done six Pucks, I believe. I guess out of over 250 pages of paper dolls, six males isn’t much of a percentage, but it’s a lot higher than zero.

Today’s Puck paper doll fits in pretty well with Dillon having another fairly standard casual wardrobe. I confess I don’t know much about male clothing, but I do my best with the Pucks. I did just notice I do seem to have a lot of blond Pucks… which is rather odd. I’ll have to work on that.

Constance: Paper Doll to Print

I would like everyone to meet Constance. Isn’t she cute? She’s the best friend of Prudence, I decided after I finished coloring her, though she has a less vintage inspired style. Her trousers came out a less perfect color of camel then I thought they would, but her shoes are totally cute and I love her freckles. (I blame my love of both freckles and red hair to reading Anne of Green Gables at a young and impressionable age.)

pixie-constance-paper-doll

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}

A woman I used to work with was named Constance, though everyone called her Connie. I have an odd soft spot for virtue names like Constance or Prudence or Faith or Grace, though I am less a fan of a few of the odder ones which were common back when the Puritans were naming their children. Naming your child Temperance is one thing, but calling them Condolence just seems odd (and that’s not even getting into some of the odder names which hung around when the Puritans were naming things). Still, I suppose that’s easy for me to say since I’m not naming a child in 1615 or something.

On a totally unrelated note (because segues are for other people), I have just recoded the entire gallery page and have folded it into the indexes and now there is a Printable Paper Doll Index page which links to all the printable series and individual dolls. If you click on the image on the page it will take to to either the blog post devoted to the paper doll or to a separate page with the PDF’s and PNG’s to print on it. I’d love to hear what people think of the change.

Commercial Fisher: Printable Paper Doll

Technically, it’s just past midnight here in Illinois, but its still Monday in Alaska, so I think she still counts as on time.

When I was a child, the we’d go out for a few weeks each summer and commercially fish for salmon and halibut, so I wanted it to be accurate beyond my own memories. Commercial fishing is some of the most back breaking labor I have ever done. It’s hard work, but you can’t beat the views. When I was 16, I was offered the choice of working for the summer fishing or finding a job.

I found a job.

marisole-commercial-fisher-paper-doll

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

My mom actually requested this paper doll a few months ago and it took me a while to decide what exactly to include on the sheet (Hi mom!). So, we have Marisole, with coloring as close to a self portrait of me as you’ll ever get on this blog, and she has a wardrobe of proper fishing clothing from her heavy duty dark green rain gear (overalls and a jacket) to her bright orange rubber gloves for baiting hooks and cutting fish. She comes with a small Pacific Halibut (slime not included) and a King Salmon, though neither looks as good as I wanted it too. She also has a gaffhook, a gutting knife and a little green tin of bag balm to wear under her gloves.

The cold storage we sold our fish too was in Hoonah, Alaska and it gave away baseball caps. I still remember my father walking around in his jeans with his bright pink Hoonah Cold Storage cap on his head. I had one for years, but I don’t know what happened to it. So, Marisole has one of those too along with some t-shirts, jeans and long underwear. Most importantly, Marisole has her Xtratuff boots which are a required part of any fisherperson’s wardrobe.

Personally, I think she’s prepared for her adventure.

Edit 3/28/2016: There is now a black and white version of this paper doll. Find it here.

Kadeem and Gabriel: Boy Paper Dolls with Suits

So, a few weeks ago before I dropped off the face of the earth, before I ended up sick, and before I discovered what fascinating colors old chicken curry can turn, I had a little drawing to celebrate the 65th Marisole paper doll ever. A wonderful reader known as Kat won by drawing and was so kind as to send me the following guidelines for what sort of paper doll she would like to see for her prize.

I was wondering if I could request a Puck doll. If so, I’d very much like to see him in a suit, so that he can take the gussied up Pixies to their soirees :). No real preference on the colors but I would like a boutonniere.

Now, I’ve never been pleased with the Puck paper dolls, but I was willing to try to make some dapper Pucks for her, so I set to work and it took a lot longer then I thought it should, but sometimes these things do.

punk-kadeem-suits

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}

It might be a few weeks late, but I am proud to provide two puck paper dolls in stylish suits. The first is Kadeem who I think of as a modern young man heading out for a date, though I suppose in his clean cut suits he could also be heading to work or something else. He has two different boutonnieres and a corsage for his date.

punk-gabriel-suits

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}

He’s joined by his good friend Gabriel, a slightly old fashioned gentleman, with a pair of black suits with red ties. Something about double breasted suits always makes me think of the noir movies, so I gave Gabriel an old fashioned hair style and shoes to go with it. Gabriel, Gabe to his friends, also has two boutonnieres and a corsage. If you slit along the dotted line on the suit jackets, the gentleman can wear their boutonniere.

I hope these guys were worth the wait, Kat and now any of the Puck paper dolls are ready for dates. Love maybe in the air.

Kelli- Warrior Paper Doll Printable

It’s late on a Saturday and I have really nothing intelligent to say about this. I sort of dropped off the face of the Earth for a week, which I try not to do on the blog. It’s just been a busy week with house sitting some animals and classes. So, I guess I’ll keep it short and sweet.

pixie-kelli-warrior-paper-doll

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}

Enjoy the paper doll, she looks a bit like a Xena Warrior Princess reject and I hope to be back to a regular posting schedule this next week with Marisole and some actual clothing for Curves 2.0 (I know, hard to imagine) and some new Shadow and Light paper dolls too. And maybe, if I get them finished, some new magnetic paper dolls as well.

Until then, enjoy Kelli, Warrior Paper Doll.

Pixie & Puck: Adalind

Adalind was in the same vein as Blossom and, at least some ways related to, Tones and Shades, Tokyo Meets Georgia and Inspired by Africa of Marisole. I know a lot about historical costume in the western world. I’ve read up on it, I understand it and to tell you the truth I really enjoy it.

pixie-dutchgirl-paper-doll

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}

Despite that, or perhaps because of it, I have found myself drawn to the costumes of other groups. I’ve been reading up on Africa and Asia and the Middle East, but as I did my reading I stumbled across the traditional dress of Sweden and Austria and became interested in it as well. So, Adalind was born out of that interest.

It is funny the complicated routes paper dolls can take from idea to creation.

Curves 2.0 The Beginning…

When I started this blog, the temptation was to name all of my paper dolls after Greek letters. So, there could be Alpha and Beta and Omega and others. However, I decided that they would end up sounding like some sort of strange paper doll SWAT team.

dictionary-girls-paper-dolls-alyssa

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series} {Click Here for The Dolls to Dress}

On an only slightly less surreal note, I have decided to give each of the Curves 2.0 dolls a name based on a letter of the alphabet. So, today we have the first paper doll. Her name is Alyssa. She’s a redhead for I openly confess to having a soft spot for redheads. Her skin looks overly pale on some computers and normal on mine, so I can’t really say much about that. I’ve decided to call the paper dolls “Dictionary Girls” after the idea of “Calendar Girls” which dates from the tendency for there to be pin-ups on calendars.

The plan is to have another paper doll for next week and then some clothing for them the week after so that aren’t running around in their underwear, poor dears.

PS: To everyone who wanted these dolls to be done in the heavily shadowed style of the old Curves sets, there’s another new series starting Friday which will replace Flora and will be in that style.

Happy 4th of July: Two 18th Century Paper Dolls

To celebrate the 4th of July, I thought I would check out books from the library, sit down and set to work on drawing some historical costumes for Marisole set in the 18th century since the Revolutionary War (Or, as the Brits call it, the Rebellion of the Colonies) was in the 1770s. I’ve only done one other set of historical costumes for the paper doll and they were regency dresses (One set one in July and one in August in 2010). This is about as far from the Regency aesthetic as you can get- the French Revolution did have a way of changing fashion, also of decapitating an awful lot of people. Those wiley French.

marisole-18th-century-paper-doll-1

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

So, I’ll confess that when I have to name my favorite periods of historical fashion the 18th century doesn’t get a lot of attention. I’m just not that huge of a fan, but when I was in England I went to the Fashion Museum in Bath and I saw an actual 18th century gown in person. Despite my tendency to dismiss such costumes as too poofy, too over the top, too absurd for my taste, the actual dress was among the most astonishing pieces of craftsmanship I have seen.


marisole-18th-century-paper-doll-2{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print}{Click Here for the rest of this series}

The frustration of drawing historical costumes for Marisole is that her proportions are so darn strange. While I like how she looks, it means that historical dresses (which rely on a specific silhouette) look off. As I drew these costumes, I realized I was going to a have to allow myself to be a little more liberal then my natural leaning for historical accuracy allows and, besides, I don’t really know enough about the 18th Century to be hyper critical of my own work. I won’t say these costumes are historically accurate, I will say they are historically inspired.

Anyway, if you’d like to read more about 18th century costume, I recommend the excellent 18th Century Blog which is full of beautiful pictures and things, as well as, the exhibit Historic Threads. As for books, I used An Elegant Art, Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail and, of course, Patterns of Fashion: Englishwomen’s Dresses & Their Construction, even if you never plan on sewing one of her patterns, this book is worth every penny just for the historical information. Someday, I will own all of Janet Arnold‘s books… Someday.

Enjoy the paper dolls and, for those in the United States, have a great 4th of July.

Edit 8/23/13: One of these paper dolls is now available in black and white for coloring.