A Little Mermaid in the 1830s

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To end the month of Mer-May, I wanted to share this Little Mermaid paper doll. As you probably know, the Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen is the classic tale of a mermaid who becomes obsessed with a prince, gives up everything for him, ends up in agonizing pain until he marries someone else, nearly kills him, kills herself, and gets to spend 300 years doing good deeds for humans, so that she might someday win a soul to go to heaven.

Most illustrated versions of the tale I’ve seen place the story in a orientalist fantasy setting, but I wanted to draw on fashions from around 1837 when the story was written. So, the paper doll’s dress is based on this dress from 1837, this dress from 1833-1837, plus this dress from 1837-1839. Her hair is from the early 1830s and I love those silly hair styles. I used this fashion plate. Despite appearances, it’s actually simplified.

The men’s outfit references a line in the story where the Prince has a page outfit made for the Little Mermaid, so she could ride with him. My paper dolls’ riding costume is based on this coat from 1830 to 1840 and this suit from the 1830s. Though the cut is a bit more regency than it is 1830s and the boots are very regency, I confess.

The knife with the paper doll is the one that the Little Mermaid’s sisters trade their hair for to try to save the Little Mermaid’s life by having her stab the Prince to death. By the way, if you’ve never read the original, I think you should. It is not the Disney tale most people think of.

If you’d like, I do have a lot more mermaid paper dolls. Check out my Mermaid tag and another Jewels and Gemstones Mermaid, if you’d like more mix and match mermaid options.

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Collaborative Paper Doll 2018

A black and white pair of coloring pages with a paper doll and a mermaid outfit from paperthinpersonas.com.

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Just like last year, Julie of Paper Doll School, Boots of Popculture Looking Land, and Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls and I are all creating another collaborative paper doll for 2018. Just like last year, each month there will be a different paper doll theme.

Today’s paper doll base was drawn by Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls. I drew my own face and head. For the hair, I was inspired by Boots paper doll Genevieve’s hair . It’s a way of drawing hair I used to do more of and I really like how it looks for a black and white paper doll. So, I thought I would explore it for this 2018 Paper Doll Collaboration.

The theme for January was “Favorite Fairy Tale.” I confess that while I drew a mermaid from The Little Mermaid, it is not my favorite fairy tale. My favorite fairy tale is actually The Twelve Dancing Princesses or possibly East of the Sun, West of the Moon. And then I also adore a lot of the fairy tales written by Oscar Wilde… Anyway, picking a favorite fairy tale is clearly not easy for me. 

However, the moment I saw the base doll Missy had drawn, I knew I wanted to make her into a mermaid. Something about the dolls long lean shape just reminded me so much of  mermaids. So, I thought the Little Mermaid was a perfect fairy tale choice.

Meanwhile, go check out the other paper dolls and fairy tales from Paper Doll School and Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls.

Vasilisa the Beautiful Paper Doll Costume for the Poppet’s Fairy Tale Series


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Vasilisa the Beautiful
A paper doll costume for Vasilisa the Beautiful to print and play with. The traditional Russian outfit includes a sarafan and blouse with a headscarf and boots. She even has a tiny matryoshka doll.

A printable paper doll costume for Vasilisa the Beautiful fairy tale. The traditional Russian outfit includes a sarafan and blouse with a headscarf and boots. She even has a tiny matryoshka doll. Color her anyway you like.

If I had to pick a favorite fairy tale (and how could I ever do that?) than Vasilisa the Beautiful would be in the top two or three. I’ve always loved Russian folklore and this tale is a wonderful one. It has Baba Yaga and skulls with glowing eyes and a matryoshka doll that talks.

What more could a person ask for?

Actually, I think my love of the tale comes from the lavish illustrations of Ivan Biliban. As a child, my mother gave me a book of Russian folktales with his amazing illustrations. So, it was probably the pictures that first drew me to these stories, but there’s something really magical about his work.

Vasilisa the Beautiful is a tale I had mixed feelings about illustrating for the Poppets, as the heroine is a grown woman rather than a child, but since I did Rapunzel (and Rapunzel gets pregnant) I though it would be okay.

The paper doll costume for Vasilisa the Beautiful that I designed is based on traditional Russian clothing. She wears a sarafan over a blouse. Here’s a lavish version from The Met. The headscarf was inspired by matryoshka dolls who you often see wearing them.

She has, of course, her own matryoshka doll as an accessory. I didn’t draw more than one, because one seemed enough.

When I was a child, my mother had a handmade set of matryoshka doll’s that came from Russia when it was the Soviet Union. They were precious to her and I remember playing with them as a child. I’ve always wanted a set of my own to display.

Anyway, I hope everyone has been enjoying the Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme series for the Poppets.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel Let Down Your Long Paper Doll Hair


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Rapunzel
My Rapunzel paper doll is printable and has a long braid of hair. Her skin is a soft brown color and her hair is darker brown. Her dress is two layers in darker and lighter teal. She has matching shoes.

My Rapunzel paper doll is printable and has a long braid of hair.

The Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme series continues today with a Rapunzel paper doll. Certain fairy tales need a doll to really share them. After all, Rapunzel is only Rapunzel if she has super long hair.

After some technical debate about how to mange the super long hair, I decided to make the braid a separate piece, so that it could be pasted to the back of the head. That way you an easily slip the tabs around the paper doll’s body.

One of the challenges of depicting fairy tales is the overwhelming presence of Disney. If you search for images of Rapunzel, the images from the Disney film Tangled overwhelm all other depictions.

The last thing I wanted to do was copy Disney and I don’t really like their version of Rapunzel, so I decided there was going to be no pink in my version.

My Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes board on Pinterest to see the non-Disney related images I used to inspire my version of Rapunzel.

The Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme series contains a lot more storybook characters. There’s currently six paper dolls and outfits in the series, but I have a few more waiting in the wings.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Poppet Paper Doll Here.

The Poppets As Little Red Riding Hood


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Little Red Riding Hood

A Little Red Riding Hood paper doll costume to print and play with. One of dozens of fairy tale paper doll designs from paperthinpersonas.com.

A Little Red Riding Hood paper doll costume to print, color, and play with. One of dozens of fairy tale paper doll designs from paperthinpersonas.com.

Today’s paper doll dress is part of the Poppet’s Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme Collection where I draw designs for different fairy tales. Today’s tale is Little Red Riding Hood. I knew from fairly early on that I would want to create a Little Red Riding Hood outfit. I don’t really feel like I need to recap Little Red Riding Hood, as it is a pretty well-known tale- girl goes into woods, girl meets wolf, girl gets eaten.

Depending on the version you read, that’s how it ends. Little girl and grandma devoured by wolf. In most modern tales, there is a friendly Woodcutter who saves the day, but in the early versions of the tale there was no Wood cutter.

The woods, in Little Red Riding Hood, are generally treated as a metaphor for growing up or recognizing a space where the rules of civilized society fail to function. The play Into the Woods takes this metaphor and really runs with it.

This is actually one of my favorite designs I’ve done so far for the Poppet’s Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes Poppet paper doll series. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to create a reference to the Woods in the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

So, I created this trim on the bottom of the hood to reflect the deep dark woods. Because of the shape of the hood, I designed floating tabs to be attached to the back of the hood to hold it onto the doll.

Her boots are a reddish brown leather and her dress is cream and inspired a little by the children’s illustrator Kate Greenaway.

Of course, you can see the other tales I’ve illustrated in the Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes Poppet paper doll series tag. If there’s one I haven’t done that you would like to see, let me know in a comment.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend here in the United States.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Poppet Paper Doll Here.

The Poppets Dress up as Gretel of Hansel and Gretel


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Gretel of Hansel and Gretel
A paper doll Gretel costume from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel featuring a brown jumper, blouse, bloomers and stockings. The paper doll costume can be worn by the Poppets paper doll series.

A paper doll Gretel costume from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel featuring a jumper, blouse, bloomers and stockings. The paper doll costume can be worn by the Poppets paper doll series.

The new addition to the Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes Poppet paper doll series is a Gretel costume from the tale of Hansel and Gretel.

Recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812, Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister captured by a cannibalistic witch living deep in the forest in a house made of candy and gingerbread. The two children save their lives by outwitting the witch and their own cruel parents.

The story is, like a lot of fairy tales, a bit dark.

When I was working up my list of fairy tales, I had not intention to originally include Hansel and Gretel. It’s just not a fairy tale that I really love.

However, it is a fairy tale with a child protagonist and a pretty strong female character, as it is Gretel who pushes the cannibalistic Witch into the oven.

So, it seemed like a fitting on to do.

I wanted to use the colors of ginger bread in this Gretel costume, so I stuck with brown, cream and red. The edge of her skirt is decorated with gingerbread men and peppermint candies, mostly because I knew I could draw them.

The shape of the jumper is based on braces used with lederhosen. I don’t know a lot about Bavarian clothing, ain’t gonna lie, but I’ve always liked the suspenders/braces that go with lederhosen.

Please think about donating through Patreon, it really does help. Plus you get access to the behind the scenes blog, here’s two I’ve opened to the public- sketchbook photos and Some Stuff about my Process.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Poppet Paper Doll Here.

Poppet Paper Dolls Play At Snow White


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Snow White
A Snow White paper doll printable with a dress, apple and shoes. Free printable in color or black and white from paperthinpersonas.com.

A Snow White paper doll printable with a dress, apple and shoes. Free printable in black and white to color from paperthinpersonas.com.

One of my long term projects this year has been drawing fairy tale and nursery rhyme inspired Poppet paper dolls. You can find them all under the creatively named Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhyme Poppet Series. Today, there is a Snow White paper doll. Other fairy tales I have been working on are Hansel & Gretel and Little Red Ridinghood. I’ve already posted Little Bo Peep and the Princess and the Frog (though I did that one long before I started the series.)

In some fairy tales the look of the main character hardly matters, but Snow White is not one of those fairy tales. The 1857 edition of Brother’s Grimm contains the tale of Snow White and it opens like this:

“Once upon a time in midwinter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from heaven, a queen sat sewing at her window, which had a frame of black ebony wood. As she sewed she looked up at the snow and pricked her finger with her needle. Three drops of blood fell into the snow. The red on the white looked so beautiful that she thought to herself, “If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood in this frame.”

It seems somehow wrong to create a Snow White paper doll without giving her super pale skin, black hair and red lips. Her skin isn’t actually white, but it is fairer than any of the other skin tones I have ever done for the Poppets. So, she won’t be sharing shoes that show flesh with anyone.

For her dress, I wanted to show some of forest elements that are so integral to the story, hence the trees and butterflies. In the 1857 version of the tale there are three attempts on Snow White’s life.

The first is with a bodice lace (like a shoe lace but for a corset) that is laced so tight it strangles her. The second is with a poisoned comb and the third is the apple attempt. I did not draw a comb, but I did was to give my Snow White paper doll a lace up bodice to reference that first attempt.

Of course, the 1857 version also ends with Snow White and the Prince torturing the Evil Queen to death with red hot shoes. As usual, older Fairy Tales are a trifle violent and rather dark.

Meanwhile, if you want to support the blog, then think about donating through Patreon. If you’re not sure wha the behind the scenes blog posts are like here’s two I’ve opened to the public- sketchbook photos and Some Stuff about my Process.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Poppet Paper Doll Here.

A Little Bo Beep Paper Doll Costume for the Poppets Paper Dolls


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Vintage Little Bo Peep Illustrations Like This and This

A fun Little Bo Peep activityin the form of a Little Bo Beep printable paper doll costume in color or black and white. Fits any of the Poppet paper dolls.

A Little Bo Peep Activity Printable For Kids- A Paper Doll Costume

While I have abandoned my sets, I haven’t really given up the whole themes for paper dolls idea. The truth is that I like themes. They help me keep my head on straight and they give me something to draw when I don’t know what to draw.

At the end of 2016, I asked my Patrons what they would like to see in 2017. I got requests for fairy tales from several of them. Well, fortunately, I already had plans for introducing a Poppets Paper Doll year long Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme theme.

This might last longer than a year, but I am aiming for a year. Who knows? I can be fickle.

I am starting the series it this Little Bo Beep paper doll printable. It’ll fit any of the Poppets paper dolls, of course. Most, if not all of us, known the nursery rhyme Little Bo Peep. The version I remember goes like this:

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
and can’t tell where to find them;
leave them alone, And they’ll come home
wagging their tails behind them.

I knew I wanted to do something that felt a little vintage and old fashioned without actually being historical. The nursery rhyme was first published in the early 1800s, but the exact age is unknown. I wanted to be traditional in my depiction of Little Bo Peep. Also, I got to draw lots of tiny sheep.

You can check out my Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes board on Pinterest to see some of my inspirational images. Plus, there are hints at a few other fairy tales and nursery rhymes I am planning to feature over the course of the year.

Which brings me to my next point, is there a fairy tale you’d like to see the Poppets get an outfit from? Let me know in a comment.

Meanwhile, if you want to support the blog, then think about becoming a Patron or liking it on facebook.

Mostly, I am using Facebook to share stuff from the Archives, but there is something specific that you’d like to see on the page, let me know in a comment. I am very new to Facebook.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Poppet Paper Doll Here.

Flock Fairy Tales: Oriole as Morgiana from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

morgiana-outfit-combinationsLike a lot of kids, I grew up surrounded by fairy tales. Long after I was “too old” for picture books, I would settle down in the fairy tale section of the children’s department of the library and devour version upon version of my favorite stories. I was fascinated by the variables of each story and how they would change and how they were illustrated.

Today, in what maybe the last of the Flock Fairy Tale series (or at least the last one I have planned), we have Morgiana from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. In case you’re wondering why this is the “last” of the fairy tale series, it is because I am out of Flock magnetic paper dolls. Starling, Wren, Phoebe, Oriole, Dove and Swan is the whole family. So, either some of them get more than one fairy tale or I need to drew some more friends to join them.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is an interesting tale for a lot of reasons. It doesn’t have any known origins in Middle Eastern sources and the earliest text version is French. The tale was added to the story collection One Thousand and One Nights by the French translator, Antoine Galland, who called his volumes Les Mille et Une Nuits. Gallad’s work was published in several volumes between 1704 and 1712. There has yet to be found a legitimate Arabic or other textual source before Gallad’s version. (Interesting fact: Gallad also added the famous story, ‘Aladdin’ and there are no known versions that predate his version either.)

Whatever debate might be had of the “authenticity” of the tale, the story is at least three hundred years old and certainly has a strong female character in the form of the slave girl Morgiana. Morgiana not only ends up stabbing the last of the thieves to death, but outwits most of them. I won’t summarize the whole thing here, I like these two versions of the tale, but there are plenty of others around.

morgiana-flock-fairytale-paper-doll
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I confess that I didn’t make a t-shirt for Oriole as Morgiana, not for any specific reason, just because I forgot. However, she does have a book (unlike Cinderella who I forgot to give a book). Her wardrobe is mostly based on belly-dancing clothes and has, of course, a little bit of a steampunk neo-victorian vibe.

morgiana-flock-fairytale-paper-doll-clothes
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So, it may not be obvious but all the fairy tale flock paper dolls are done with a base color scheme of about a dozen or so colors. The idea from the beginning has to been to have a fair but of mix and match options, though- as it has been pointed out to me by a few friends, some sets mix and match better than others.

I keep meaning to do a sort of “filler set” of just clothing pieces without any specific fairy tale in mind which would give more clothing options in more solid colors for the flock fairy tale magnetic paper dolls, but it keeps getting pushed onto the back burner. Perhaps if I write it down, it will force it a bit more towards the forefront.

If you’ve missed any of this series, they are Robin as Cinderella, Starling in East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Swan and Dove as Snow White and Rose Red, Wren as Little Red Riding Hood, and Phoebe as Rapunzel.

On that note, I am kinda sick, so I best go back to bed.

The Princess and the Frog: A Paper Doll Costume

poppet-princess-frog-logoI love fairy tales. I have always loved fairy tales. I have fond memories of, far past the point of being able to read complicated books, sitting in the library reading picture books of fairy tales. I love the lavish illustrations, but I also like reading many different versions of the same story. These days I still like doing that, but now I like learning why and where the different varients of Cinderella or the Twelve Dancing Princesses come from.

Today’s paper doll set is an ode to one of my favorite fairy tales. The Frog Prince or The Princess and the Frog, depending on which version you read. A princess loses her beautiful golden ball down a well and a frog retrieves it for her only if she will marry him. She agrees and then backs out of her promise. The story goes from there.

In the end, I think the moral is supposed to be “keep your promises” or “don’t judge on appearances”, but it could also be, “don’t drop your precious golden ball down a well.”

poppet-princess-frog-paper-doll-bw poppet-princess-frog-paper-doll-color
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Disney did an interesting adaption of the tale recently, but I will always picture the Princess how she was drawn by Walter Crane in the Frog Prince. Walter Crane is one of my favorite children’s illustrators. I was inspired by the pseudo-renaissance look for my own paper doll’s costume.

So, there is a frog, a golden ball, and a beautiful gown for the Princess. I am not much an animal artist, but I did my best to make my frog cute and palm sized. I always thought the Princess in the Frog Prince was a little spoiled, but then I suppose that’s just how fairy tales go sometimes.