Full Color

Drop Waisted Dresses… Paper Doll Clothes

I love how drop waisted dresses look on paper dolls, but lord knows I can’t wear them. Putting a line right across the widest part of my hips isn’t exactly my idea of a flattering look. Still, the wonderful thing about paper dolls is that they don’t complain, so I don’t have to worry about what they think about things.

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{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}

Emily Clarke Studio is a paper doll blog which I stumbled across recently. The artist is skillful and it updates regularly. She doesn’t just have paper dolls to play with, but also uses paper dolls as a occurring motif in her art which I think is pretty darn nifty. All in all, I’ve been impressed by her work and I enjoy her site. Others should check it out as well, though I confess I don’t know how printable her paper dolls are.

So, unless some miracle happens, there won’t be a Friday post, because I have school things to be doing I’m afraid. Hopefully things will settle into a stable routine in the coming week or two and I’ll be able to actually get on a regular updating schedule.

At the Big Gala: Black Printable Paper Doll

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to all those in the United State who, like me, get the day off. I’m spending mine doing laundry and getting ready for classes, but hopefully other people are having more fun. Marisole is all dressed up for a big gala this week. I confess that my schedule for this coming semester is looking crazy and I don’t know how much time I’ll be able to devote to the blog, but we’ll see how it goes.

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

So, my father is trying to get me to create some magnetic paper dolls to sell. I’m not so sure about the idea myself, but he’s convinced that in the tourist heavy summers of Juneau Alaska that they would be a hit. He’s promised to do the research, if I draw the paper doll. My question to all those grandparents who read this blog or parents or anyone else who buys gifts for children (or themselves, lets be honest here) how much would you pay for a magnetic paper doll, neatly packaged with an Alaskan theme (assuming you’re in Alaska to begin with, mind you). Five bucks? Ten? I’ve seen them on Etsy for as much as 30 dollars, but I can’t imagine anyone paying that amount (I certainly wouldn’t). How much would you spend?

Edit 4/6/2014: This set is now available here in black and white for coloring. Yay!

Iksha: A Printable Paper Doll

So, this is up a little later then intended. I wanted to do a sort of belly dancer fantasy set, and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I think I went through about six color schemes before I settled on this one. It’s not quite what I wanted, but it’s a lot better then the purple and blue version (trust me on that one). When I was a kid, I had a friend whose mother was a belly dancer. I thought that was a most cool exotic thing ever. I’ve never belly danced though- perhaps I will someday.

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

On a semi-unrelated note, The Black Apple is offering this wonderful Winter Girl paper doll download. If you’re not familiar with her art, Emily Martin has also produced on commercial paper doll book called The Paper Doll Primer. I haven’t bought it yet, but its on my list of things to purchase. I love the whimsical, but not cute nature of her paper dolls. I’m a huge fan of whimsey and I’m not a huge fan of overly cute.

Oh and there’s a new poll on the side bar for people to vote in. I’m thinking about what to add to the blog over the next year, so there are some options listed there. I can’t promise I’ll actually do what wins, but it’ll probably help push me in some direction. (I have a half finished tutorial on how I color paper dolls sitting in a folder and it’s been there for almost a year.)

Peter Pan Collars and Polka-Dots: Paper Doll Dresses

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{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}

So, I didn’t think these dresses for the Dictionary girls paper dolls would get done tonight. I barely finished the paper doll dresses up in time to post them before midnight. I’ve been drawing a lot of paper dolls lately, but those dolls haven’t been making the jump from my sketchbook into the computer very well. It’s not a time thing, though I did just get back from my trip, but rather something else. I’m not sure what…

Still, I’m happy to have managed to get this up tonight. I’ve been neglecting all the paper doll series lately on the blog (except Shadow and Light, but truth be told I had those posts drawn and reformatted before I left, so the time is lessened considerably). I should probably put together a list of things to do for the blog for the new year, but at the moment I can’t think of much. There’s always post more regularly, but I’m not sure I’d pull that one off even if it went on the list. What would other people like to see done around here?

New Free Printable Magnetic Paper Dolls for Hanukkah

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Four of the six free printable Flock paper dolls are shown above, posing on my refrigerator
So, this was supposed to go up yesterday, but life got busy with travel.

Still, better late than never we have a new set of printable magnetic paper dolls in time for last minute gift giving (four of them are pictured above- my printer decided it really really didn’t want to keep printing magnetic sheets after I got through these ones, so the other two are waiting). As you can see, they have taken over my freezer door. In response to suggestions from some readers, I made the new Flock magnetic paper dolls larger for smaller hands to easily handle. There’s nothing specifically Hanukkah about the design, but I thought mermaids were a fun and fairly universal.

Anyway, I just bought a tin for my Flock paper dolls at the dollar store during a round of last minute shopping, though due to their larger size I recommend either printing one out on regular printer paper to take with you for sizing purposes or bringing the printed magnetic doll with you. Yes, you might get some funny looks (I did), but its good to know the paper doll will fit. When I was out tin shopping, I found these framesless magnetic whiteboards from Micheals for less then five dollars a piece. They will free up my fridge for important family photos and reminders.

Now, if you want to do something a little more festive (and who doesn’t?), Make it and Love it has this wonderful tutorial making magnetic paper dolls and then using on a cookie sheet for a play surface. She even show how to make a cover for the cookie sheet with fabric. The idea of covering the cookie sheet with fabric is ingenious. For kids, a magnetic cookie sheet might be the best option- it’s got a ridge around the edge to hold the pieces in place and they could play with it on the floor.

Just remember, that not all cookies sheets, tins or white boards are magnetic and the stronger the magnetism, the easier and better the paper dolls work. One of the reasons I like printable magnetic sheets over stick on magnetic sheets is that they seem to be stronger magnets.

The Flock Magnetic Mermaid Paper Doll Set

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Our first Flock set consists of six dolls, six pairs of shoes, There is also a set of tails and a set of dresses for when the mermaids are on land and not in the ocean.

 

The Mermaid Set PDF Downloads

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Dove PDF Download Oriole PDF DownloadPhoebe PDF Download
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Robin PDF DownloadStarling PDF DownloadWren PDF Download
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Dresses PDF DownloadTails PDF Download

 

 

New Full Color Paper Doll Named Mara

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{Click Here for a PDF of the Paper Doll set to Print}{Click Here for a PNG of the Paper Doll set}

If this were a dating game show, I would describe Mara as a charming young woman with a love of flowers and long walks through the woods. Since this isn’t a dating game show, as far as I know, I think I’ll just stick with saying that Mara is a one page paper doll with a wardrobe of nine pieces that can be mix and matched to make up 18 different combinations.

In case you’re wondering how I got to that number, the calculation looks like this:

((Number of Tops * Number of Bottoms)+ Number of Dresses)*Number of Shoes= Outfit Combinations

It gets a little more complicated if you add in jackets and other layering pieces, but usually it works out well and, of course, it doesn’t consider things like how well the pieces match with each other. Yes, I might be a little OCD to have come up with a formula for calculating paper doll wardrobe options. (Only sort of math I can really imagine doing…)

Later or tomorrow, there will be something fun and new for the first day of Hanukkah (a holiday no one likes to try to spell) which starts tonight at Sunset.

Candy Coated Couture: Printable Paper Doll

I wanted to play around with bright colors and when I play with bright colors, I like to use a darker skintone on the paper doll. I think it looks lovely with the bright greens, blues, pinks, oranges and purples which make up this set. Colors inspired, I confess by those runt candies. Remember those? I loved Runts when I was a kid.

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

Candy Coated Couture’s skin tone is the same as Book Loving Princess, so they can share shoes- should you feel the need to give the princess some rocking multi-colored platforms. (Who doesn’t need rocking multi-colored platforms, I ask you?)

There probably won’t be a Dictionary Girls update this week, because I don’t have one ready and I’m traveling on Wednesday to visit family for the holidays, there will, however, be Shadow and Light up on Friday and a one-shot paper doll to make up for the lack of Dictionary Girls.

Edit (10/7/2013): I just posted this paper doll set in black and white, so if you want to color her- now you can!

Pencil Skirts and Other P Things: Paper Doll Clothes

First things first- These are not historically accurate.

Now, I must say I do love skirts. I’m beginning to learn how much I love them in the last few months. I’ve started wearing them a lot more and I am really enjoying it. Pencil skirts are wonderful, because they are simple and easy and go with everything. Of course, I don’t own a crazy purple one (though I did really want a green tweed one until it was pointed out that it went with nothing else I own).

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{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}

As with all of the Dictionary Girls paper dolls, the color of the stand should match up with the paper doll whose skin tone will match the shows and the color of the tabs match the hair to the doll they are intended for. The hair styles are more interchangeable than the shoes, due to that pesky skin tone problem.

These shoes and wigs are intended for Alyssa and Chiharu . I still feel like they need a larger wardrobe before I begin to make more dolls- though I would like to make a brunette with blue eyes soon, but that will have to wait until finals are over- so sometime next week.

Folkloric Fairytale: Fantasy Printable Paper Doll

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{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 is brought to you by the illustrations of Ivan Bilibin and Russian fairy tales and this random blog post I found of some fairy tale fashions from 2009. Also, the letter F.

I’ve also posted three new pages of clothing for the magnetic Marisole paper dolls. One is a page of fantasy clothing and the other two are historical sets of clothing. I will be posting a new magnetic paper doll set later this week which should be exciting. 🙂 If anyone wants to print out the magnetic paper dolls, this is a great time of the year to find cheap tins all over the place. I’ve seen them at Walgreens and the Dollar Store.

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.)

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{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.

Coffee, Stawberry and Cream: Printable Paper Doll

goldenSo, I did this paper doll set once before, well… not this set exactly, but a very similar paper doll set called Mint and Roses. Now the idea was to try a similar color scheme and see if I liked it better. I think I do. I traded the grey for a dark chocolate brown (which has a lot of blue undertones) and the green is less muddy. On the whole, I think this set works better, though I sort of miss the orange hair of the other paper doll.

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

Things are up a little later tonight then I had planned. I have been fighting with the United States Postal Service lately about if I do or do not exist. They think I don’t exist. I swear I do exist. I’ve called them twice now and spoken to them in person once. I am getting ready to leave a nice little note in my mailbox for my carrier assuring him or her of my continued residency. I should add that I actually love the USPS. They do amazing things. They get mail across this country in a remarkably short period of time. They are amazing.

Anyway… on an unrelated, look its a paper doll. She’s cute. She has a really puffy skirt.

Prudence: Paper Doll with an Afro

I really am quite pleased with my paper doll Prudence. Her skin tone, like Kadeem’s and Gabriel’s skin tones, was based on my recent searching around for skin tones on the web.

After a few weeks of looking and collecting, I have over 50 different swatches, but I am working on narrowing that down to a manageable number- probably 10 to 15. The truth is that a lot of them are so close in color, I don’t think there would be a visible difference once they were printed anyway.

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{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’s rare I produce a paper doll that I can’t find anything wrong with, but Prudence is pretty close. I lover her glasses and her vintage wardrobe and the color scheme turned out better then I imagined it would. Her hair didn’t come out quite as I had planned it (afro’s are hard to draw), but I’m still pleased with how it looks.

Personally, I would pop her into her cream dress and put her on a date with Kadeem or Gabriel for a night on the town. Or maybe slip her into something more fancy and have her strut down the red carpet (I’m sure Roxanne or Yasmine would be happy to share). In fact, if you don’t like any of those options, there’s a black and white version of Roxanne and you can color any color dress for Prudence that you think she needs.