Mini Maidens Archives • Page 2 of 8 • Paper Thin Personas

Mini-Maidens’ In a Medieval Fantasy Paper Doll Dress Coloring Sheet

July 26, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: 12th Century Clothing, Sort of, but Not Really

When I just feel like “generic fantasy”, I tend to fall back a lot on medieval looks. Sort of Lord of the Rings inspired, really. I think knights, castles, princess, dwarves, and dragons are all things I associate with classic fantasy.

It’s also a style I was asked for more of by several of my Patrons. I like to draw it as well, so I am happy to oblige.

I gave her a book as an accessory, because every paper doll should have a book. Besides, as a rare book librarian, I love drawing historical looking books.

Mini-Maiden paper doll dress coloring sheets I think are more fun if there is some pattern involved. While this might not be the most complex pattern, I really thought it added some beautiful depth.

The shoes are vaguely based on some from the book Stepping Through Time which is a wonderful book on historical footwear. It’s arranged by type of shoe construction which makes it a little confusing, but it is an amazing work.

Anyway, the shoes aren’t from any specific period. I just wanted to mention that book, because books about historical footwear are oddly hard to find.

Tomorrow, there will be some Ms. Mannequin designs and then on Friday, there’s this month’s paper doll collab 2017 outfit. Be prepared for spikes.

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

Mini-Maidens Visit the 1770s

July 19, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: This Dress From the 1770s, This Dress from 1775-1780 and This dress from the 1770s

Today’s Mini-Maiden paper doll dress should have maybe been posted on the 4th of July since that is Independence Day, but I decided to hold off on it. I’m not sure why exactly, but I did. So now, I am posting it on the 19th of July for really no reason, except that I really love 18th century clothing.

Often when I created historical pieces, there is a specific piece I am recreating. I choose a dress that I love and then I draw it. That was the case with my 1820s morning dress for example, but today’s 1770s gown is much more an expression of several gowns from the era. This dress, this one and one more all from the 1770s are some of the source images that I combined. Check out my 18th century pinterest board for way way more examples of clothing from this era.

Because I did not use just one dress, there is a a lot of room for error. It is highly possible that someone from the 18th century would look at this dress and think it was way off for reasons I can never know.

Clothing is full of tiny nuanced rules. Most of these are never written down and are now lost to us on the whims of time. Mostly, I’ve come to accept this as part of the creative process. I’m never going to be perfect.

Perfect, I am fond of saying, is the enemy of good.

I can however been well researched. In the interest of that, I wanted to mention that Dover has just reprinted the book, Eighteenth-Century French Fashion Plates in Full Color edited by Stella Blum. This is a great book that I have been wanting for a while. So, I just ordered my copy and while I get no benefit from the link above, I wanted to mention it in case anyone else has been wanting this book.

Should I do more 18th century stuff? I have been thinking about maybe a riding habit. Thoughts?

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

Mini-Maidens as a Paper Doll Warrior Woman

July 5, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Xena: Warrior Princess

As you know if you read this blog, I love Xena: Warrior Princess and I am not about to stop loving Xena: Warrior Princess anytime soon.

So, here’s yet another Xena inspired warrior outfit with more exposed skin than common sense dictates.

I realize that there are some Xena-esque outfits in the new Wonder Woman movie (which is a super fun film), but I drew this long before saw it. I can’t claim any relation between this and that, but I am glad to see a return to absurd armor as a concept.

It’s really very pulpy. I suspect if you really wanted, you could trace a lot of this back to the pulps of the 1930s and 1940s. I am reminded of the Flash Gordon paper dolls I have seen.

And obviously, everyone should want Flash Gordon paper dolls.

I suppose my point is that there is nothing new under the sun and everything is constantly being revamped and recycled.

This recycling is part of why I love collecting reference images on Pinterest as much as I do and why I added the “Inspired By” to the tops of every post. I want people to know that rarely do these thing just “happen”.

I took a poetry class in college. The professor remarked that if you wait around for inspiration to strike, you’ll spend a lot of time waiting and you won’t really spend much of it creating.

In fact, I find I am at my most creative when I already am creating. Sure, everyone needs breaks, but often I find that once I start drawing for one series, other ideas flow much better for me.

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Mini-Maiden’s Paper Doll Sci-Fi Dress & Serious Boots to Print

June 23, 2017June 23, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Dark Matter and My Sci-fi Fashion Pinterest Board

So, when I drew today’s printable paper doll outfit, I thought to myself, “Man, those are some serious boots.”

And I think I like the serious boots.

I love sci-fi shows. Currently, I’m watching Dark Matter. I started Dark Matter a few weeks ago and I just about done with season 1. It is a good paper doll drawing show- engaging, but not so complex that I can’t look away from the screen for inking purposes.

The costuming, however, is uninspired thus far. It’s a lot of very basic pieces and I find myself wishing for a little more interest. I suppose it is more realistic, but then I’m honestly not sure.

Is the assumption that people would be wearing basically what we wear today in the far future really that realistic? I mean, this is what people were wearing a 100 years ago. Certainly not what I am wearing as I type this blog post.

(In fact, any self respecting Edwardian would be scandalized by my sweats and over-sized t-shirt.)

The truth is that science fiction is more about the present than it is about the future, but that’s true about just about every art form on the planet, I suppose. Still would like some more interesting costuming though. Any shows out there with really stellar costumes I should check out?

Anyway, I had fun designing this strange dress. It was partly inspired by my Sci-fi Pinterest board, but mostly just kinda a random fun piece.

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Greta’s Ancient Greek Fantasy Gown

June 12, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Ancient greek fashion

Today’s paper doll is a black and white Ancient Greek inspired Mini-Maiden doll. I chose Greta to be the model for today’s Ancient Greek fantasy gown, though of course it will fit any of the Mini-Maiden dolls.

Her hair was also inspired by Ancient Greek styles, but her shoes were totally not.

I worry about strange things on the blog sometimes, like making sure every paper doll series has equal attention.

There are 52 weeks in a year. There are six paper doll series. That means there are about 8.6 dolls going to be posted per series. Since I don’t know what a .6 doll would look like anyhow, I have to round that to 8 for some series and up to 9 for others.

The truth is though, since I have done at least one all doll week (started on May 8th) I don’t really think my careful planning is going to create evenly balanced numbers of annual dolls per series.

Though I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t created a chart at the beginning of the year in a vague attempt to do this.

What can I say? I am a librarian through and through.

In my head, I categorize the fantasy dresses I draw based on their basic inspiration. There are medieval inspired gowns (like this one), renaissance inspired gowns (like this one), and Ancient Greek inspired gowns, like today’s Greta doll’s gown.

Further evidence of my tendency to categorize things.

And now that I successfully demonstrated what a strangely obsessive human being I am, I’d love to know what you think about today’s Ancient Greek fantasy gown. Leave me a comment if you’d like to share your thoughts.

Need a more outfits for today’s Mini-Maiden Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

The Mini-Maidens Go Adventuring in Steampunk Fashion (Plus, There’s a sword)

June 6, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Fantasy Steampunk Styles

So, I’m not really sure how to categorize this outfit. It could be steampunk, but it could also just be a fantasy adventuring outfit. I think the puffed sleeves lean me more towards steampunk, but the sword is sort of a fantasy swashbuckler accessory.

Anyway, whichever way you chose to categorize today’s paper doll creation, I think it is pretty cute. I had a lot of fun with impractical straps on the leggings.

Along with impractical legging straps, she has pouches on her belt to store all the sorts of things one needs to store- chapstick, money, pocket knife, hedgehog, whatever.

Her sword is a saber style. I have been trying to branch out in my sword styles, but I’ll confess that I’m not much of a sword expert. I mostly just search Pinterest for interesting looking stuff and go from there.

I decided to make her boots button up, rather than lace up, because at the time I was feeling steampunk. After I finished the outfit, I was less sure about the genre.

So, I haven’t mentioned it in the a while, but the blog has a Facebook page and if you would like to see regular updates from both the blog and the massive blog archives, go like it and such.

Open confession: I am still learning how to use Facebook which at my age is kinda embarrassing, but I am doing my best.

Meanwhile, let me know in a comment what you think of today’s paper doll outfit, I always love to hear from y’all.

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

A Rockabilly Inspired Paper Doll Coloring Page

May 25, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Delaney, a Paper Doll From 2014

After you’ve created as many paper dolls as I have, I find I sometimes “forget” that certain paper dolls exist until I am going through my own archives for some reason. Part of the fun of the Facebook page is picking out older paper dolls to post each month, because I get to go back and see things that I barely remember or that I remember and think happened a lot sooner than I recall.

So, one I stumbled across was my Pixie printable paper doll named Delaney. She was a sort of sweet and punky paper doll with a little but of a vintage edge.

Using those same themes, I created today’s outfit for the mini-maiden printable paper doll series.

I am not totally pleased with how the pattern came out on the dress, I think the spacing is pretty poorly done, but I liked the concept at least.

And I think her boots are super cute.

The whole thing feels very rockabilly to me, but perhaps not to everyone. I confess that’s a style that I sometimes don’t feel like I totally understand.

If you want to color this to match Delaney, then I would go with pale blues and pinks, but I also think a black and red scheme could be really pretty. It is totally up to you, which is, I suppose, the point of having black and white paper dolls.

And, as I announced yesterday, there’s a new paper doll coloring sheet for purchase in my Etsy store. Check it out, if you haven’t (and there’s a color version, too.)

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

Mini-Maiden’s As a Superhero

May 17, 2017May 17, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Superheros! And Stars!

The Mini-Maidens are getting their first paper doll superhero costume. I chose a star as the symbol and create the staff/wand to be her signature item. You can decide if it is a weapon or just a stylin’ accessory.

I have a love hate relationship with the superhero genre. On one hand, I really enjoy exciting movies that require only limited brain power. On the other hand, I struggle with the common lack of repercussions in the genre. The total destruction of New York is pretty common (sometimes it is Chicago) and rarely does anyone pause to ask if the ends justify the means.

Not to mention the fact that there’s a high level of sexism in the genre with female superheros regularly depicted in way that are designed to entice men rather than empower women. And I can’t recall the last superhero film that actually passed the Bechdel test (anyone know?) and so I find that the feminist in me struggles with the genre as a whole.

Nevertheless, last year superhero costumes outsold princess costumes at Halloween, so clearly there’s a cultural shift in this direction. While some of my friends are excited, because superheros they see superheros as less problematic than princesses, I am not sure I agree. Both are problematic in their own ways, but I want to create paper dolls the reflect the world around me and the world around me is full of superheros.

Plus, my patrons the Steger Family asked for them, so there’s another reason to create some more.

Still, I’ll probably always have mixed feelings about superheros.

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

Faye as a Printable Mermaid Paper Doll

May 10, 2017May 10, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Mermaids! Because I like Mermaids… & My Patrons Asked for Them

Several patrons asked for more fantasy things in 2017, specifically non-human races. So, mermaids!

In a strictly practical sense I have no idea why mermaids would wear clothes. In the ocean, that hardly seems to provide easy movement around the ocean and I tend to be of the view that since modesty is a social construct defined differently by various cultures, I don’t really see why mermaids would have the same concept of modesty as we have in the modern Western world.

In short, I don’t think mermaids would wear clothing if they actually exist.

However, since I am in the business of drawing paper dolls, not writing a thesis on the socio-cultural assumptions that underly how mythological creatures are depicted, I decided to draw clothing. After all, without clothing, mermaid paper dolls are just kinda dull.

I actually really enjoy drawing mermaid paper doll tails, but they take a little bit of work. They are only of the only things that I always draft full-sized before I try to draw them on the nice sketchbook paper. The reasoning is how easy it is to get the curve of the tail wrong and then it looks like it is broken or off. Plus, you have to cover the whole dolls legs which takes some extra work.

I chose Faye to be the mermaid today, because I haven’t done a Faye paper doll in a while and she was the first of the Mini-Maidens, so I think she deserves some love.

I mean, I haven’t done one since November 2016.

And that’s all I have to say about today’s mermaid. Tune in tomorrow for the first of a pair of Sprites paper dolls and probably not another post in which I’ll get to write the phrase “socio-cultural assumptions that underly how mythological creatures are depicted” which is a pity.

As always, I love to hear what y’all think of today’s paper doll. So, let me know in a comment.

Need a more outfits for today’s Mini-Maiden Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

A Printable Paper Doll Fantasy Outfit Inspired by Turkish Dress (And Accidentally by a Movie)

May 2, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Turkish and Persian Clothing and This Picture on Pinterest

So, I rarely draw things that are as close to the reference image as today’s paper doll fantasy outfit. I saw this picture on Pinterest and I really liked it. I later realized that this it is basically Kiera Knightly’s costume from Pirates of the Caribbean: At the World’s End. I was almost ashamed that I drew it after that, because I really dislike that film.

Still, once it was done and saved and ready to go, I didn’t want to just abandon it, because it was based off an awful movie costume. The costume is okay I guess, but the film is just so bad. Anyway, I decided I should just get over it and treat it like any other paper doll creation.

So, a little background- the coat in the picture and in this paper doll is based on a traditional Turkish clothing from the 19th century. Here’s an example from The Met, another one from The Met and a Victorian era rendition of the same garment.

There are, of course, a lot of differences between my version of the caftan, the biggest being that it closes all the way up to the neck. This was not how women really wore them back in the 19th century, but that’s what fantasy clothing is for, isn’t it?

I couldn’t see the bottom of the picture, so I decided mine was a gown and the wide leather belt and layers of armor were likely decorative. The paper doll’s boots were my attempt to draw upturned toes on shoes such as these ones and were another nod to Turkey.

What do you all think? Good paper doll outfit? Bad Movie? Thoughts? Let me know in a comment. I love to hear from you all.

Meanwhile, if you want to support the blog, then think about becoming a Patron or picking something up from the Etsy store.

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

Hazel’s Runway Ball Gown for Glamorous Printable Paper Doll Events

December 6, 2020April 17, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Evening Gowns and Boots’ Paper Doll Series Catwalk Couture

I think one of the great benefits of the internet is that it has created a world where people are willing to share their work. I try to visit all the active paper doll blogs I am aware of and comment on them as much as I can.

I love seeing what other artists are working on like Julie’s amazing bunny project from last week and Miss. Missy’s super cute Easter paper doll.

Boots has been working on a Catwalk Couture paper doll fashion series where she has been drawing the designs of some of the great contemporary designers. I was inspired by her work to create an evening gown that could have come off the runway.

I was heavily influenced by the designs of Marchesa one of my favorite evening gown designers.

Hazel’s hair is based on this beautiful natural hair up-dos like this one and this one. I’m worried it looks less like a natural up-do and more like a turban, but maybe I’m just being hyper critical.

Since I am not black, I always feel a little self-conscious when I draw things like natural hair styles.

As always, if you love the blog and want to help it stick around, think about becoming a Patron, following or liking it on Facebook, telling a friend about it or leave a comment.

Need a more outfits for today’s Mini-Maiden Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

A Paper Doll Coloring Page of A Walking Dress From 1824

April 11, 2017April 11, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Fashion plate From 1824, published in Ladies Pocket Magazine in January and boots like this and this.

Today’s printable paper doll outfit is and 1820s dress, specifically a winter walking costume from about 1824. I don’t know why, exactly. It’s a fascinating decade and the fashions change very quickly. I think I sometimes find it a little too “frou-frou” which is odd given my love of the 1870s. If there ever was a “frou-frou” era, that would be it.

This 1820s dress is based on this fashion plate. The original featured a muff the size of a small pony, but I decided to omit the muff because I couldn’t figure out how it would stay on the paper doll.

I have been trying to practice my bonnet drawing skills. I am slowly getting better at them. They are surprisingly challenging to draw, but are such a critical part of 1820s dress.

Along with the walking costume and matching bonnet, I drew a quick pair of simple boots from the period, examples similar to these are here from the Met and here from the V&A.

You can see more examples of early 1800s dress on my Regency Pinterest Board.

Oddly enough, I haven’t done any other Regency/Empire historical clothing for the Mini-Maiden paper dolls. So, that might be something worth working on in the future.

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