Announcements

Introducing the New Series: Jewels & Gemstones

At the end of 2017, I decided to retire every paper doll series I’d had and work on developing a new series. My original plan was to make that series one doll, lots of clothing. In the end, I chickened out and made three poses. So, Dames and Dandies wasn’t one doll with lots of clothing. It was three doll series all of which were to scale and stylistically connected.

The New Paper Doll Series: Jewels & Gemstones doll on the left and some sketchbook pages on the right.

So, as 2018 came to a close, I started thinking seriously about two things: What I wanted in 2019, why I hadn’t gone with my first instinct in 2018 anyway and how important a curvier paper doll was to me as an artist and to people I knew.

From those thoughts, the new paper doll series was born. It is one doll pose. Each doll will be named after a different gemstone/rock. A big thank you to my Patrons for helping me pick a name for the series.

Sketchbook pages, penciling and Opal in Photoshop.

My goal for the next three months (that is until March for anyone whose counting) is to post five days a week. Every Monday through Thursday there will be a new paper doll outfit or doll posted here on the blog. On Friday, there will be an exclusive doll or outfit for my Patreon backers at the 2 dollar and up level. You can join Patreon here.

On the blog on Fridays, I’ll be sharing a round up from my own archives around a theme or from a series that never got such a thing. So, for example, I might gather up all the punk paper dolls or fairy paper dolls or redheads or something. I have over a thousand posts on this blog devoted to different paper dolls. I know my archives pretty well and I want to share them with you.

If you have any questions, thought, or whatever, please feel free to ask me in a comment or on any of my social media- Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

A Pre-Thanksgiving Thank You to My Patrons

In December of 2015, I looked at my finances and realized if the blog was going to continue and grow, I needed a better way to pay for the operating costs. I keep my paper dolls free to print, but that doesn’t mean the site is free to run. Thanks to the generous donations of my Patrons I have been able too do the following:

  • Get a real professionally designed theme. The site looks SO MUCH better and the code is so much cleaner. And if I have issues, there’s a professional company I can ask.
  • Upgrade my server subscription and improve site performance.
  • Actually consider hiring a programmer to help make the site SSL secure (still researching this process, but it’s a bit beyond my skill set).
  • Run daily backups of the site. I haven’t needed these yet, but so much peace of mind. I hope, by the way, I never need them.
  • Back in 2016, I had a hack rerouting some of my URLs. This was far beyond my ability to fix, but thanks to my Patrons I was able to get it fixed, which cost several hundred dollars, and have that company install and monitor a firewall. That way it won’t happen again and if it does, they are available to help.
  • Use social media organizing soft wear to try to find new readers and make my art accessible on other platforms like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. I work full time. I can’t be manually posting to social media. I’m no “Social Media Guru” but I do know that there are people out there who might love my paper dolls and they maybe on something like Instagram far more than they are on the regular interwebs.

I realize that not everyone can donate and I believe in the importance of my art being free. I function on the NPR model and the hope that if you have a few bucks and you love the blog that you might step up and help cover the expenses. It’s not required, but it is gratefully accepted.

So, I thought I would take this week of Thanksgiving to say how thankful I am to everyone who has donated a little and to share the link to my Patreon page if you would like to donate as well: Donate to PTP Here

Best,

– Rachel

Hiatus Until June 25th

All right, I thought I would clear the end of the fiscal year without too much trouble, but travel and work has reared it’s head, so I am pausing things here to build up a strong buffer of content to coast (I hope) though the rest of the year.

There will be updates on my Patreon page while I work on this. Some public, some Patrons only.

As always, thank you so much for all your support.

– Rachel

Hiatus Until December 11th

Hello all. So, I will be on a break until December 11th when my semester ends. AsS some of you might remember, along with being a full time librarian, I am also getting an additional Master’s Degree in Education.

It’s final project crunch time at my school and so I am focusing on school work right now.

(Plus, Wednesday’s paper doll was literally the LAST thing I had finished and ready to go.)

I shall return on the 11th, full of vim, vigor and paper dolls I hope.

Until then, I hope everyone has a great first week of December.

Best,

– Rachel

Haitus Until October 17th

Haitus Until October 17th Banner

I don’t like working up against a deadline. Sometimes, deadlines are liberating, but feeling like you “HAVE” to do something isn’t really a great way for me to work creatively.

Having said that, I have had a flea bombing, a washer overflow and a lot of things in my life last week. I decided the best thing I could do both for the blog and for my mental health was to take some time off.

So, this is me taking a week off.

Now, I’ll still be active on Twitter @paperpersonas if you’d like to say Hi or see what I am up too.

See you all in a week!

Going Back to My Roots…

roots Lately, I have been loathing the blog.

Okay, okay. I know that sounds a little melodramatic- cue the violins, but seriously, it has been a slog for me for the last year.

I’ve been trying to sort out why.

I started this whirly-gig of fun back in 2008. I had just graduated college. I was single, living alone in Alaska, and working two jobs to make ends meet. In the evenings, I came home to my apartment (which was one of the nicest apartments I have ever had) and drew paper dolls.

I’ve been trying to sort out why I did that. Why I started this.

Here’s the story I normally tell people:

In 2008, during a long cold Alaskan winter, I got addicted to a blog called Liana’s Paper Doll Blog and I decided to start my own blog inspired by hers. It was a way of passing the time in the cold and dark.

There’s the problem with that story. It doesn’t address the “why” I did it.

Because it sure as heck wasn’t to make fame and fortune.

For nearly three hours last Saturday, my boyfriend and I discussed the blog. He asked me tons of great questions about why I started and what I liked. The whole conversation started with me stating, “I’m going to delete the blog.”

And him saying, “I don’t think you really want to do that.”

Why I Got into this Blog in the First Place…

  1.  I have a compulsive need to finish my work. Just drawing is not enough. I need to feel like I have “completed” something and the blog closes that loop for me
  2. In an effort to be more mainstream, I have diversified my content; however, I really didn’t get into this to write tutorials on how to draw or to talk about historical costume (though I love those things), I got into it to draw paper dolls.
  3. My readers don’t get to dictate what I do, so I should so what I want to do and if it pleases or displeases people, they can get over it.

So, things are going to change on Monday.

The New Plan Is….

Each Monday there will be a doll posted from one of my series and an outfit. Every day for the rest of the week, there will be another outfit or accessories. On Friday, I’ll post a round-up with another outfit and links to all the proceeding outfits.

The next week, I’ll do it all over again.

I hoping this new format will get me excited again about doing what I made the blog to do: Draw paper dolls.

It also removes the pressure of layout work which is actually one of the most time consuming parts of the paper doll process.

Process posts will continue, but they’ll be posted on my Patreon page. If you love the blog, than please consider supporting it. Shocking as this may sound, there are quite a lot of expenses involved in running this site.

And while I don’t know for certain that this new plan will cure my ennui about the blog, I can say this: I have been excited to draw for the first time in what feels like a long time and that has to be a good sign.

This is actually the format I had for the first two years of the blog, before the crash in 2009. It feels both good and a little strange to be returning to my roots like this, but I’m excited.

I hope y’all are excited, too.

And Then Everything Changed….

Having run the blog for six years, the time has come for some changes. So, things are going to be shifting around here. Please be patient while I get it all sorted.

Here’s a few things you can expect:

1. Monday’s are now paper doll days!

Every Monday, there will be a free paper doll. Sometimes, it’ll be a Marisole Monday & Friends paper doll. Sometimes it won’t, but every Monday there will be a free paper doll. 

The truth is that the current schedule is NOT sustainable. I have come to realize that. So, I have deciding that going from 76 paper dolls a year to 52 is a logical first step in lowering my stress and maintaining my sanity. 

2. More Diverse Content

One of the things my month long break taught me was that I am simply getting a bit bored with paper dolls.

Now, I want to return to another passion- sewing dolls & doll clothes. So, I am going to use this blog as I used it many years ago to hold myself accountable to my art, I am going to use it to hold myself accountable again to my sewing. 

This  is a strange new journey I’m heading out on. I hope you’ll join me. 

meet_jack
As sewing will be coming to the blog, allow me to introduce: Jack the Seam Ripper. A good friend of mine who will, I suspect, make a lot of appearances here.

3. A New Patreon Scheme

The Patreon system is undergoing some changes. I haven’t got all that sorted, but “watch this space” as they say. 

4. A Continued Commitment to Regular Posting

I have learned so much from running a blog. I have learned, not just about drawing, but about SEO and Social Media and engagement. I have learned wonderful things. I am committed to keeping the blog updating regularly. And that isn’t going to change. 

I am happy to answer questions about these changes if anyone has one.