middle east inspired

Belly Dancer Costume for my Paper Dolls

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Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll
When I was a kid the mother of a good friend’s cousin (talk about strange connections, huh?) was a belly dancer. When I was eight or nine, we had a sleep over at their house and tried on a bunch of her mom’s belly dancing stuff.

I was a chubby kid and I remember being so surprised that this older woman (who was not skinny by any means) would be willing to put on a bra and skirt and dance at all.

It was a strange idea- that there was a sort of dancing that didn’t have to be done only by skinny people. At the time it felt empowering, though as an adult, I realize that empowerment is complicated by institutionalized racism, sexualization of Middle Eastern women, and a whole lot of Victorian orientalist baggage.

Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll
I don’t know much about actual belly dancing costumes and I’m not an expert on their history. I looked up belly dancing costume sites like Belly Dance.com and Belly Dance Digs. I did want to include finger cymbals which are also called “zill”.

Specific Source Images: Coin bra’s like this one and this one

Learn/See More
On the Blog: This is my first ever belly dance costume! But here’s More Jewels & Gemstones Paper Dolls
Around the Internet: Wikipedia on Zill, a fascinating history of belly dance, an article on appropriation in belly dance and an equally interesting response to said article
Last Thoughts
I don’t know a lot about belly dance, but I know enough to know that there’s serious issues around appropriation, sexualization, racism, orientalist fantasy and such in the whole thing. I went back and forth about posting this outfit, but in the end, I chose to share it.

Why? Because my rule has always been not to post anything with sacred religious meaning. None of my research suggested that there was religious meaning in belly dance costumes, unlike, for example, Native American regalia (which often includes holy symbols) or Catholic nun habits.

In case you’ve ever wondered why I don’t have any nun paper dolls, now you know.

Tomorrow on Patreon there will be a medieval inspired princess paper doll for my Patrons. Join now and you can check her out too!

I want to do more dance costumes. Any suggestions? I’m thinking maybe Irish step or a classic tutu.

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

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Turkish and Persian Clothing and This Picture on Pinterest
A black and white printable paper doll fantasy outfit based on 19th century Turkish clothing with a caftan coat, plus boots from paperthinpersonas.com.

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.

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.

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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.

Jinn in Some Bright Colors

logo-marisole-jinn-paper-doll-full-colorIf I was going to give out a prize for “set I colored the most times”, I think this one might be in the running for winning it. I think I went through four or five color schemes with this set.

I’m still traveling, so today’s post is a little late. I rather forgot it was Monday which tends to happen to me when I’m away from work and busy. I hope everyone had a lovely Easter sunday. I watched two little girls with matching Easter dresses ride their bikes up and down the street and concluded that they were, very possibly, the cutest things I’d seen in a long time.

Plus it wasn’t raining and that rarity in Southeast Alaska is a welcome change from the usual.

Meanwhile, we have our Jinn now fully colored with bright orange skin, blue hair and a colorful wardrobe. As I mentioned above, I went through quite a few different color schemes before I decided that I liked this one.

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To be entirely honest, I am still not sure I totally like the colors. I find the more complicated patterns that outfits have than the more confusing the color schemes become. Plus our Jinn has orange skin, which doesn’t really help in the coloring arena. I wanted to keep her copper colored skin and blue hair, as Jinn are supposed to be made up of smokeless fire and scorching heat.

This maybe the only post this week. I might manage another one. I just don’t know for sure yet… travel can be exhausting.

Jinn in the Desert: A Paper Doll in Black and White

logo-marisole-jinn-paper-dollIn my head, I imagine today’s paper doll as a companion to my Marauder princess paper doll from… wow, last year. That doesn’t seem so long ago. Time flies when you’re drawing paper dolls, I suppose.

Today’s paper doll was inspired by the Arabic folklore creatures called Jinn (or Genies). According to some sources, Jinn are made up of smokeless fire and scorching heat and they are sentient, like humans and angels. Jinn appear in many fairytales and folktales from the Middle East including the most famous to my readers, I suspect, which is the genie in Aladdin. Though there are some stories of Jinn granting wishes, this doesn’t seem to be something they do outside of fairytales.

I decided to give my paper doll a separate tail piece which is meant to be glued to her back once she’s been cut out. I thought it would be easier for the variety of clothing options which you might want to dress her up in. Her clothing has nothing terribly Middle Eastern about it, but that’s neither here nor there. As often happens, the resulting doll has wandered far from the source material.

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One of the things I really do like about today’s paper doll is the number of outfit options. With seven tops and four bottoms and two pairs of shoes, she’s got over 56 different outfit options and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Oh, and before I forget, I did manage to get my email notices up and running again. If youve already put in your email than you should being receiving a notice when the site updates. If you haven’t gotten a notice and you think you should, please email me (paperthinpersonas (at) gmail (dot) com) and I shall see what I can do. If you want to receive a notice, just type your email into the box on the sidebar and you’ll be added to the list.

Maurader Princess Paper Doll in Color

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Margot, Maurader Princess has returned.

And this time, it’s personal…

Okay, so it’s no more personal than last time, but I was trying to be dramatic.

Whenever a friend of my comments to me in the real world about my blog updates, I am sort of shocked. I forget that people you know.. read this and they also, you know, know me and they might actually have opinions.

Not that I expect them to. Most of my friends are male and most of my male friends are probably just don’t really care about paper dolls to begin with, though they are supportive of my hobby and for that I am grateful.

So, I am running a contest to name the new paper doll series. You can enter until Friday when I’ll choose my favorite as a winner and the winner gets a custom paper doll, so that should be useful incentive. Plus you’ll receive highly limited fame amongst a small, but dedicated audience.

Maurader Princess: Paper Doll Coloring Page

Today we have Margot and apparently she’d decided to become a brigand and rob from either the rich or the poor… though robbing from the rich does have the advantage that they have stuff unlike the poor who are, generally, poor. I wanted to call this set pirate something, but I didn’t want to use the word pirate, so I went in search of a synomyn and came up with maurader. And yes, I was thinking of Xena: Warrior Princess when I added the word princess to the title.

marisole-marauder-princess

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I know I’ve mentioned my weird love of that show on this blog before. Speaking of shows I like, I did see the latest Grimm episode on Friday, during which I did draw paper dolls, and while I enjoyed the show, I was struck with how exposition filled it seemed. I thought it was sort of weak. I hope for better things soon enough.

I feel like this Margot paper doll could be friends with my Gypsy Rose who exists in black and white and color. It’s weird to me to think that I posted that set just under two years ago. I can see a lot of things I still need to improve and a few things that have improved.

So, it’s pretty late on Sunday as I write this and I really should be getting into bed since once I start talking about my TV show watching habits, I know there’s a problem. By the way, did anyone else see the new Grimm episode and what did they think?… or you can comment on the paper doll. That would be cool too.

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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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.)