19th Century Paper Dolls

I am pushing myself to try to overcome my fear of color with timid results so far. I had really wanted this to be a blue coat with a red vest, but just couldn't do it. At the last moment I opted for the much safer grey. Neverthless, the results are encouraging (click on the picture to see a larger image).

There's nothing quite like having a finished piece to look at; makes you feel pretty accomplished, even if you've chickened out on what you set yourself to do on some level. At the very least, painting these pieces has got me back into the "mode" of painting (and so I have overcome a little bit of that rustiness that sets in between projects).

You may notice (or not) that this is a new body for James. I just couldn't deal with the other one. It was too anemic-looking and too clothed! You'll see below that the new body is less dressed and a good deal more hairy (eeek!). But I guess I have always imagined James to be rather a manly-man in this regard and so I'm much happier with the result, though painting the hair was sort of weird (not bad for a first try, though).

I also painted a sort of poet's shirt with a French collar (not common in America, yet) and a glass of brandy. The brandy came out great (it's not well-reproduced here in the small scan), but the shirt is rather ill-fitting (I didn't measure properly. So I'll either fix it or make a new one.

Oh, and I love the shoes here. Most of my other characters either wear the same shoes (or type of shoes) or their shoes are covered by skirts, etc., so it's fun to give James some interesting and different shoes. These could be dress shoes, but just as likely might not.

The whole outfit hearkens later Victorian, though the coat style was popular from the 70s to the 90s. The cravat is older-style (as early as 40s), but it's the style James favors. Also, the hat is more 50s-60s, but it's the hat James wears pretty much ever-after the Civil War. But because of the coat and on account of the shoes, which are a more particular late-style, I'll call this ensemble late 80s.

The image below shows the arrangement of the painting on the actual page. I tend to squeeze things in where I can so to maximize the paper.

I had wanted to post something Halloweeny yesterday, but couldn't muster the enthusiasm to find a paper doll in costume (though I had a couple in mind who are wearing masquerade ball gowns ~ nothing too exciting anyway, so it's probably just as well.

Instead, today, in commemoration of All Saints, I'm sharing one of the most famous of the 19th Century saints of the Roman Catholic Church: Saint Therese of Lisieux, who was also called the "Little Flower" (you can read her story and see images of her at the Patron Saint Index if you click her name). The artist is Patricia Anderson Milan, who has done a handful of saints in paper doll form. Unfortunately, these appear to be out of print, but you can still find copies floating around.

There are a good number of things I love about these dolls. They are made for young children, so they are large, bright, and extremely easy to cut out (all of the dolls and dresses are very simple shapes, making most of the clothing interchangeable between characters (an added bonus). Also, there are just so many of them! This set includes Therese as a child and an adult, her sisters, aunt, uncle, cousin, parents, friends, and even her dog. The range of clothing includes school clothes, everyday wear, Communion dresses, and numerous habits of her religious order. Although the artwork is somewhat crude, it's got a handmade charm you can't get from super-polished work (with which I have a love/hate relationship). And because they are so easy to cut and handle, the set really does encourage play (more complex sets can seem too fragile or have too many very small pieces).

Click on the images to see more details. The overall quality of these dolls make them worth every penny.

Meanwhile, I actually have been working on making clothes. I just haven't had much energy to scan and post anything. As usual, I am at that place where suddenly I dislike my own creations rather intensely. I tend to get bogged down at this stage. Everything comes to a grinding halt. Why continue making a doll I dislike?

I will continue to muddle.

I am still organizing content to fill here, but hello in the meantime!  I am using this first post to set up the tagging feature. It's my goal to add new content at least twice a week, so even though this probably won't be a "daily", I hope you will subscribe to the RSS Feed and check back regularly!

One of the things I hope to focus on here is paper doll men, which I think are highly underrated and underrepresented in the paper doll world. So while you can expect to see an array of beautiful dresses, expect to see even more frock coats, military uniforms, and other contemporary occupational wear.