The short of it is that we've got a new round robin doll to share with you (there she is disrobed at the left). And with a little extra time available due to the holiday season, I hope to get her posted in her entirety before the New Year. Yay!

The long of it is that this will probably be the end of 19thcenturypaperdolls as you've known it (in case its imminent "end" hasn't been obvious until now). The disruptions in my life have just sucked up all my energy. I thought I would find my way back here after the summer and I thought participating in the round robins would put me back in the spirit of things, but my focus is too divided and clearly my heart just isn't committed.

So after the New Year I will be shuttering this site. I'll leave it up for a while as I decide whether I want to pull it completely. Who knows ~ maybe next spring I'll find the wherewithall to come back to it.

Be sure to stop by one last time to see the final results of this round-robin and thank you for visiting and sharing your comments!

Check it out! Our inaugural Paper Doll Round Robin is a thrilling success with four intrepid paper-dollers coming together across the country to create for you a Happy Halloween Lady of Late Autumn Legend and Lore! Rachel, Toria, Liana and myself all contributed to this spooky fun creation.

If you would like to download this Lovely Lady to color and cut, visit Rachel's website at Paper Thin Personas!  Hope you enjoy!

We have another Round Robin in the works. If you would like to be part of it, leave a message and we'll let you in!

First of all, I can't believe I never posted these, as I have had them scanned since ages ago! I must have forgotten (sheesh). But I guess they are timely since it's now May and we're heading into June. I have two more costumes for Judy from Volume 26 that I will try to post this week and then I'll have to get to work on the next volume!

Also, Weebly has done horrible things with the formatting on here (why do they randomly change a blog style ~ I hate that!). So again, I am thinking of moving elsewhere where I can control my own creative space a little more. I like the convenience of some of the things here at Weebly (and it's a very nice platform for non-designers/non-coders, but I am used to being able to set my own agendas and I don't like when some outside force comes in and "improves" on things you are perfectly happy with in the first place.

And the site just timed out on me AGAIN. Grrrrr.

In better news, I found my Frank Merriwell files (I had dumped from out of Dropbox onto the desktop of my other computer, so yay! They are saved! I am visiting my sister for the holiday weekend, so I won't be able to post the final plates until next week sometime, probably, but at least I don't have to rebuild everything!

April 17, 1897: The title on this one is pretty self-explanatory. I forgot to do his hat again (I owe two hats now). The bicycle on this was such an incredible stretch for me that I quibbled over it for weeks! So that's why it took me so long. I finally just made up my mind to paint something approximating an 1890s bicycle and be done with it. Otherwise it would drag on forever and I'm trying much harder to finish things that I start.

Unfortunately, while all that quibbling was going on, I accidentally deleted all my other Frank Merriwell files (argh! fie on you, Dropbox!). That's the first time I've ever done anything to stupid, and now I have to rebuild everything to make printable plates. I can't tell you how much that stinks. So it may not happen any time soon. In the meantime I thought I would post Bicycle Frank even if he's missing his background stand thing (which he needs to cover his feet). He'll be properly finished in the plate.

September 30, 1899: Here's another one of Frank's non-Yale uniforms for a baseball team. Baseball was America's favorite pastime, but football was getting to be rather exciting as well. While Frank could compete in any sport, he was often depicted in baseball and football games. After these, it was mostly racing: running, cycling, crew, skating, etc.

Basketball was still a pretty new sport at the turn of the century (created in 1891). I've yet to see a depiction of Frank playing basketball, but of almost 900 issues, I've also only seen a limited sampling of covers, so it could be that I just haven't come across one.

No idea what the "M" stands for on this one. A local league, is my guess, since, again. Frank was probably in New York when this issue takes place.

I have a cycling outfit and another set of street clothes, but neither are painted. I may not get to them until next weekend.

December 2, 1899: One of the last issues before the turn of the century, this one depicts the rather interesting sport of roller-skate hockey. I don't know what team Frank is playing for, as this issue comes after he leaves Yale for a spell. No idea what the "V" is for, but aside from the unusual sport, I also chose to do this one because he wasn't wearing a "Y".

I was a bit sloppy on the design of this one. Frank's hockey stick is too short and it ran off the paper. I was going to "correct" these flaws in Photoshop, but then I got lazy (great, right?). All part of my plot to get over my perfectionism (at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it for the time being).

I have one more Frank piece to post tomorrow. There are at least three others I would like to paint, but I don't know if I will get to them before I run out of what's already done.

Tomorrow: batter up!

March 27, 1897: I can't really tell what the sport is in this issue as the picture depicts just a group of boys similarly dressed in what looks like maybe a boathouse having a confrontation. So my inclination is to say this is like a crew uniform, perhaps? Most likely a boat sport of some kind.

Frank has a lot of similar outfits to this: long-sleeved Yale blue knit tops and white shorts ~ basic all-purpose sport clothing. The "Y" is pretty ubiquitous on almost all of these.

Patten, who wrote the series, never went to Yale, but apparently did his research.

November 27, 1897: The Frank Merriwell series was supposed to run about 30 issues. When its popularity exploded, the writer and publisher had to prolong it, so they had Frank drop out of Yale due to financial hardship. By interrupting his college career, they were able to extend it (indefinitely if need be), and in the interim sent Frank on what was basically a whirlwind of international adventures.

He couldn't wear sports clothes while traveling and saving damsels in distress from wild leaping animals, so quite a few covers feature "adventure" or "city" Frank as opposed to "sports" Frank.

Can't tell you much about this particular issue, though I think it takes place in New York, where Frank spent some time working odd jobs before his globe-trotting began. These are street clothes common in the city: a standard men's suit and bowtie. He should have a bowler to go with this, but I forgot to make it. I'll catch up on that another time.

October 21, 1899: The effect of Frank Merriwell's adventures on the desire in young boys to attend Yale probably cannot be underestimated. Frank had a long stint at Yale since he had to drop out due to financial difficulties for a spell (mostly this was a ploy by the writer to extend his college career as long as possible).

This particular issue focused on a sport at which Frank displayed his excellence time and again: running! Nothing complex about running clothes back then. Shoes were not the highly sophisticated, over-engineered marvels that they are today, but the science of sport was definitely underway. While football and baseball had not quite caught on to the cleat (I forgot to mention this on the football post yesterday), rubber was being used on running shoes.

Couldn't tell from the cover I used as a reference this whether the colors were just faded or if that "Y" on the shirt should have been dark blue (Yale's blue). I decided, since I had a number of "Y" outfits for Frank, to vary the blues a little, just to keep it interesting.

November 13, 1897: Frank has a football story. It's probably not his first, but I am not posting these things in any particular order. Contrary to what I said yesterday, the title of this one is a variation on the typical "Frank Merriwell's X", but it's close enough.

The picture I was using to create this costume was not especially good, but I did make one glaring accidental omission (which I literally did not realize until I came to post it): I forgot to put on his shin guards! Football before the turn of the century (and well into the early decades) was pretty brutal business. Players wore padded vests and pants, leather shin guards, and eventually leather shoulder pads (this costume has some shoulder padding). Players did not wear helmets.

I might go back and add the shin guards, or I might just be lazy about it. Not sure why I forgot to put them on.

I have not read many of these stories, so I can't tell you particularly what this issue is about, but I am fairly confident Frank wins the day honestly despite some unsportsmanlike effort from his opposition.