I finished the Edwin Booth doll (more or less ~ there are a few details I may fiddle with before I call it "done, done"). I chickened out with a number of decisions, including painting his Hamlet costume properly (whoever designed that evil thing should be beaten soundly).
I am pleased, however, that at the last minute. I decided to give him some boots for Richard the Third (I just couldn't stand to see him standing there in bare stockings!). They came out really well, so that was a definite unexpected plus. I am still considering doing a second page with his costumes for Iago and Richelieu, but for now I am content to be finished with it. I expect to submit this to the Paper Doll Review, but I still have two days to chicken out of that as well!
Eventually I will post this doll in her entirety, but I just finished her face and was excited about how well it came out, so I wanted to share it. The picture here is enlarged somewhat so that you can see the detail. The actual heads are less than an inch tall. Tom Tierney's presidents series is probably my favorite of all of his works for one major reason: with the various presidents as the focus of the books, Tierney is forced to come up with actual fashions for them! In too many of his other books, the male dolls seem to be secondary to the women and many of them have no dressing clothes (with the exception of, perhaps a hat). I love the presidents series because no matter what, they have to have outfits right alongside their wives, children, etc. I thought it only fair that I share some humble paper doll beginnings with you (in the interest of posterity, I suppose). More often than not I tend to destroy the dolls I create. I couldn't tell you how many have wound up being torn up and tossed out. but I have managed to hold on to one or two (or at least the costume parts of them ~ sometimes I am less critical of the clothes than of the dolls themselves). I don't understand why no one's made a movie about Edwin Booth. Maybe that's a good thing knowing the tendency to turn amazing historical stories into rubbish, but I think America has enough perspective at this point (and enough talent and technology) to do it up right. And what a story! Maybe it's just too depressing. I admit I get depressed when I think about him. But so far as pathos goes, his life's got it all: deep dark tragedy, true love, lost love, fame, fortune, dereliction and despair. The 19th century was dominated by the reign of Queen Victoria (and so is considered for the most part, the "Victorian" Era). Much as I like the term, it brings to mind a particular style for most people: the fashions of the "High Victorian" era, namely large bustles, high collars, and lots of neck jewelry ~ popularized by the beautiful Princess of Wales Alexandra (later Queen Consort to Edward VII), actually. When you think about the range of fashion throughout the century (Victoria was crowned in 1837 and died in 1901), calling everything "Victorian" can sometimes feel a little pointless, so I have opted to stay away from the term for the most part in favor of the American époques which break down into smaller, more defined sets of years/styles. 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! |
Paper Dolls Downloads
The download gallery has been closed indefinitely. You can still see posts related to each character by clicking their name in the list under "Categories" below. Categories
All
Archives
December 2012
|