Today, though I am (and I promise) working on some dolls of my own, I wanted to share with you a lovely 1860s doll by artist Karen Reilly. She is a German bisque and originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of Doll Reader, but is now available as a free download from the Doll Reader web page.
I'm settling into the evening with my own work on my lap. It is entirely possible I might have something to share in the coming week. I know, nobody hold their breath!
I thought I would take a moment to promote a couple of other sites out there that I really enjoy and that feature paper dolls in 19th century fashions. The first is Annas klippdocksblogg from artist Anna Forsén. The blog is in Swedish (which unfortunately I cannot read), but Google translator can give you at least a vague impression of what she's writing about. Still, you don't need it to enjoy her artwork! Anna creates mostly Regency-period dolls (19th century, right?), and they are wonderfully colorful (oh how I envy!). And she's incredibly prolific too (more to envy!). Click here to also see her website! Fleming's work is very nice and they are presented in .pdfs for ease of downloading if you want to play with them. Her period details are wonderful. My favorite are the dolls from the 1870s (click on the sample to the left). These dolls are all colored digitally and Fleming talks a little bit about her process on her website. I'm always delighted to find paper dolls by artists other than Tom Tierney. Not that I don't appreciate Tierney's work (and especially since he's so prolific and has created so many cool 19th century-era dolls!). But I enjoy different styles and enjoy the distinctive qualities each artist brings to their own work. This is Adrienne, a "fashionable lady of 1864" and her wardrobe is based on designs that originally appeared in The Lady's Friend, which was a journal for women produced in Philadelphia in the 19th century. The nice thing about Stall basing this on contemporary magazine fashions from the era is that she included some footnotes regarding the various pieces of clothing and where they originally appeared in the magazine. Very cool idea! Robert Todd Lincoln gets the Tierney treatment in Abraham Lincoln and His Family. This has got to be one of the stranger set of paper dolls on some level: the Lincolns didn't exactly have a happy household; Lincoln was assassinated, Tad died young, and Robert and his mother parted ways rather bitterly over her erratic (insane) behavior. I'm surprised there's no inclusion of Willie among the boys (Why not? What's one more dead Lincoln?). Maybe it's just my own morbid mind that conjures these thoughts. There were a number of paper doll artists in the 19th century and a handful of them were famous (like Rafael Tuck), but it was refreshing to me to be introduced to a woman whose work was never published, who painted for the sole amusement of herself and her niece, and who left behind a wonderfully detailed extensive collection of paper doll families done in watercolor. Pretty impressive! If that isn't enough, much of her work was double-sided, showing the fronts and backs of the clothing, and wonderfully detailed (shoes, accessories, hats, etc. ). She had a whole miniature little world of her own. On top of which I really love the vivid colors. After 100 years, these dolls look practically newly-painted! Since I returned from Costa Rica (hence my lack of updates since August), I have had many distractions. While the beach is conducive to relaxing and having fun, it's not so great for drawing, so I didn't get much done. Upon returning I had a number of other projects and family business to see to, and that has taken me away for the whole month of September! Now that I am back however, and more or less recovered from the travel (which always makes me lazy and stupid for a good while after), I am trying to get back to work. So I am forcing myself to update this blog. 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 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! |
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