Rather than continue to dither over what to start working on for the continuance of this blog, I just decided to jump into another volume of Judy, the London serio-comic journal. And rather than build on the previous doll who is looking a little tired to my eyes after two years, I drew a new model for this new volume. I skipped a couple of volumes in between, also, because I was trying to match up the seasons and volume 30 is a January-June volume, so it fits with the coming spring.

For reasons I cannot explain (nor comprehend myself, frankly), I consistently reduced the size of the original doll and clothes when I plated them, so even though this new one is drawn exactly the same size, the two are not compatible. If I can work up the energy to re-plate the old doll, then they should match. Sorry for the weirdness. I am trying to be more mindful of these things going forward.

Between these black & white dolls and the black & white dolls of my other paper doll blog (Comic Book Chronicles), I feel like I am being a lazy cheater. I want to do some color work here too, just still working out the details of the subject matter, etc. In the meantime, I will try to post at least a new Judy plate every week for the next five weeks.

This is probably the first paper doll I ever created deliberately to share with a wider audience. I painted this in 2008 (which doesn't seem that long ago, but is ages), and it was printed in OPDAG's Paper Doll Studio. At the time I intended to be really serious about making paper dolls and whatnot. Then things went a little sideways. Back then I thought this was pretty great. Now I think it's just okay: Edwin in costume for Richard III (I believe; with the boots and hat/goatee), then his most famous costume for Hamlet; and finally an everyday suit and hat modeled after a painting by Sargent from the 1890s.

Edwin Booth's life story is one of incredible tragedy and heartbreak with phenomenal highs and lows. There's stuff about this guy's life that you couldn't make up in a story and have people believe. My interest in him came through his more notorious brother for whom I also drafted a paper doll. I never got around to painting it, however, as someone somewhere made me self-conscious that it might be in poor taste. I don't know why I cared, but I listened to them and scrapped it.

Anyway, thought you might enjoy this one "from the vaults" as I don't believe I ever made it available online back in the day. I will put this one and the rabbit in the gallery anon (as they say in the Shakesperean tongue).

I came across a couple of die-cut advertising paper doll outfits from Hood's Sarsaparilla on eBay (check out that link to learn more about this "medicinal" company's history and see some great examples of their wares). They were just too good to pass up! So I threw a little bunny together to wear them (they were only the suits, no doll). The Victorians had a thing for anthropomorphism and there's something very charming about animals all decked out in 19th century finery; a contrast that just isn't as compelling as your average "furry" these days. 

So here's a one-pager quickie just to keep things going while continue to stew about what I should work on next. Click on the image to download a printable .pdf. And yeah, I confess to being pretty lazy with this. I couldn't even be bothered to give him a hat or some carrots. I guess that's the interactive part: it'll be your job to accessorize!

The original coats are in somewhat rough shape (as would be expected of ephemera that's been kicking around for about 115 years). They likely date from just around the turn of the century, somewhere between 1898 and 1905, I've guess. For my Gentleman Rabbit, I repaired the collars (which should be tucked behind the doll's neck), and also the big crack on the morning coat (on the right). Click the image below to see more detail on the original unmodified outfits.

While I am trying to figure out what project to start posting here to this blog (of my own original paper doll art), I will continue to post some collection reviews. Today's is of Norma Lu Meehan's Little Ladies of Fashion, which I received as a gift for my birthday last year.

Meehan often does work based on historical museum collections and this one is an amazing collection indeed ~16 stunning paper doll costumes of 16 gorgeous dresses. Even more fascinating is the collection these designs came from, which is a doll collection owned by John Burbidge, which you have to see to appreciate. Check out THIS pinterest account to see the actual dolls (amazing!).  The dolls are 29 inches tall and were used to model new fashions for ladies (so the details were very intense). Meehan does a superb job capturing those details as well.

And she just always makes a nice paper doll book ~ the context on each page, with a little vignette of the collection and her sketches make this book a joy to browse (I won't be cutting up this copy, but it's awesome enough to warrant a second, I think).

Anyway, you can get it at Amazon: Little Ladies of Fashion by Norma Lu Meehan. Twelve of the sixteen costumes are from the 19th century across each decade starting with 1856 and up through 1913. Sorry my images are a wee wonky; couldn't comfortably get the book on the scanner bed without wrecking the spine, so I cobbled these by various other means.

I meant to post this last week, but the weekend went sideways for me, so I'm a wee bit late. This recent offering from Nova M. Edwards features two 19th Century women heroes: Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth.

The set falls under that interesting umbrella of historical and educational dolls typically aimed at homeschooling moms. The dolls are very simple and their clothes are as well. Some of them a historically accurate based on photographs of these two remarkable women.

I haven't acquired these yet for my personal collection, but I intend to. You can find them on Amazon: Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth Paper Dolls.