Paper dolls

The April meeting of our doll club included a play day in the morning. About 12 of us gathered to play with paper and glue. The idea was to use the technique to costume a simple doll. Some people had a basic doll shape, some used a bottle, I used a paper mache mannequin and mounted it on a styrofoam cone.

We covered our bases with tissue, used white glue, to form the foundation of our work. I covered the torso with dark reds and oranges . It set the theme, as I had this lovely gold and red paper picked from the pile.The tissue paper works well with the white glue and soon it was dry.

Here you can see the costume coming together. I made sleeves in a heavier paper, streaked with glitter. It took the glue really well. The danger was in over wetting the paper and having it tear. You coat the whole sheet with glue, then drape and mold it to shape. The skirt had  panniers added with scrunched tissue to support the skirt. You can see the white tissue peeking out on the right hip above.

I used a napkin to create the shoulder draping. I let them dry first, before mounting them on the dress. The gold and red paper was  specialty paper Roberta brought in for us. She learned this technique at a Jean Bernard and Sherry Goshon class. I was thinking it was similar to Paverpol, which would make the whole thing more solid.

Still, I was pleased with the result. I didn't have time to glitz it up, but that comes next! What do you think - glitter or ribbon and trim? She's very regal, after all.