Sunday, November 11, 2007

Paper Dolls


I have always loved paperdolls and made reams of paper into dolls, clothing, and various accessories as a child. With paper and pencil I could quietly occupy myself for hours. (Still can!) Add scissors and colors and I was in heaven! When I first got markers, in the late 60s, my dolls' clothing was covered with flowers, stripes, and other wild patterns. But mostly I was interested in period and fairy tale costumes.

Last Sunday afternoon I taught a children's art class at a local art museum. First we reviewed museum etiquette and visited a display of antique and vintage clothing. Then we made paperdolls. Our one boy made paper aliens but I didn't get a close-up of his creatures!

Basic paperdoll guidelines:
you must have shoulders to hang the clothing on
don't make the neck too thin
don't forget the tabs
most mistakes can be fixed
you must have shoulders to hang the clothing on
don't use too much glue
you must have shoulders to hang the clothing on
don't run with scissors!
don't cry, we can add tabs
shoulders are hard to add after you cut it out
you don't need to cut around every finger and toe


MY Unfinished "MANGA" STYLE EXAMPLE

3 comments:

mimi k said...

what a great project!

Rael said...

How fun! Looks like small version of the fun stuff we did in the summer. :-D

~Rael~

Anonymous said...

Hahahaha, how funny your guidelines! I can imagine how you kept on telling about the need of shoulders and the kids keep on forgetting it, so funny...
Thank you for the inspiring idea, I must do this with my children too some day, they will love it!

love from hilde
www.tantehilde.be