Paper Dolls Part 1: A China Head Doll

In the days when I was still playing with dolls, I wanted a porcelain doll desperately.  A catalog of porcelain doll kits came in the mail every so often (addressed to Mom) and I would spend hours poring over the choices of heads, arms and legs, picking out the ones I wanted to order.  The dolls were different sizes with black or blonde hair in various painted on styles. Owning one of these dolls was my heart's desire at age 10. The answer was always no. And life went on.

Doll similar to my heart's desire

Fast forward half a century  . . .  in my meanderings through cyberspace, what should I find but an online purveyor of rubber stamps offering a clear stamp for a china head doll named Lottie. All of those longings for a porcelain doll came surging back. Without hesitation I placed the order. Immediately. As a bonus, a template for Lottie's body as well as a basic dress were available to download.

Lottie from Pink Persimmon

The padded envelope containing Lottie arrived, I printed the body and dress templates and broke out the ink, paper and scissors.

Three of my paper dolls are shown below. Lottie is 8" tall with movable arms and lower legs. Small brads attach the arms and legs to the body and also secure the dress to her at the shoulders.  In traditional paper doll fashion, the dresses could be made with the fold back paper tabs of long ago, but I didn't choose to do that.

I have tweaked the dress pattern a bit, digging out my paper doll dressmaking skills from long ago and have several additional outfits in the closet. Lottie's skin is colored with Prismacolor colored pencils in shades of peach with pink cheeks and red lips.  A bit of blue dots the eyes. These are artist quality colored pencils (available at Michael's) with a waxy lead that can be blended to achieve many effects. I also extended Lottie's boots  to her knees with a black Sharpie marker.

So there she is. My first foray into paper dolls fas an adult.  (yes, there are more).

If you would like to make your own Lottie, you can find the stamp set HERE on Etsy or I can be convinced to share!

Cheers!