Do you like Paper Dolls?
I do! My
father was a career Airman. Whenever we moved there was a lot of
cleaning out and leaving behind, either donated or trashed of our toys
especially. I had been allotted a 3 cubic foot box to have as a toy
box and if it fits, it shipped. (Thank you post office advertising.)
Military members have weight allowances and a lot doesn’t make it onto the
truck. My little twin bed, and my narrow 4 or 5 drawer chest, a box
of clothes, a suitcase, and my “toy box” were all I had. I might
have had to divest of dolls and things, but with a nice shoebox, some paper
separators, my paper dolls were good to go.
Sadly, I do not have a
single box of paper dolls now. How is that
possible? Married a Marine. More weight limits and well,
toys didn’t make the cut. Had my mother stayed in one house perhaps
I would have had my things stored, but eventually, she moved as well, and so did
dad, and anything left was gone. It’s a life.
Never-the-less; I love
paper dolls and find that any I have collected now over the years are in small
books that are stored and not cut out. But oh, how I love a pair of
scissors! Snip, snip, cut, cut, turn, a knife to get just there,
PERFECT!
And that
sound. You know the one I mean; it is as wonderful as the sound of
scissors sliding across the table to cut fabric. Crunch.
But I digress.
I remember reading
Rachel Hoffman, most recently of Virtual Doll Conventions and boy do we love
them, writing in her blog that “we are enough!” Who hasn’t felt
marginalized at some point? I have never been a great
participator. I don’t like belonging to clubs as I prefer to do my
own thing. Introverted, but not shy. I will speak up and I have done
a couple club presentations. I wanted to do something to participate
from afar for the Winter Virtual Doll Convention. Silly me, I asked,
“What can I do to help?”
She was so sweet,
and not knowing what I do or when I do it, she said, “Make some paper
dolls.” Oh, for goodness sake! Really? I have
never painted a paper doll in my life. My mind was going this way
and that. How was I to tell her no? So, I just warned her
I would give it a try. I asked her what she would like, and she
said, “Queen Victoria!” Yikes. I emphasize I
have never done this before. I did not want to let her
down. I asked her to give me a call. We talked on the
phone and I know she was worried that I would renege on my offer, and I said, I
wouldn’t, but really did not want to over-promise anything. My
deadline was December 1. It took me months to do,
months. I drew and painted every day. I used, and still
do, a couple of friends, to critique my work. They helped me a
lot. Thank you, Debbie and Gillian. They have different gifts and I
felt many things were covered in their criticisms. They helped me to
provide a nice product in the end.
So, the day came for the paper dolls to be introduced to everyone as a souvenir and there were technical issues. The next day was Saturday, and Rachel was so kind in her explanations about the dolls. I can now provide them to you all as well. I am hoping you who like paper dolls will be able to download the PDF. And I hope you enjoy having them as much as I worried about making them.
Have Fun!
Kathi
If clicking the picture above does not take you to the link to download try this link:
https://www.minidolls.com/images/Eugenie%20and%20Victoria%20by%20Kathi%20Mendenhall.pdf
2 comments:
Una historia preciosa la tuya. El trabajo que has hecho es fantástico. Gracias
Muchas Gracias.
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