I had a fun play date with my buddies Z and K last weekend. We created artwork inspired by the book Collage Couture by Julie Nutting. Buy it now on Amazon! She gives you all the techniques and inspiration you'll need to create your own lavishly dressed paper dolls!
Here is Z's "belle femme". The title was chosen from the bit of text paper used for the neck and shoulders where it says beautiful woman. She chose a background paper that is printed with a stencil effect. The flower is made with sewing pattern tissue paper. The petticoat is an old map and an assortment of pretty pink patterned papers make up the dress and skirt. The hair is hand painted and has streaks of gold! A bit of pom pom trim completes the artwork.
Here is K's piece on a mini clipboard. She went with a bold purple colour palette. Her petticoat is ruffled sewing pattern tissue paper and was also used as background for the two stamps - the chandelier and the flourish border. She started with a collage background but used gesso to tone it down to make the paper doll pop. Originally Grace had same killer high heel shoes, but her name in chip board letters covers them up!
And finally here is mine, titled "Pretty". A little too busy i think. I started with a polka dot background paper and added additional scraps and ephemera on the left side. I need to either gesso the background or add some outlines to my paper doll, so you can see her better on the clipboard (full size this time). I used 5 different green printed papers for her skirt and bodice. A sharpie does a nice job making shiny ankle strap shoes. I flipped through a vintage children's Reader looking for an appropriate poem and found one titled The Tea Party. Perfect for my pretty lady!
