Paper Dolls
It’s funny how a simple little writing prompt can start a flood of ideas. Today, I pondered the answer to the prompt “ My favorite childhood toy was…” and wrote down this post. Last night, Craig said that when we get older we take time to appreciate and think about the details. That is so true!
This “fill in the blank” exercise allowed me to reflect on the artistic style that I currently gravitate the most towards today: Painting with paper - my hybrid form of collage and mixed media. And now, I realized that this artistic style had roots in my childhood. You see, my favorite childhood toy was paper dolls.
I spent many hours playing with paper dolls. I loved how a simple design on paper could change the way that a cut out appeared. When making choices for “dressing” the paper dolls, I didn’t view the arrangement of the “clothes” in the way a Fashionista would, as I was 100 % unaware of haute couture. Rather than picking an outfit for my doll for an occasion or season of the year, I played with the position of the clothing shapes and noticed how the different patterns interacted. With the slightest move, the overall look of the paper doll changed, which I found so intriguing! How did a big hat balance with a swimsuit and a skirt look? Balanced?
Folding the tabs to accommodate my clothing selections onto the paper doll, was always a painstaking activity. First you lay the doll flat on a surface to start the selection of the clothing pieces and place where you wish. Then you attach the proposed clothes, by picking the piece up to craft and bend the clothing tabs into place. So you assembled, disassembled and reassembled. Accomplishing those moves were only PART of the final scenario, as the dolls came with cardboard stands, which also needed to be folded to accommodate the weight and mass of the doll. It was a delicate procedure. The end goal was to have the doll dressed and standing, as this was something that Barbie could never do. HA!
My “homemade” clothes caused even more of a challenge, as the weight of Crayola crayons added another weight to the equation. So here are some of the problems that I needed to solve if I was to pull off the “Standing Paper Doll” goal. If the doll leaned forward the clothes would hang forward and you could see the “underwear” and that was a “no no”. If the doll listed sideways the alignment was off base, the clothes took on an avalanche look that I despised, so I had to re-engineer. If the cardboard stand was torn or was stretched from too many adjustments, the whole thing could refuse to stand. What could I do?
The solution to these scenarios came in the form of a roll of Scotch tape! Of course, adding the weight of tape presented its own problem, but it was progress. With the moving parts taped into position, the base adjustment seemed easy. My dolls were dressed AND standing, provided a still breeze didn’t enter the room… via a fast moving human.
Mom would laugh because she said that the whole point of playing paper dolls was to reuse the clothes and change them. I was playing another game and solving another puzzle. Anyway, she thought that when I taped them on, the activity couldn’t go on as designed. Convinced that she misunderstood the “ins and outs” of paper doll clothes arranging, I decided to continue with the taping process until I ran out of tape. Then I used that old paste that we used to suffice for glue.
Ultimately when it was all stuck down, it was time for her to buy me another book of paper dolls. We lived in a small town, and I had no problem getting the same book again and again, as my arrangements changed with the wind. Maybe I should be thankful that I didn’t know about fashion or specific “looks” as there wasn’t anything to hold me back from trying new configurations. I loved the “what if” part of the play and the “making due” with what you had part of the solution. It was always fun.
Even though my mom didn’t understand my end goal in playing with paper dolls, she still praised me for my “excellent choices” in clothing, shoe, hat and purse combinations, and I love her so much for encouraging my art at an early age. I mixed up sizes, cut new sizes, made my own, was non gender specific in the 60’s (think Annie Hall), combined colors, mixed textures and outfitted the dolls in ways that were eclectic for sure. It was like paste up for future graphic design work, and layers arrangement in Photoshop, or paint layers.
A few years back I got to see my creations once again, as my mom had saved a few of them. It was such a joy to see. Unfortunately, some mice decided that the seasoned paper or old glue paste was good food or good for their bedding and ate them, so they couldn’t be salvaged. Still I have the memory, and that is what is precious.
So my friends, THAT is where I got my love of collage and of home crafted paper! Now a collage artist who paints with paper, I go through the same process. After I get to a point in the composition I tilt it vertical and take a look with new eyes. If I don’t have the paper that I want, I stop on the spot and make some more. I have juxtaposed elements and ideas that seemingly have nothing in common only to arrive at a place where they are a perfect match, (in my eyes).
I love ALL parts of my current artistic process. Paper making can take days and I can get lost in it. Gloss coating the paper for the tack-down method or spraying fixative on the papers marked with pastel for use with matte medium can also take a day or two. Finding the perfect botanical inclusion to set the paper of the piece in an organic state is so rewarding. Collaging and de-collaging, gluing and ripping apart collaged paper until I have piles of related material, is fun! And so it goes…. Assembling is sometimes a small part, but that part started in childhood.
It’s funny how a simple little writing prompt can start a flood of ideas. Today, I realized that my love of collage and of pretty paper stems from my dear mom's choice to buy me an endless supply of paper doll books. Thank you mom.
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