My Paper Dolls

My earliest paper dolls....in a nifty collage

Hello! About the paper dolls offered here……
Unless otherwise noted, all the paper dolls here are made by me, Leah.   My young daughters, ages 4 & 6, help with the design of the dolls and their clothes.  Because my girls are still young, most of what I’m working on is geared towards people who don’t need much of a challenge but who definitely need lots of fun.
FAQ’s: 

• Are these dolls free for just anybody to use?  What are the conditions of use?     Yes, they are absolutely rout-toot-tootingly free.  Print them out as many times as you like, modify their clothing, modify the dolls, make ‘em different sizes, sell them at craft fairs…..it’s ok by me.  Just don’t claim that you came up with them on your own.  I know it’s stodgy of me to want to retain some sort of possession of them, but I just can’t seem to get around it.
• What paper do you prefer to use to print the dolls and clothes ?    I’m all about cheap, but it does seem like if you’re really going to get the most out of the dolls, you need glossy paper.  For the best looking dolls, most durable dolls, I print out everything on glossy brochure paper.  I even take the time to go to the library and print them out from the fancy printer there…..color copies are only 25 cents and they look good.  That being said, if you’re not too picky, printing from home on regular old copier paper for the clothes and/or cardstock for the dolls works fine, too, but the items will not hold up as well to grubby young hands, vigourous tab bending, and spilled glue on the table.  
• How do you make the doll figures tough enough to handle serious play?  I mount my dolls on lightweight cardboard, usually whatever catches my eye in our recycling pile.  Be choosey…..it’s more fun to look at the back of the doll mounted on a red cereal box than if it were, say, mounted so that the boring brown inside of a box shows.    To mount the doll, I cut out a large square of cereal box and spread a thin layer of craft glue over the brown side of the cardboard.  I thin cut out a large rectangle around the doll (you’ll notice the frame around the doll on the paper you printed….use this as a guide) and then mount the doll on the layer of glue, smoothing and smoothing the paper to remove glue spots.  Then I place a pile of heavy books over the affair and let it dry.  Note that it takes longer for the mounted dolls to dry than what you’d expect and it certainly takes more time than most young children are prepared to wait…..I like to get  busy on something else, like cutting out doll clothes, as we wait.  I’m experimenting with spray-on-adhesive instead of craft glue, but have come to no conclusions as of yet.