My daughter and I have been having fun making Japanese paper dolls this week. I picked up a great craft kit full of beautiful origami paper and instructions, and we made some beautiful dolls, starting with the instructions and then adding our own embellishments - in fact I got a little carried away!
Once I had helped my daughter make her first one she asked me if she could have one of the frames I use for my shadowboxes, found some bright pink Chinese silk style fabric from the stash I keep and said she wanted to make an origami tea set to go with her doll. When she had finished her box looked so amazing that I asked her if I could use her design to make my own and this is what I came up with
My doll is set against a piece of beautiful vintage kimono fabric and has her tea pot, Japanese style cup and flowers on her table, and I am offering it for sale in my
Etsy store, at a reduced price as it is a prototype, but I am planning to introduce this Tea Ceremony Design as a range, and am open to taking commissions too
I also made this miniature, in a frame just 10cm x 15cm, a pretty little doll with flowers in her hair, set against a red cherry blossom pattern Chinese silk style fabric, another range I will introduce this summer - this one is also now available over on Etsy and please feel free to message me if you would like to commission one on other colours.
If you have the summer holidays coming up I definitely recommend keeping your eyes out for kits like the one we started with, and there are lots of great tutorial on you tube too - my daughter is 7 and needed help with the folding, but it was a wonderful activity to do together, she is so proud pf her shadowbox, which now has pride of place in her room.
