Quilled Geisha - Japanese paper doll

Hello my dear readers!

I haven't been writing to this blog for a long time, but I still do quilling and have creations to show. Today it will be a paper doll made out of original Japanese washi paper and quilling strips.

My friend and a fellow quiller Yulia loves the Japanese-themed dolls I made earlier, like the doll with a shamisen, and the doll with a cat. Yulia asked me to make a doll for her. I knew I should do something special. As always, before starting to quill I did a thourough research, seeing a lot of Japanese dolls on the Internet.

Yulia suggested that I used original Japanese washi paper and sent me a few sheets of it. I had never worked with such kind of paper before, so I was very worried I would waste it. Out of the selection Yulia had sent me, I picked a sheet with a red pattern and cut it into strips to make the kimono — the body and sleeves, using the 3D quilling technique. For the obi sash I used washi with a blue pattern in order to create a contrast between it and the red kimono.

The head was made using the traditional 3D quilling techniques. However, I wanted to make the hairstyle more life-like, close to what you could see on a real geisha — not the simplified look the other dolls have. It turned out a bit of a challenge, so I had to work hard on that one. First I tried to make the hair out of black crepe paper, but high-quality crepe parer was hard to come by. Then, after lots of trial and error and a long search in the library and on the Web, I finally found instructions on how to make hairstyle using a sheet of black construction paper. I was very happy with the results.

Yulia made a special request that the doll would be holding a fan. I made the fan out of red-patterned washi paper to match the kimono.

The kanzashi hair ornament and the hairpins were made out of washi paper and quilling strips.

The doll is 9.5 cm (3 3/4 in) tall.

Thanks for stopping by!