Super cool, clever paper dolls!

Congratulations to Kwei-lin Lum on her first published paper doll book! Kwei-lin's has a wonderfully clever approach to her paper doll art, choosing subjects and designs that are surprising and unique. This is especially evident in her colorful Day of the Dead paper doll book, representing Mexico's celebration honoring the memory of the departed. The book provides two whimsical skeleton dolls and a colorful wardrobe of traditional costumes. My favorite part is the bonus sticker poster showing vignettes of skeletons doing a variety of everyday things like baking bread, repairing cars, selling tacos and even going to the spa. The book is available from Paperdoll Review, and you can see more examples of Kwei-lin's intriguing paper doll art on her flatdoll website.

Cool new interactive paper doll site!

Our own David Wolfe has gone digital! His popular line of paper doll books caught the attention of the Essex-Peabody Museum in Salem, MA, and he was asked to illustrate a paper doll to represent a special exhibit of clothes worn by fashion legend, Iris Apfel. Rather than the traditional paper format, this paper doll is purely digital, with two interactive kiosks at the museum and an on-line version with mix-and-match separates from the exhibit, Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel. A digital closet is provided with dozens of fashion items including pants, skirts, jackets, blouses, hats, boots, and lots of big, chunky jewelry to build your own ensembles on three mannequins. So click over and have fun!

Paper Doll Convention in the Las Vegas News!

I'm thrilled to announce that our paper doll convention made it into the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Thanks to his media connections, David Wolfe, arranged to have reporter Xazmin Garza visit our convention during the Artists Showcase afternoon. Ms. Garza spent at least a couple of hours talking with artists and collectors, resulting in a lovely article about the convention and the art and hobby of paper dolls. It's fun that a photo of Dee Radcliffe was included, taken at the time she was surprised with a custom paper doll of her and her friend Paula Sherrick, drawn by Norma Lu Meehan.

Las Vegas resident and entertainment legend, Phyllis McGuire, was also featured in the article, with information about her extraordinary clothing collection and the soon-to-be-published Phyllis McGuire Paper Doll. Also included in the article are photos of Hedy Lamarr paper dolls by Gregg Nystrom and David Wolfe's original art for the Grease Paper Doll.

Thanks so much to Deanna Williams and her team for putting on such a wonderful convention. Next year's convention is scheduled for July 1-4, 2010 in Kansas City. Visit OPDAG's website for details.