Illustration pen pal: kokeshi card holder

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 My illustration pen pal loaned me another Griffin and Sabine book, and I returned it with a card holder inspired by modern kokeshi dolls.

photo of finished paper kokeshi doll card holder, looks like a girl with a smiling face. Her paper sleeves are folded over a letter and tied closed with a narrow ribbon

Process

photo of sketchbook page showing sketch of finished paper doll
the process almost always starts with a sketch

photo of tracing paper next to sketchbook, both have kokeshi doll drawings with overlayed grids
Some math was done to determine how big the finished doll should be
then the sketch was traced and I used a grid to enlarge the sketch to the final size

photo of foam body and hair pieces cut out but not assembled, placed on top of the sketchbook
using the new drawing, I split out the individual pieces to be cut out

photo of all pieces cut out but not assembled
The body (red) is cut from craft foam, the other pieces are cut from paper
The patterned paper at the bottom is usually used for origami

2 side by side photos of the assembled paper doll, sleeves out to the sides, front and back
Front and back of assembled doll

2 side by side photos of the completed paper doll with arms folded around a letter and tied with a thin ribbon
Front and back of finished doll holding the folded letter


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