December Angel Paper Doll - Day 28

For all of you parents out there -- how's winter break going?! We have a house full of toys, video games, visits from family & friends, and I think my kids are going to tear each other apart! My oldest is in first grade and my youngest isn't quite in kindergarten yet.  There's a bit of a maturity gap.  A gap that my oldest is exploiting to full effect.

As a stay-at-home mother, let me just tell you: teachers are not paid nearly enough!

Anyway.

Today I wanted to touch a bit on the "African" part of my African inspired angel paper doll.

Right-click to download and print

While wandering around the supermarket many (many, many, many!!) times this holiday season, I saw clementines everywhere.  Clementines just happen to be the only citrus fruit I genuinely like, so this is a good season for me.  I dunno what the deal is with oranges and Christmas, but that's ok.

Today's dress was inspired by clementines and a dress on Pinterest.

Don't talk to me about the practicality of a cape & wings.  I don't really care. It was a GORGEOUS dress and I wanted to do it and that's that!

I also wanted to do something that represented wax prints.  That's an article all about wax printing and it's worth a read. Basically the Dutch saw batik in Indonesia, developed their own (inferior) batik method and dropped it off in western Africa where it gained a following.  There's an intricate history of motifs & styles that I didn't really dive into.  Instead, I created a stylized clementine and make a pattern with that. I also fiddled with patterns & blend modes until I got some of the variation that is the hallmark of wax prints.

Three days til the end of this project! I'm happy to wrap it up but it's been a fun one & I'll miss it, too.