Most bodies of humans or animals are made of wire, and then wrapped in crumpled foil for fuller areas, masking tape and then layers of papier mache. Papier mache can be made from newspaper, paper toweling, etc. I am not sure of the wire gauge, 24? You want a flexible wire but one that holds shape well. I find wire hangers too unflexable but will work in a pinch.

Check out Martha Pullen! Here is a link that might be useful: Martha Pullen's website

Hiya Jennifer! Long time no see! Your dolls sound wonderful...can't wait to have a look at them! My photo program(Photoshop) has an option to compress the jpeg image, allowing me to choose between low, medium & high. Choosing "low" will make the image MOST compressed, and keeping it a smaller file size. If you are scanning, try scanning at 50% size and use a resolution of 72 dpi. If you are using a digital camera you might have to make the resolution and the image size smaller, depending on your camera settings. I wish there was a definite set of directions, but it all depends on the software you have on hand. If you cannot get it small enough to post, you can email it to me and I will post it for you. Karen latitude40 at yahoo dot com

I haven't posted for a long,long, time although I have lurked! I am one of the old-timers so the paper dolls I had were the celebrities of the 1940's. I had a suit box full with the likes of Sonja Henie,Judy Garland, Ziegfield Follies, Betty Grable Gone with the Wind. Also WW2 military. If you have ever seen any of the paper dolls from this era I am sure you would agree they were some of the most beautiful sets printed. The outfits from the Ziefield set was especially gorgeous. Boo,hoo sorry to say these were not saved. Oh, how I would enjoy looking at those again. Lois