Cardmaking: Japanese Geisha Greetings

We have a lot of fun with paper piecing in today's blog when we make a special greeting card. Mine was made as a bon voyage to a couple going on holiday in Japan, but you can use this as a birthday card, or for any other purpose as well. I show you how to cut some very simple shapes from paper to build theses cute Japanese girls. I especially love how they overlap and extend past the perimeters of the card. It gives the card a playfulness and make the dolls seem to interact with each other.

You will need three coordinating patterned papers, as well as a monochrome paper to serve as basis for the card. This one should measure 12" x 12" or 6" x 12".

I cut my base paper in half so it would measure 6" x 12".

I then folded it in half to create the card.

On the back of one of my coordinating papers, I measured a rectangle of dimensions 4 x 7,5 cm.

I cut this rectangle out.

I then semi-folded it in half to create a rounded shape at the top.

I cut the top with the paper still folded in half.

This was the shape I was looking for!

I used this first shape to cut one more from each of the remaining 2 coordinating papers.

I now had 3 of these.

I then cut a rectangle of dimensions 4 x 2,5 cm from each of the 3 papers.

You may once again wish to use the first as a template to cut the remaining 2 from.

These would serve as sashes (or whatever the proper name is) for the dolls.

I set my compass to radius 4 cm and constructed a semicircle.

I drew a line to cut the semicircle in half.

These quarter circles would become the sleeves of the kimonos.

Progress photo.

I now set my compass to radius 2,5 cm.

I drew 2 semicircles and extended them to the open ends. I also drew a full circle. I added a bun to the one and 2 pigtails to the other. I outlined my original pencil lines in white for you for illustration purposes. This has to be done on black paper, or a very dark blue or purple.

These become the hair on my dolls.

I then set my compass to radius 1,5 cm.

I drew 3 semicircles from a flesh-colored paper.

I now had all the pieces to build the 3 little geisha's with.

I used a black marker to draw a very simple branch on the card.

Very simple flowers were drawn to represent cherry blossoms.

I used coloring pencils to color the background with.

I now had to build my dolls on the card, attaching the different pieces with double-sided tape.

I wanted them on three different levels.

Next came the hair and faces.

Facial features were drawn in with a black marker and the cheeks were colored with  a coloring pencil.

Now it was time to put the sashes in place.

The doll in the center would be furthest back and her sleeves were still attached with double-sided tape.

The other sleeves were all attached with 3-D double-sided tape.

I extended these sleeves past the perimeters of the card to create a playful effect.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.

Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
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