Dress-Up Doll: Swordsman

A paper swordsman doll, 4½ in tall: a blue jacket with pants, a yellow raincoat and a sword in a sheath. The outfits stay on with tabs and can be swapped as often as you like, and the doll stands on a two-piece stand, no glue.

• Medium
• 24 steps
• 6 pieces
• 2 Letter sheets

Make it with your phone cameraLesson code: 6390

On VanGami the template appears over your sheet through your phone camera — no printer needed. Trace it, cut, fold and glue. Below are all the steps in text.

What you’ll need

• 2 Letter sheets — office paper, 80 gsm (20 lb)
• Markers
• Pencil — and eraser
• Scissors — small
• Glue stick — or PVA glue
• Glass — phone stand

Steps

Trace

1. Sturdy sheet from two. Apply glue stick over the whole surface of a sheet of printer paper, press a second sheet onto it, and smooth with your palm from the middle to the edges. You'll get a thick sheet — work on that one. Put it back in the same spot, edge to edge; don't move the phone.
2. Doll and stand: outlines. Trace the doll with a solid line — the head with seven hair spikes, the arms, the legs, and the plate under the feet as one outline — and the two half-circle stand pieces on the right.
3. Doll and stand: slits. The short lines are slits: two at the bottom of the base plate and one on each stand piece, from the curved edge to the middle.
4. Doll: drawing. Copy in thin lines the wedge-shaped bangs, the temples, the eyebrows and the face: oval eyes with an eyelid, a pupil and a highlight, and a mouth. Then the tank top, shorts and shoes.
5. Jacket and pants: outline. Trace the outfit as one piece, with its four tabs: two above the shoulders and two on the sides of the sleeves.
6. Jacket and pants: drawing. An open jacket down to the waist, a shirt under it with two dot buttons, the sleeve ends, and pants with a line down the middle.
7. Raincoat: outline. Trace the bell-shaped raincoat with four tabs — they are in the same places as on the jacket. The raincoat covers the arms completely.
8. Raincoat: drawing. The hood thrown back as an arc on the shoulders, the front overlap line down the middle with a dot button, and two folds on the sides.
9. Sword: outline. Trace the sword in its sheath: the handle, the oval guard, the sheath with a rounded end, and two tabs — one on the handle and one at the sheath tip, on opposite sides.
10. Sword: drawing. The pommel strip, the zigzag grip wrap on the handle, the oval of the guard and the sheath tip.

Color

11. Color: doll. Skin in skin tone, cheeks in pink, eyes and shorts in blue, hair spikes, eyelids and pupils in black; the zigzag highlight on the spikes, shoes and waistband in dark gray. Leave the highlights in the eyes, the tank top and the base plate white.
12. Color: jacket and pants. Jacket in blue, pants in dark gray, hands in skin tone. Leave the shirt and the tabs white.
13. Color: raincoat. Raincoat in yellow; go over the hood with the marker a second time — it will come out darker. Button in dark gray; leave the tabs white.
14. Color: sword. Sheath in red; guard, pommel and tip in yellow; handle in dark gray. Leave the tabs white.

Outlines

15. Outline in black. Go over all the drawing lines and the edges of the pieces with a black marker — on the doll, the outfits and the sword. Leave the tabs and stand pieces in pencil.

Cut

16. Cut out: doll and stand — 3 pcs. Cut out the doll in one outline: each hair spike with two straight cuts, and at the neck bring the scissors in from both sides. Then the two stand pieces and the four slits, one cut each from the edge to the end of the line.
17. Cut out: jacket and pants. Cut out the outfit along the outline together with the tabs: at the corners by the tabs, bring the scissors in from both sides.
18. Cut out: raincoat. Cut out the raincoat along the outline together with the tabs.
19. Cut out: sword. Cut out the sword along the outline together with its two tabs: the one on the handle and the one at the sheath tip. Go around the guard in one smooth motion.

Assemble

20. Stand the doll up. Slide both stand pieces onto the base plate under the doll’s feet, slit into slit, from below until they stop: the pieces will stand crosswise. The doll stands on its own, no glue.

Play

21. Place the jacket. Hold the jacket and pants up to the doll, shoulders to shoulders. The tabs still stick out above the shoulders and at the sides.
22. Fold the tabs. Fold the four tabs back, behind the doll: first the two over the shoulders, then the two around the arms. Crease the folds with your fingernail — the outfit stays on.
23. Sword in hand. Hold the handle against the doll’s hand and fold the two tabs back: the upper one around the arm, the lower one behind the edge of the base plate. The tip of the sheath rests on the table.
24. Change into the raincoat. Take off the sword and the jacket and put on the raincoat the same way: shoulders to shoulders, four tabs back. Put the sword back in the hand — swap outfits as often as you like.

Done. The doll is done: change her clothes and swap outfits. Make a new outfit yourself: trace an existing one, tabs included, and draw your own design.

Make it with your phone camera

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