DIY paper doll faces with circles + upright speech bubbles

Chapter: DIY + techniques

If you had tried making these paper doll faces, I think you might like these new doll faces I’m sharing today. Every face was formed with a circle and circle-derivatives (semi-circles and crescents). Embellishments like stickers, pattern papers and pom poms, were added to further define a personality. It’s all very casual, simple, but promising many options to play around with. In other words, very fun!

Looking almost similar but very different, you know.

I’d die cut 4 different sizes of circles and had them trimmed to semi circles and crescent-like shapes. Die cutting from a set of circle dies was the easiest for me to get all the sizes and quantity required. I used the 4th smallest die (diameter 2.5″) from the set for the face, and hair (trimmed into halves and crescents to create hairstyles).

The dolls’ backs were covered up with another circle piece to hide the plastic strips and etc.

I cut out the speech bubbles freehand then wrote the speech down with Zig Writer and Clean Color markers. I also felt the bubbles needed to be coloured along the edges so I did that with my favourite Colleen coloured pencils in “Sky Blue” and “Pink” (their names are indicated on the pencils). These coloured pencils are creamy which is why I love to use them. Every bubble was adhered with white glue onto a strip of plastic that was recycled from a document cover page. Some stickers were added as well (those flowers are from a Mrs Grossman’s sticker sheet well over a decade old!).

Alright time to introduce the dolls, all nine of them, in one breath. I’ve given them names to make identification a little easier.

Ruth, with pigtails

She’s adhered with a tape runner and facial details were added using the same Colleen coloured pencils. Ruth’s pigtails look like two bananas. A small strip of pattern paper and a strawberry sticker were used for her hair pin.

Lydia, with a ponytail

The half and crescent pieces were adhered with a tape runner onto Lydia’s face. Pom poms I got from Daiso were used on her ponytail and a puffy heart was also added. Again, Colleen coloured pencils were used to draw the features.

Joy, with a bob and hairband

Joy looks like she has thick bushy hair, doesn’t she? That’s thanks to the 2 full halves adhered in part on the back of her head. A tiny slit was made to her fringe. She wears a crescent-shape hairband made from pattern paper. A bloom sticker was also added.

Tim, happy with his cap

I love Tim’s cap which was made by simply using 2 semi-circles — one for the main cap area while the other for the flap. Lay the first half onto the hair, then with the second half fold in a small section along the straight edge and slip it under the first half. Adhere into place. Pattern paper was used for the cap and puffy stickers were added. There are many ways to present each doll, one of which is to adhere it onto a stick, like what I’ve demonstrated with Tim on a chopstick.

Pete, with a newspaper hat

Pete’s hat was cut out from a newspaper print from a pattern paper pad. He’s ready to take on a painting job anytime. The ends of his fringe were not glued down completely but curled up to give him a different look.

Phil, fohawk

Just because one speech bubble isn’t enough…

I think his faux fohawk makes him pretty cool. And all it takes is inverting one of the 2 crescents!

Martha, with a bun

Martha’s bun was made with circles smaller than 2.5″. I used the smallest die in the set to die cut them.

Esther, with a hoodie

It was made easily using the 4th largest circle die (close to 2.9″) to make the hood using the same pattern paper as Lydia’s headband. The smaller parts were cut freehand.

Julia, with a beret

Finally it’s Julia. I love how her beret looks. Very crescent*ly stylish. Her ear studs are enamel dots in a lovely aqua colour.

Here’s one more look at all of them again.


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8 thoughts on “DIY paper doll faces with circles + upright speech bubbles

  1. Thanks so much for sharing these pretty and handsome faces which I shared with my friends during a craft session. We had much fun indeed!

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