Paper prison dolls

If you’re anything like Emily Niland, you’re dying for Orange Is the New Black to return to your television screen. But rather than curling up in a ball and hyperventilating until it does, the Brooklyn-based artist has taken a more productive route during the show’s hiatus. She’s transformed the leading ladies of the show into a beautiful set of paper dolls.

Niland originally created likenesses of cast favourites Piper, Alex, Red, Sophia, Daya and Janae. She released a second set of Tiffany and Taystee dolls shortly after.

Each character comes with two outfits: a set of standard-issue prison wear and a pair of clothes based on each character’s life outside the correctional facility. This includes a track outfit for Janae and a sexy black dress for Alex.

“I’ve been wanting to do a paper-doll project for a while. When I started watching OITNB, it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to experiment with this kind of illustration,” Niland says. “Past lives being communicated through fashion is a major aspect of that show.”

The dolls have already garnered plenty of media attention — including in The Huffington Post and on BuzzFeed.

Niland says Laverne Cox, who plays trans inmate Sophia Burset, enjoys the dolls.

“She is such a sweet person. She actually reached out to me on Twitter after seeing the paper dolls to tell me how much she loved them. It was very flattering!” Niland says.

The dolls are available for purchase in Niland’s online store, until you can get more of the real thing when the show’s second season begins in early 2014.