[Flickr] You are rlkataja's newest contact!‏

These are the people I love connecting with on flickr. Below is the profile for my newest contact who just added me to her flickr network. She also has a shop on Etsy. Weeeeeeee!!! : )

Hello!
I am so glad to have found the world of BLYTHE!!! I'm not sure how I stumbled upon her but I'm soooo happy I did!
I joined Flickr really as a way to communicate more with others who love Blythe as much as I do!!! I feel silly sometimes to tell people how much I LOVE this doll. Some of my friends (and my 14 year old!) think it is all sooo weird and don't really understand that BLYTHE is "NOT" your ordinary doll! She is sooo special and Unique!
(my daughter does like the outfits I make though and my new addition AA!)

I work a day time job @ the McCall-Butterick and VOGUE pattern company in NYC as an illustrator. I love my job and really enjoy all the creative people I work with. I have access to lots of great fabrics-trims-etc. Making Blythe clothing is my newest and most loved Passion!!! (besides my daughter "Linnea" and my big fat cat "Buster")

:)

Here is my Flickr group to post pics of your girls in my fashions:
www.flickr.com/groups/586849@N25/

Emily Demure

DSC_1512
Originally uploaded by zanalee

Looking more demure than ever. I had to have one of the panes in my window removed this morning because Francis cracked it by accident last week in the process of killing a wasp. We had to cover it with two white trash bags until the super came back to install a new one. I noticed that the light from the sun (it was a gorgeous day today) coming through the white bags acted sort of like a light box which is used in studio photography to soften the light on one's subject. I'm a photo opportunist.

Molly Mol

DSC_1504
Originally uploaded by zanalee

I'm just starting to get Molly's look. Her hair has been a bit challenging me as I'm so used to all the light easy body of Emily's hair which will do anything. Molly's hair color is beautiful but the Takara hair is flat and really just hangs but today I really started to feel her look. She's more of a "natural" girl.

Molly Braids bw

Molly Braids bw
Originally uploaded by zanalee

Meditating after I braided her hair last night.

Feltland on Etsy

*GASPING!*
IT MUST BE MINE.
The outfit I mean...

Molly Walk

Molly Walk
Originally uploaded by zanalee

These bitches are taking over my life!!! I swear I will get back to photographing other things again soon. But to be honest, photographing Blythe Dolls really does teach you a lot about shooting in various kinds of natural light. There are so many amazing way to utilize light and background and backdrop when taking pictures of Blythe. It's like endless. So you understand how tough it is for me to kick this addiction. I love Blythe. I love photography. *SIGH*...this might take a while.

Molly Settles in

More Observations of my first Takara Blythe.

-Her eyes (or eye chips as they're called in Dolly Blythe land)are different, lighter shades of the 4 trademark Blythe Eyes Colors and just a different eye chip altogether. I will show you later.

-Her Eye lashes are a little shorter, not as exaggeratedly long as my Ashton Drake Blythe.

-She has a side part that I live for.

-Her side glancing eyes seem to glance more to the side that the ADGs. It's like they look down and over rather just over.

MOLLY'S HERE!

Her face is shinier, her boobs are more matte, her underwear is fancier and her hair is sort of flat and greasy looking but that changes when you comb it. The click in her eye mechanism is more audibly pronounced when you pull her string. Her cheeks are rosier and her legs bend more readily.

Sorry about the yellowness of the pictures. I didn't get to open the box until I got home in the evening so I had to take them under those yucky florescent lights. More to come.

She arrived first thing this morning!!!! I'm dying! She arrived from Hong Kong and was placed on the reception desk in front of me before 10:00AM. The box is a little bit crushed from being under the weight of other boxes I imagine but she appears to be in perfect condition. She is my first vintage, Takara Blythe. Emily was made in China but was sold here in the US under the Ashton Drake Hasbro label. But Molly is officially from China. Blythes made by Takara, the first company to replicate the initial run of Blythe Dolls made by Kenner were only sold in Hong Kong I believe. I could be wrong. A complete history of Blythe is here. However, interestingly enough, Molly is a "Pow Wow Poncho" theme Blythe (ridiculous name isn't it?) just like Emily so they're twins!

Ok, I'm like screaming internally because I can't wait to get her home. You have no idea how much price comparison shopping I had to to, not to mention rationalizing with my poor lady budget the legitimacy of buying this doll which I have to say was a bit more expensive than Emily. She's brand new but was sold naked, which brought the price for a Takara Blythe down considerably less than usual but still,this is going to be it for awhile. I'm addicted but not crazy. Okay, I'm a little crazy but I do know when to stop. I hate being broke.

Molly certainly need never concern herself over clothes. I've got a veritable Blythe wardrobe waiting for her. She'll be styling in no time.

As I mentioned before, my next Blythe will be purchased solely for my Black Blythe Project and that may not happen for several months. Incidentally, I named this Blythe Molly because of a girl I knew at Bard College named Molly who had long red hair that I loved as well. I'm a big fan of red hair. I think it's many variations are beautiful but I think it also has something to do with the deviant behavior associated with it particularly among white women back centuries ago who were often put to death in the dark ages simply for being born with red hair. It was automatically assumed that the they were more susceptible to evil because of it. Just another destructive reaction of patriarchal dominated rule to an inbred fear of the power of beauty, a beauty so bewildering as to provoke sanctioning through death sentencing; another way to effectively cut down the population of female resistance to conformity at the time. So it was that simple. I started calling her Molly maybe before I even bought her. I just can't believe she's here already. I was being so cautious about not counting the days until she arrived based on the E.T.A. quoted to me by the Ebay seller. One day after my birthday!!!! Uncanny.

Project Black Blythe

I have been getting so much helpful mail from Blythe collectors in my flickr correspondence that it’s really made me feel like part of a little community. It usually happens while I’m browsing through flickrverse adding favorites and leaving comments as I go. Someone will check out my pics, add faves and essentially do the same and then add me as a contact so that they can see any new pics I upload in the future on their home page. This is how I came to correspond with Amanda Ruth, a young lady (also an etsy seller) who is in the process of knitting a cute green dress for Emily. It was a dress I saw posted on her flickr set and I as soon as I saw that she had an etsy shop I had to ask her if she could make me that dress.

I’m still trying to figure out a way to get plasticfashion (Laura is her name) to make me a pair of her Blythe jeans. She has a shop on Etsy and Artfire but there is nothing on either of them. That really irritates me especially given how prolific she is. Her Blythe clothes are incredibly detailed and well made and when I saw the jeans I nearly passed out. My mom was a professional seamstress back in the day and we always had at least two sewing machines in the house so I know how hard it is to make clothes for people. I never cared for it myself. I’m more into design. I can only imagine how difficult it must be making accurate measurements for a doll dress.

My latest correspondence is from Jewels Blueberry who just finished customizing a black Blythe, something I am determined to do in the next few months or so. I commented on how nice her doll looked and mentioned my plans as well as a looming lack of confidence about it since I have never done anything like this. She sent me a message in flickr mail right away: a set of clear, detailed and simple instructions on how to make a black Blythe and assurance that it really is pretty simple. It filled me with encouragement and at now I east feel like maybe this is something I can successfully do. I think it will be an interesting and socially informative undertaking, you know? Will a can of spray paint be the only thing to make a Blythe doll black? Stay tuned.

No Fit Shape

I was up way too early on Saturday morning for this.

Emily's new clothes

Dress by sewgrandmacathy, green skirt and red sweater by DollyDressUp , orange skirt by pungsnotded all on etsy.com

Believe or not there are about five more items to go. Someone's birthday came early. Click here to see how Emily likes her new clothes.

Blythe on the job

She said she would fill in for me while I was on vacation.

Bring Blythe to Work Day

So I brought Emily to work with me today in a small Gap bag, and I feel surprising normal about it for the most part. My supervisor actually squealed with joy when she saw her sitting on top of the desk next to my camera. Apparently she's seen my pics of her on flickr and now in love. That made me really happy. I hadn't even realized I'd left her out. I was trying to be incognito but Blythe actually appears to fit in rather well. I'm taking her to lunch on Bryant park in a few and will probably get some busy shots with her and a few co-workers later.

Still waiting for all the clothes I ordered for her to come in. I haven't received one thing yet and I'm starting to get a little anxious. Worst case scenario, they get here on or around my birthday. That would be great.

Artfire Addict

ORANGE SALMON LEAVES CORDUROY PANTS

Artfire is a website very similar to etsy which supports the sale buy handmade artists of all their goods to the general public. In terms of clothes for Blythe dolls, it is a Shangri La. I think I can safely say that I am having way more fun shopping for Blythe than I have had shopping for myself lately. There's just so much it's literally overwhelming but it makes me really insanely happy. I discovered Artfire through Plasticfashion's flickr page which is just unbelievably prolific. She is one the best Blythe Doll seamstresses I have come across. Her and Hilary Wagstaff on Etsy just blow my mind. So, um, while I do have some sense and have totally cut myself off from spending anymore dough on Blythe gear for the moment. I am making a long list of stuff I'm finding on Artfire and starting to realize that Blythe may have a larger wardrobe than I do in like a matter or weeks. Too much for one doll. Which is why I may need another. : )

Blythe Shopping List

On the way from Etsy for Emily

-knee high boots
-two brown polka dot dresses
-red and white striped socks
-A knit cap with tie straps
-A commissioned green crocheted dress

Have I completely lost it? She's a doll!!

Morning Blythe!

Emily Blythe got me up really early this morning to take pictures of her in front of the windowsill. It’s a gorgeous day and the wind is blowing pretty strong. I love the smell of the air in the Spring. I guess Blythe does too.

It is possible to take pictures of Blythe that are too perfect. I’m not really into just good pictures of her. I have to take a few warm up shots of her just looking like a cute doll until she begins that subtle but definite shift into a sort of silent, human like animation and begins to reveal a personality. It takes some time but after a while she does start to look like she’s either bored or really engaged. Or maybe that’s just me waking up and projecting on her. Either way, you can see it. She starts to show her many faces.

Click on this photo to see the entire series on my flickr account.

A New Scarf for Emily Blythe

Believe it or not I was up really late last night looking at over a thousand Blythe pics by a flickr user named bitterstrawberries. She's really an amazing photographer and really brings out the personalities of these dolls. One of them had this really cute scarf on and it inspired me to knit one for Emily myself while watching the movie RocknRolla. I think it came out pretty good. Of course it only took about twenty minutes or so.

Fnding Blythe

Around 2002 or 2003 I was in London England with my man-friend at the time. We had just walked through most of the exhibits and had ended up in the museum gift shop. Flipping through a bin of books I came upon a small book with a big headed doll on the cover entitled “This is Blythe.” I flipped through it slowly, seeing for the first time a series of photos of a doll who although had one face, seemed to express an abundance of subtle expressions. Whoever took these pictures fashioned her and posed her in situations, both dramatic, humorous and intelligently commenting on several aspects of modern culture. I was amazed. How could a doll convey so much? Who was this Gina Garan? Although this was clearly not a childrens book per say I still sensed an innocent, childlike tone about its direction. We must have been getting to the end of our trip because we were sadly almost broke and things in London are way more expensive then in America. The book was too expensive for me to buy at the time or maybe I was just not ready to commit buying something, which seemed so eccentric. I wrote down the title thinking it was only published in Europe and filed it away in my brain to be referenced several years later long after I’d broken up with the guy with whom I’d made the journey to London. I found the book again at some Barnes & Noble in Manhattan and found it as brilliant as ever if not more. I bought it and discovered that I was not alone.

Black Blythe is Beautiful and Emily needs a Sista!

Is there some kind of Skull and Bones society that has decreed that Ashton Drake should never manufacture a Black Blythe doll or that any information on how to attain one should ever be found online? What's a woman gotta do? Why wouldn't there be a Black Blythe doll! Come on people! Make it a limited edition, she's gonna fly off the shelf! We're in the time of Obama for Chrissakes! Blythe is to frikkin cool to not have a version of herself that reflects African American Heritage. Get with it!

I can't even figure out how a doll that was first created in the seventies by Kenner did not already have a black doll among among it's four prototypes. The first black Barbie came out in the sixties but I guess race relations were still too tense for Kenner to follow suit with Mattel.

Okay, so Blythe didn't catch on and she was discontinued but then she started to gain a huge underground cult following and Hasbro, and Takara and then Ashton Drake started producing replicas for adult collectors. Still not a black one in sight??? WHAT'S UP!!!

Can I get a customization link? I will DIY myself a darn Black Blythe!

Emily Blythe

Emily Blythe was born on April 8th 2009 which makes her an Aries. She is my first Blythe Doll ever. Ever since I bought her an entire underworld of Blythe has been opening up to me. It's crazy. Blythe has a serious cult following. I'm already planning on getting another pretty soon. I hope this isn't like what people always say about tatoos. I don't think I can afford a habit this expensive.