Suavitel!

I am really going full steam with this Blythe kick. I mean it’s insane and I can step back and see that but I don’t care. I fucking love every nutty minute of it!

Okay, so I’ve been telling myself that I need to get fabric softener to wash the girls hair. I’ve learned from the flickr groups and Blythe tutorial sites that you’re supposed to wash their hair with fabric softener, not regular shampoo. Until recently I hadn’t even really thought about what makes fabric softener different from liquid detergent. Naturally, I’ve always heard of fabric softener but I’ve never used it. I bought Woolite last year for a delicate Heatherette sweater I own and really love but apparently that’s not fabric softener.

Anyway I walked into Walgreens on Times Square after my photography class today. I walked over to the detergent isle where I saw large bottles of fabric softener but I was not trying to pay anything close to fifteen bucks just to wash my dolls’ hair. I scanned the shelf some more and there at the very top I saw it. Sauvitel. I remembered the name mentioned on a picture comment thread on flickr among some of the top Blythe crafters and collectors as a fabric softener they’d used to wash their dolls hair. And at $3.99 a bottle I immediately understood why. Perfect! There were two scents; disgusting and a little less disgusting so I picked out the latter in a yellow bottle said a silent hurray and checked out. When I got home I opened my mailbox with baited breath and found my third dress from Monkeyss on etsy. I squealed up the stairs to put it on Emily Sapphire and then remove her stock blue eye chips for a free pair I got from Blythedesires. It’s so on!

Smoking with friends

Smoking with friends
Originally uploaded by zanalee

Yesterday, at the last minute about an hour before I was due to meet up with a friend, I decided to go to Central Park East, near 110 and take Molly on a little trip down memory lane to a few places in the park, that I used to hang out when I was in high school. It was a wonderful day, warm and muggy but I loved the light and I had forgotten how nice that part of the park is and how close to me.

I still struggle with shyness about taking pics of Blythe in public and as i turns out, the Observatory is so perfect for my purposes. There are wonderful isolated but safe places there where people float in and out but at like 15 or 10 minute intervals. There is plenty of time to set up and imagine click away with out pressure or paranoia. I had a lot of fun. I will be going back there with the rest of the girls real soon.

It's started to give me ideas about a photo shoot which might be a more literal interpretation of things I did in the park with friends when I was in high school.

My Addiction Runneth Over

Item #741 (11.8 + 3.5) - available
Originally uploaded by annyblythe

On flickr they know how to find me. I swear I did not go looking for this.

Well actually I just bought two items from Sugarmag on Miss Blythe so I think that's why they added me. I am aching with adoration. *SIGH*

Hello Miss Blythe

At around 1:00 in the morning surfing around Blytheverse, I have stumbled upon a pearl. The Miss Blythe Store. My Blythe life has just been illuminated. It's a Blythe Doll, clothing accessory and etc resource totally separate from Ebay or TIBX (This is Blythe exchange) which I have to say with all due respect to Gina Garan is really hard to navigate. Miss Blythe is just a lovely clean interface, beautiful, informative, easy to use. However it is based in Europe but hey, you can't have it all.

Washing hair, trying clothes

I finally encouraged Nikki to put on some clothes. I found this dress for her on etsy. But I had to pin it in the back because I get the feeling it was intended for the original more busty Barbie that I grew up with. I love the patterns of these two fabrics.


Also I washed Molly's hair for the first time. I've read that I'm supposed to use fabric softener but I always forget to pick some up so I just used Woolite. Her hair is so funny when it's wet. It feels all heavy and like a bundle of sticks. It's squeaky and sounds like like steel when you comb it.

Back from the Bay

Believe it or not I was having dreams about my dolls on the plane to San Francisco. I think it was because I regretted not being able to take any of then with me but once I got there I was totally submerged in San Francisco and taking hundreds of pics wherever I went.

I think they had fun while I was away and as tired as I was getting back to NYC I was really happy to see them. I've been insanely contemplating purchasing another (had my eye on a Fruit Punch Blythe on ebay) but common sense has finally set in as I'm realizing how happy I am with the girls I have. I may have to get a cheap ADG though to embark on my Black Blythe customization. The idea was to use Emily Sapphire for this since she has been the initial guinea pig for my Blythe customization experiments but the thing is I love Emily Sapphire all the more because of the mistakes I've made with her. She still retains a certain sweet charm and distinctness that I love and I don't want to change her so extremely.

On the other hand it seems a bit crazy to buy another doll, no matter how cheap, just to take apart, sand, spray and possibly totally f*ck up. Well, we'll see. I've gotten really good at changing eye chips. But I still need to get some more pointers from my flickr groups before I even feel confident with this.

How to Make a Black Blythe Doll (The Journey Part1)

I've been doing some intense research online, specifically the "Black Blythe is Beautiful" group on Flickr which has many conversation threads around this subject. I posted topics, asked around. I received the message below in my flickr mail today. I've also been trying to reach out and get a sense of how many black women out there are collecting Blythe dolls and what their feelings are about the total lack of information on Black Blythe customization or the fact that Ashton Drake or Takara never made a black doll.

Hi!

Am trying to customize a black blythe doll and have seen that you've been looking on the same threads as I am. Have you had any luck?!? I'm just going to try a black skipper body with spray paint for plastic that matches for the face. Please let me know if you find anything out, and I will do the same for you. FunnyBunny is a very good source and very nice and helpful. Good luck!

Hi there!
I am slowly moving in the direction of customizing a black Blythe but I just feel there is a sadly lacking amount of instruction available on how to do so and I'm not sure why because I get the sense that a significant number of Blythe collectors want to make one. I have some superfine sanding paper, and I've got my eye on some vinyl spray paint on ebay motors because I read somewhere that this was the best spray especially for rubbery bendy parts like the legs. But i'm still terrified to open my Blythe's head. I don't know if I can put it back together right. And I'm not really confident about the sanding process either.

Pucchi collective has a lot of tutorials on everything but this. So far the only site I've found on one black blythe customization is by jazzmade but but even she claims that this worked for her and may not work for everyone. So I'm pushing on, looking everywhere I can. If I hear of anything I will definitely let you know!

: )

Feeling Frida Khalo

Feeling Frida Khalo
Originally uploaded by zanalee

Vida and Richard

Vida and Richard
Originally uploaded by zanalee

Kozy Kape (Vida) arrived yesterday morning by mail and was placed on the counter of my desk. I was so happy I hugged the box.

Vida is one of my favorite fictional characters from Richard Brautigan's story, "The Abortion" about a librarian who receives hand written books all hours of the day at a strange library in San Francisco. One day Vida comes in with a book about how much she hates her tragically drop dead gorgeous body. Brautigan has the most wonderful way of describing her awkwardness in percentages. He references it throughout her steady transformation from awkward and self hating to jovial and accepting with the help of his honesty, a candy bar and his friendly clothes.

"She had lost about 80% of her awkwardness since she had come to the library that evening late last year. The 20% she had left was intriguing."

Silent Movie Star?

A little fun with vignetting and sepia in iPhoto after I took Emily Sapphire's curlers out.

Vanessa Meets the girls

Vanessa Meets the girls
Originally uploaded by zanalee

She loved them! She totally gets it. That's why we're BFFS! We even flipped through Gina Garan's "This is Blythe" together. It was really fun

Hubby Thinks I'm Crazy

There's a long thread on the Blythe Blythe Blythe Flickr group entitled, "How did you first discover Blythe" and it is endlessly fascinating reading everyone's first Blythe experience story. If I was ever serious about doing a book on Blythe there is some really great stuff here. But what I'm really struck by is the ongoing theme of women who's husbands or significant others think they are crazy because of this hobby or obsession. I constantly read stuff like "my hubby also thinks I'm crazy" or "my b/f thinks im crazy now."

Myself, I have a significant amount of self consciousness around Fran when I'm playing or dressing or taking pictures of the dolls. He doesn't say anything but since I know he's freaked out by them, I have a deeper paranoia that he also thinks I'm crazy even though I'm sure he doesn't. It doesn't matter. I tend to sort of hide them when he's around and feel a little weird that I love them so much when he's so freaked out by them. I guess that's because I am usually able to share everything with him and this has (insane as it seems) become such a huge part of my life, yet I can't really show him the results of any of it.

I haven't told him about the third one I bought recently. I kind of want to just put it away for a bit when I get it and then pull her out later so it seems like she was always there. How insane is this?? I'm talking about DOLLS!

But that's just it you know? It's not just me So what is the deal? What's at the heart of all this?

The Doggone Girl is Mine!

Baby Be Mine
Originally uploaded by zanalee

Finally!!! I won her on TIBX (This is Blythe Exchange) this evening. Thank God!
My Blythes are making my apartment seem smaller than usual but who cares! I'm so excited! I can't wait until she gets here. I haven't really settled on a name though. I want something kind of exotic and esoteric. I want her to wear long gowns and take evening strolls in the woods to commune with nature and the moon. She'll be the a middle child, older than Molly but younger than Emily Sapphire. Any ideas?

Inventory

Inventory
Originally uploaded by zanalee

Recently I've been thinking that I have way too many doll clothes and that I really need to start budgeting and not buying every wonderful dress that catches my eye. So I took some inventory today to see what the girl have and it turns out they only have about ten dresses each. That's not a lot right? Plus maybe getting another Blythe doll soon and she's going to need a wardrobe as well. Anyway, I'm relived. I thought it was going to be much worse than this. Now I can continue to purchase more clothes guilt free. I will try though, to get them some more pants. I mean jeez they need something for down time right?

Atlantic Twins

Atlantic Twins
Originally uploaded by zanalee

Fun photo shoot yesterday morning.

Say No to Dresses!

I've been telling myself, Emily and Molly need more pants. I mean they only have one pair between them. I have tried to stay focused on purchasing pants only! But there are just way too many nice dresses out there! And they're so darn cute! When I got back from Arizona I kept getting dolly gear in the mail, I'd forgotten I'd even ordered before I left! It was great! I love mail. Ideally I'd like to get something nice in the mail every other week or so. I have a mail addiction.

So I was notified by one of my Blythe flickr contacts, jewelsblueberry about her own cheap used dress sale. You're not supposed to post anything publicly on flickr about buying or selling so she sent me a message. I bought two of her dresses, shipping free. Then I bought the one above from Little Miss Boutique on etsy. I have one of her dresses already. She does the halter neck really well.

Okay, that's it for now. I'm running out of room in my shoebox!

New Chips for Emily Sapphire

So I've always wanted to do this and after seeing a youtube tutorial which made it look pretty easy I was confident enough to try it for the first time on Emily Sapphire.

Tools

A lighter
glue sticks (I found them at AC Moore for 10 cents each)
scotch tape (to hold back her lashes while you apply glue sticks)

On the first try it didn't work. I lit the glue sticks, pressed them into Em's eye chips and left them on for like 20 minutes but when I came back to pull them out after the glue dried they just peeled right off of her eyes. The second time I light the ends of the glue sticks I made sure to press them onto her her eye chips more firmly.
This time I left them on for like 15 minutes or so and then held the back of her head and pulled straight out really quickly. They both popped out easily. I had to put the new chips in with a tiny bit of Krazy glue and they didn't go in with a snap and stay in when I pressed them like it was shown in the tutorial. But I was very happy and proud of myself. Now Em has a new pair of eyes and the old ones are still in fine condition. They peeled right off of the glue sticks with a little bit of prying. The remind me of contacts.