Retraction

I take back everything I said in the Cons section I wrote about the arrival of Ramona Rae, my newest Blythe Doll clone. I was just on ebay checking out other Blybes (ahem!) and basically every one I click on is being sold bt the same seller. The description below is listed in large letters on the description of each one. So in all honesty, I knew what I was getting and just forgot all about this description.


"For sale is brand new Blybe / Basaak color changing eyes doll. She stands 12” tall. She is medium quality doll. Her eyes change colors with the pull of a sting attached to the back of her head . She can move her arms & legs & head. She can twist & turn her waist. She is wearing hand made outfit made by my freind. She comes with doll stand, her two original outfits, and a pair of ballet shoes. Her 2 extra outfits are not showed in the listing but they will be included in the box. 

To be honest, most Blybe & Bassak dolls I have received from all sources recently are shaky on their feet. Her hip joints are loose and that makes her wobble. But this problem is quicky fixed when rubber bands are put around her hip joints. I will have this done when I ship her. I will also put cute panties on her so the rubber bands do not show."

The seller really was great, keeping me and three other unfortunates whose Blybes went temporarily wayward updated on anything they happened to hear or get in writing from the post office. So cheers! I sure hope that doesn't happen again because I think I want another one!
: )

Kenner Blythe Extraordinaire: Yatahbazah

I wish I could import a picture but Mr. Samaras is very protective of all his promotional material. And rightfully so because it is the some of the most immaculate, amazing Kenner Blythe work you will ever see.

The solidification of my obsession with Blythe took place as I explored the Blythe world on flickr but when I first saw Mary Collins in Yatazah's photostream it was like, I'd landed on another planet. Here he, was a male, of all people who took the life of this doll so seriously and treated her with such reverence and genuine communion that I was completely moved and totally sold on the Blythe spirit. So much of what I found in his collection drives home the fact to me, that a doll is only as amazing, as lively, as soulful, as mysterious and provocative, as complex or as lovely as it's owner.

Please read this interview with Yatabazah on Mademoiselle Blythe. It really is very good. Yatahbazah is obssessed primarily with Kenner Blythes which are the original Blythes first released in the 70s by Kennet. The asking price for these dolls now are ridiculously astronomical in my opinion and I have never trully craved one but what he does with them is just sheer divinity. He does have an aversion to neo Blythes which are all the Blythe molds that came out after Kenners, eg. Takaras, ADGS, SBL, etc. and thinks that SBLs are "hideous" but I can't hold that against him just because I don't feel the same. He's an intense guy and his work is phenomenal. I have yet to be exposed to his work in movies but I am fascinated at the odd juxtapostion of acting career and Doll expertise. That just blows me away every time. Anyway, enough of my blathering. Go read this!

This is Ramona Rae!

Originally uploaded by Zanalee

Ramona Rae is pretty much done and I love her so much I could eat her up!! She's so happy to be here. She represents some of my best work! I'm so proud of her! I sanded matted the faceplate really well for a nice smooth painted finish. Her face came out just perfectly, immaculate! I carved her lips a bit to give her a little smile and some definition. I'm thinking of painting her lips just a slightly darker brown, maybe something with a teensy bit of sparkle like a lip gloss. I'm still researching that.

Next is the issue of changing three pairs of her eye chips which I know is notoriously difficult with a Blybe since their chips are glued in in an awful way. So I'm prepping myself for that as much as I can. As for her body, the legs don't bend but that doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. And it dried so perfectly that pants just slide right on her legs, very much the same as Reya's ADG body. I'm starting to think I may have to swap the two Licca bodies I have coming from ebay. I may have to give up on them. I just can't stand it when the legs turn out all sticky. It's such a waste. I'm so glad Ramona's body turned out perfectly.

NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!!!!

I'm not sure where to start! It's my birthday, thank you very much! I've already received some of the best gifts ever yesterday in the mail, one of them being a birthday gift for a great friend of mine. That gift is Ramona Rae, the first Blybe or Blythe clone I have ever purchased. Here are Ramona's pros and cons.

Pros
She's adorable! The quality of her hair is actually not bad at all. I was worried about that but I really like it alot and it's jet black not dark brown and I love black hair!!! Features of the Blybe Basaak body are that her arms swivel around unlike Blythe which I think is kinda nice. Her waist turns just like a regular Blythe.

Cons
If I intended to keep her as she is, the cons would be really irritating. First off, her legs don't bend which I knew before hand from the research I had done on Blybes. I thought that would annoy me more though but it doesn't! I love her cute unbending legs. In fact I have a feeling that this body will probably take spray paint more successfully than the Licca bodies I have coming on the way. But the Blybe body is also a bit wobbly at the waist joint so we'll see. Many of these choices will have to made by her new mommy who I hope will be getting a flickr account so we can keep up with Ramona Raes adventures as well as play dates because yes there is another NYC BLYTHE MEET IN CENTRAL PARK ON SUNDAY JUNE 13th!!!!! YEAHSSS!!!  I've been holding that in for a bit but I known about it for weeks.

Okay, back to Ramona Rae. There are rubber bands wrapped around the inside of her thigh joints. Yeah, that's kind of a no no. Like how do you sell a doll like that? I believe the bands are there so that her legs move with some stiffness for pose ability. What happens if I decide to take them off? Maybe I don't wanna find out.

I was already aware of The high hairline, which is why I got her with bangs which completely cover the line. The eye chips. They might be the bane of my existence. What I do know from observing Suedeheads
Blybe custom pics is that are really hard to get out and replace. The posts on a regular Blythe chip have to be sawed down to go in a Blybe eye mech because the space is not that deep in a Blybe eye socket. On close examination, their own chips are  badly glued in but this is not apparent in pictures or from far away. I am not looking forward to dealing with that but at least one or two of her existing eye chip colors are not so bad as they are. The green for instance are fine. Again, these are more choices that her new mommy will make.

I definitely want to carve her lips and perhaps give her new lashes. I'm lash crazy with Blythe right now. I'll be checking out all the best custom Blybe pics I can find for the next week or so. Thankfully, I also have Suedehead to give me some pointers on her own Black Blybe process. Hers was one I followed pretty closely when I first started thinking about doing this.

So get ready for Ramona Rae our first Black Blybe!!!! Coming Soon!

Above is Neige sporting her new Heather Sky Scalp which finally arrived from Norway yesterday along with three "Chocolate Emotions" dresses I bought last month from a clean-out sale on Plastic Paradise and totally forgot about. It's been a while since I had a Blythe with so much hair so for now I've just put Neige's hair in two braids until I can figure out how else to style it later. *Sigh* It's going to be a great weekend!

ADAD 69/365: Ramona Rae

ADAD 69/365: Ramona Rae
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

The Blybe is here!!!! The notoriously long lost Blybe I never talked about because it was just too heartbreaking for me and her new mom to think that she could be stuck forever in some mail hell. She came all the way from Thailand and I had just about given up hope she would ever get here because the seller on ebay told me that there had been some kind of confusion somewhere and at least three other dolls he sent out had this same problem.

Anyway, when I came back from lunch at work today, there were three heavenly little international packages on the desk for me and she was one of them!!! I'm gonna start on her this weekend!!

More later....much more!!!!
: D

Sunday Morning Reading

Sunday Morning Reading
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

Reya: Ahem! Just doing a little light reading.
Emily: Uhhmm, you're going to be hard to take for a few weeks aren't you?
Reya: I really don't know what you're talking about. I'm just saying, your magazine lacks a certain joie de vive where as mine seems to have a sort of stellar magnitude.
Emily: *SIGH*

Hi Yall!

Hi Yall!
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

My little Neige Neige is still waiting for her hair from Norway. It was mailed out on the 12th so I'm hoping it will show up some time next week in time for my birthday. That would be amazing! Meanwhile, I'm adoring the heck out of her. I've also ordered two more Licca bodies and I'm praying I can make them work, because Neige's legs are just atrocious! I mean there is not a hair or mark or print they don't have on them. So I may taking a risk here but I need to try this again. I just love how sweet and animated Licca bodies are! Look at her tiny little hand waving hello at you. I love my Takaras but they can't really do that.

Have I posted pics of Angora Lee's mohair re-root lately? Well I will. It's going well but there is just so much hair! She's gonna look like a bi-racial luck troll! LOL!!!! I'm half kidding. But the hair is just so insanely soft when it dries and has so many shades and textures of golden browns, it's just amazing.

New Lashes for Angora Lee

Originally uploaded by Zanalee

Got these false eyelashes at Rickys after work yesterday and cut them down a bit. They're not perfect but not to shabby. She looking pretty sassy already.
: )

Ode to "Dancing with The Stars!"

 

The finale for "Dancing with the Stars" is coming up soon! Yes, I am a fan!  My favorite dance is the tango! I get goose pimples when I see it done well. I get a rumbling in my stomach. I think anything Derek Hough does on DWTS is magic! He is fucking amazing and can pretty much do no wrong in my book. I love his energy, his movements, his choreography; golden! He and Nicole are on fire this season. I never watch the show from the beginning though. I just wait for all the idiotic contenders to get picked off and start watching when the serious dancers are left. That being said, I have no idea how Chad Ocho Cinco managed to stay in as long as he did. Nuff said on that. I just discovered that Derek Hough is 25 years old which means I have been crushing on a child these past few years! UGH! Well cheers to him for accomplishig so much so early, I guess you have to in the dance world. I also really love Maks and Erin. Maks is a bit over the top with the machismo but an amazing dancer. And Erin, is a joy to watch. Both couples are well matched. It's going to be a hard choice. 

My Third Custom Black Blythe

My Third Custom Black Blythe
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

Introducing Angora Lee!

Aside from studying for my finals, this was mostly what I did on Saturday. I put together this mosaic using Flickr toys so I could get a look at her different eye chips and expressions all together. Ahhh, I'm in love with her. I'm so glad, I'm getting better at this. But she is far from complete.

I have to switch out those front facing blue eye chips, get her new eyelashes, get her a new body, (I'm gonna try my hand at one more Licca) paint her lips (I'm gonna take my time on that) and finish her mohair re-root which is coming along nicely, I'm almost afraid to say, because my first experience with re-rooting has not been the best.
For right now she's packed away until I finish her other components but she's pretty much looking like the bomb. The gold eyeshadow was something I wanted to try out to see if I could it in the future. At first I thought it was a bit much but it only took a few minutes before I began to really love it.

Okay, well this week I'm hoping that Neige's "Heather Sky" scalp will arrive from Norway. Our swapper has reported having already received the "Simply Mango" scalp on her end, which is super! I can't wait for ours to get here!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Back to the grind!

DOT-Z for Blythe

I don't know too much about Dot-Z except that I found their dresses, rummaging around in the bins of Gina Garan's studio at my first NYC Blythe meet in April and I was floored by the tailoring, the immaculate neatness of their designs. I deduced by the clean lines and the architecturally reminiscent geometric shapes that it must be an Asian designer. In the picture confettilexi selected of Reya for the back cover of Lucky-Blythe Magazine Reya is wearing the Dot-Z dress I bought from Gina that day.

The two above are a couple of their new dresses. God, I wish I knew how to read Kanji! LOL! I think I can only order them from "This is Blythe" but I wish there was a way to order direct from Dot-Z. Anyway, I have a big old heart palpitation whenever I look at their website. I'm crazy for tiny couture.

lucky-blythe apr :: ad-on-the-back

lucky-blythe apr :: ad-on-the-back
Originally uploaded by confettilexi

Reya has made the back cover of the latest series of Lucky Blythe Magazines by confettilexi!!!! Hitting the shelves soon!

OOOHHH! She's a star!

LOL!!!

The Haight

The Haight
Originally uploaded by whitefridaynight is in Buenos Aires!

Remember Perrin the Traveling Blythe who came to stay with me for a few weeks last December? Well it looks like she's become a Hippy on the Haight in San Francisco!

LOL!!! Peace Perrin!
XOXO

Check out more of Perrin and the other Traveling Blythe  Luka
on It's a Small World!

Prima Dolly***Heather sky

Prima Dolly***Heather sky
Originally uploaded by ｒｍ

So it looks like I've found a scalp donor on flickr for Neige! Well actually, it a relatively even scalp swap. I am swapping my "Simply Mango" scalp for this beautiful Heather Sky Scalp seen here in a pic taken by r m. Camilla, my fellow swapper is from Norway and was the first and only person to respond to my offer. I am very grateful as I would love for Neige to be finally complete. I'm still changing two pairs of eye chips as well and maybe eye lashes as I mentioned before.

Expecting List

-Black boots from a cleanout sale on Plastic Paradise
-A dress, from "Little Miss Boutique" on Etsy

I'm really pushing it money wise. I know it. But the boots from the cleanout sale were super cheap. The dress, I just had to have.
YIPPEEE!

In my next entry I will begin to tackle the issues surrounding my Blythe Doll addiction and how the furlough proposal submitted by NYC Governor, David Patterson may affect it.

JUST KIDDING!!!! LOL!!!

The Girl, The Hair...

Both arrived today finally!! They were on the desk when I came back to work from lunch. It was hard for me to jump up and down about it since I've just grown mentally exhausted from waiting but I was glad that she finally got here. The mohair I knew would be here quickly. The seller is really nice, straight forward, and does business up front. I got a confirmation when it was shipped and knew it would get here immediately. And let me tell you, it is unbelievably soft! Like nothing you've ever felt. If I get this re-root done successfully, I will spend most of my time with my face buried in a dolls hair! That is before I ship her off to be sold, if I can do that! I get attached!

Anyway, to the left is our new "Factory Girl." How can I describe a "Factory" Blythe? As I understand it, and I'm just learning about this myself, she's a bit like a mutt, composed of different bits of Blythes, eye chips, scalps, makeup whose origin you don't really know and then sold off. All I know is they're relatively cheap and suit my purposes perfectly. On flickr, it's fun to see collectors recieve their "Factory Girls' because even if you've seen her picture, you sometimes still never really know what you're gonna get. Sometimes it's surprisingly great. Sometimes not. I have my eye on like two more but let's not get into that madness now. I have such a hard time focusing on what's right in front of me! Jeez.

I'm in the middle of arranging a scalp swap for Neige, a dark haired RBL scalp for her Simply Mango scalp. I love the SM scalp, think it's fun and all but I'm not married to it. I won't miss it that much. Anyway, we'll see how that goes.

Sanding and spraying this lovely weekend. Wish me luck!

Neige finds herself 2

Neige finds herself 2
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

I very much like the tone of Neige's face with the darker hair color. I even like this bob but Ideally, her final hair will be longer and have more texture. Either that, or I will find some way to dye the Simply Mango Scalp Blythe a darker color for her. But I can see Neige's spirit more clearly in this scalp and I'm in love with her.

Lastly, I still need to change at least two pairs of her eye chips and I'm curious about testing out another pair of eye lashes on her as well now that I've figured out how to to do that.

Discovering New Blythe Clothing Designers

Licorice Boiled wool coats
Originally uploaded by *stellinna*

What I hate about discovering new Blythe clothing designers is when, like tonight or any other time I happen to be strolling happily through the wonderful world of Blythe through flickr and I see a truly jaw droppingly amazing designer but then I go to their Artfire or e-shop and nothing is ever there! It hurts! It really does. I see all this incredible stuff that they made like months ago but now there is nothing.

Stellina is someone I just happened upon just now and I am on the verge of fming her (Flickr mail) now to find if there will be anymore of this stunning fabulousness in the future. Her photography skills are pretty nifty as well. She has an amazing sense of consistent, evocative and sophisticated color combinations. I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me on flickr. How many times I've seen a designers stuff long after they have seemingly peaked or petered off for whatever reasons and left behind empty and abandoned etsy and or Artfire shops. It's so sad.

Well, I'm off to be a pest now because like common!!! I need that coat! I MEAN REALLY!!

Looking for a good hairstyle

Looking for a good hairstyle
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

Now that I'm resigned to the fact that Neige is far from perfect, I'm starting to love her. Her legs are all sticky from my fingerprints and have lint on them from the pants I put on her hoping to protect them but I just love her little licca body and I'm going to try and keep it despite the fact that I could always just get an ADG body. Now I have to embark on another crazy ass hair journey and this time it's not just what hair, it's how to get the RBL scalp out of that darn thing that clips to their face plates. It's a great thing when it comes to taking them apart but it's not so great when it comes to customizing them.

I'll be referencing tutorials and consulting experts and keeping you posted long the way.

In other news, I have a Blybe that was supposed to be here weeks ago which has been stuck somewhere in transit forever! I really am too annoyed to go on at length about that.

I'm expecting another Blythe I ordered on ebay any day now. This will be my attempt at a second AA Blythe custom. We'll see. Whenever I look at this woman's ebay store, I can't believe how cheap the Blythes are and how cute and in great condition. They are all nude and don't come with any stock but that's never a problem because I always end up changing their clothes anyway. It makes me want another one so badly even though I am really broke and have no business even thinking about it.

Neige Almost Done

Originally uploaded by Zanalee

Okay, she does look kind of cute here with the "Simply Mango" scalp. But I AM NOT KEEPING IT.
...I don't think. I need sleep. LOL!

I put Neige in a bathing suit because it has been a very hot summer weekend! I mean it is humid today. Okay so!

Poor Niege has given me so much trouble (the screws are not even in on her face plates here) that it's been hard for me to be nice to her and I do apologize for that. She was supposed to go on ebay but that is no longer possible since I cannot possibly put something so imperfect on the market so Neige is officially mine. I have another RBL on the way from Lena. I really wanted to use a Licca for her as well but it looks like I may have to get my hands on another ADG bod.

-Two sets of Neige's eye chips have to go. Probably the green and the blue. I want something warmer.

- I'm going to have to get rid of the Simply Mango hairs and tackle to harrowing task of hair replacement again but first I have to get the scalp out of that thing which snaps into the face plates on all RBLs. This may take a bit. Fun times...

-Also, I'm not sure I was ever a big fan of that lip color and may change it again. I'll wait and see how I feel after I change her hair before I did that though.

- I gave her sleep eyes and noticed that I boggled* her quite a bit more than I had intended which is fine. I like it.

*Boggling is when you cut a piece away from the back of each lid so that the lid rests further back and reveals more of the eye so the dolls eyes appear to be wider open basically.  When BL Blythes or Licca Blythes were released they came  boggled and exclusively with Licca Bodies.

ADAD 44/365: Takeo

ADAD 44/365: Takeo
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

Took Takeo and a few other dolls out to Central Park this afternoon. it was his first time out of the apartment believe it or not. Here he is relaxing in an ivy patch looking just as fine as ever.

At home I left Neige's newly sprayed Licca body sitting to dry on the windowsill. More on that tomorrow. I really enjoyed the weather today. I hope you did too wherever you are!