HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

HELLO 2011!

From me and mine to you and yours!

Failed Expedition

Originally uploaded by Zanalee

We got as far as the park across the street before turning back again. It was bitterly and we we surrounded by a solid snow wall. I hope it's less windy this week. I love snow pics but I wasn't ready for this at all.

Shelf's Up!

Shelf's Up!
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

We finally put the shelf up this morning for the girls. My sweety is very proud of the job he's done and I am so happy to have them all together and out of the way. This is a shelf just for them, so that they're no longer on top of boxes of their own clothes. It's really important for me to have these things separate so that I can focus better.

I love looking up and seeing them all together above me, looking like they're chatting or gazing out towards the window or at nothing. I think they're happy. I know I am. Now I can start looking for that sweater of theirs that seems to be missing, not to mention straightening up my own stuff. Oh the holidays! Bring it on!

Happy Holidays from my girls in Harlem!

Happy Holidays from my girls in Harlem!
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

Happy Holidays Blythe Lovers and Doll lovers in general and to your loved ones!
May your Holidays be blessed and may you be surrounded with love, warmth and imagination!

Picture Show! Welcome to my life!!!

 Jewels Blueberry is one of my all time fave Blythe photographers. She was one the first people whose unique, vintage and retro technique I poured over whenever she would post new photos and I would just wonder, how in the heck did she do that? How does she just create this ancient, worn, faded, genuinely vintage look? And it's more than just a look. It's a feeling. And that's hard to accomplish by just pointing a camera at something. That is something inside the photographer which cannot be duplicated, only imitated.

I swear I thought that maybe she was still using film or something! I was so in awe. Finally, I just said, fuck it! I'm going to just ask her. To my great pleasure, she was super nice and always has been. She was kind enough to let me in on some of the filter software she was using. Yesterday she told me about the Picture Show app on iPhone and I just knew that if she was swearing by it, I had to have it. I checked out some of the pictures she had uploaded using it and I was sold!

Among the seven photo apps  have on my iPhone, Picture Show maybe the only one to rival Hipstamatic. Yes, I said it! I installed it yesterday at work and when I got home I spent the rest of the evening snapping away and exclaiming to myself out loud! I just am blown away by how good the filters look and by the combo of frames, vignetting and color adjustments available. It is incredible. I can see that in quality, it is not as subtle as Hipstamatic. In that department, Hipstamatic really does have it all over the other picture apps but it also depends I imagine on how you use it. I have only taken pictures with it using florescent light sources so far. God, only knows what it can do in natural light! I can't wait to see!

A great new photo app is like a new door for me! I swear, it's like everything else that sucks just disappears and all I can see are possibilities! *Aaaaahhh*

2608 (for zenzile)

2608 (for zenzile)
Originally uploaded by valentine westphal

I don't mind telling you that Christmas for my Blythes is going be amazing this year!!! No, I mean really! There maybe a recession but they sure as hell don't know anything about it.
HAHAHA!!!

YEA!!!!! I'm so excited about this HOP baby doll dress!! Julie just cranks out the most amazing dresses and I'm like an addict! I consider it to be fate whenever I happen to be on flickr as she posts up new stuff. My fiancee who was sitting next to me at the time just didn't understand all the noises I was making while I was clicking like crazy to get this into my paypal cart. I had my fingers in my mouth! LOL!!

Frankie Stein Monster Rock

Frankie Stein Monster Rock
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

So I went to a Prince Concert in Jersey this passed Friday with my bff who lives in Philly and I have really been devoured by a storm of revived love that I have always had for that man. As you can see I'm still on a Prince high and so was Frankie Stein this morning when I took these pics of her rocking out on Hamsa's punkaholic guitar. She could totally play with Prince right? I'm in bed now while i write this, listening to a Prince Mix CD I made years ago. I am pretty much in heaven and can't wait to see him again. Yes, I will be seeing him again. He makes me happy as a kid!

Perrin's travel will end soon!

Perrin's travel will end soon!
Originally uploaded by MinkiDynamite / Sandra

Oh the places Perrin has been! It's so great to see this montage put together by MinkiDynamite on flickr who came up with the idea for the "Traveling Blythes" in the first place. It was only last December that Perrin came to stay with me and the other girls for a week or so. She is such a sweet and serious little thing but I have to admit, she's my fave of the two that were sent out. She taught me to love the licca body which I was not at all fond of previous. Now I have to AA Blythes, Neige and Angora, both with Licca bods.

Thanks Perrin! I even received a postcard from her while she was in France several months ago! And now her travels are almost done. Oh to be a traveling doll with new clothes and adventures at every port!

: )

{play with blythe}

{play with blythe}
Originally uploaded by Kirbee {Sugar Sweet Dreams}

Seriously...
: D

Katja's ADG

ADG Custom Ref Pics
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

This is Katja AKA Blytheowl's beautiful ADG. She has done this amazing carving herself and sent her to me for a BB custom spray. I'm super excited and can't wait to see what she looks like when she's done.

She was at the Blythe Meet last weekend and asked if I would consider doing this BB custom for her to which I said yes and breathed a sigh of relief since I've had the best luck spraying the ADG body than with any of the other Blythe bodies (Licca, Takara, haven't tried Neemo yet) out there.

However, she would like to be able to keep the color of the lips in tact and I have never done that before when customizing Black Blythes. I generally spray the entire face. I was thinking about taping off the lips. That would have to be some really deft tape work.
Any ideas?

NOTE TO READERS:

 

On flickr, one has the option, if one would like, to "blog" a photo as a reference. This way when anyone reading the entry clicks on the photo, it will link back to the person whose photostream it belongs to. If you are unable to do this but have the option to download the photo or "grab the html code" please be considerate and credit the person by listing their name or username in a caption underneath or above the photo. This is what I do whenever I can. If you admire my work, that's great. Give me credit for it because it comes from me. Thanks. I would do the same for you, and I always will, because I respect your work.

NYC Blythe Meet Blast!

Mellisa's Lovely Pink Mohaired Girl

I was actually the second one to arrive at St. Alps Teahouse, which means that Mellisa, the organizer was already there as I walked in, she was setting out her dolls (she has more than anyone I know!) on the little tables and taking pics. Oh, I can't tell you how exciting it feels to arrive early and to set my girls out next to Mellisa's and greet everyone else as they arrived just shortly after, some new faces but mostly ones I know. Linda (Hollychan) and her daugther Katie (Blythechan) and Katja (BlytheOwl) Erica, (Ericaduh) and Georgette (I'm not sure I know her name on Flickr, then Damon (devolanges) and Siri who I met for the first time but have seen very often on flickr as IriS*blakK. It's so funny meeting people whose work and you probably are very familiar with and have probably chatted with online but have never met before. I've gotten used to being called by my flickr name, Zanalee. I will say my real name and people are fuzzy and then I say Zanalee and they're like "Ahhhh!!!" LOL!!


Hong's Blythe Licca


Anyway, our little space in the back of St. Alps got pretty full really quickly and within minutes it was abuzz with activity, fabulous Blythes, cameras snapping and bubble tea sipping. I;m so glad to have had this be my third meet. I was so much more relaxed this time.I was able to float around from conversation to conversation of just be quiet, sip my amazing tea (Black Sesame. Uhmmm the best!!) and take pictures and just disappear into the amazing faces of all these incredible customized Blythes, stock Blythes, Kenner Blythes and even *SIGH* a beautiful charismatic, absolutely heart stealing BL that belonged to Hong. You will see in my Blythe Meet stream that I took several of her. God, she just radiates! If any body really loves me, a Goldie or Hollywood Bl for Christmas will be proof of that. LOL!! No, really.

Mango Bowie and Gina!

Afterward, we took our customary stroll to Gina Garan's studio where this time I met her son Carpenter for the first time. He greeted us on the hallway where we could already here Gina's voice echoing from her studio. It's always an amazing experience being in Gina's studio and she is just such a genuinely cool lady.

Incidentally, I noticed a lot of new dolls in the space I hadn't seen before and happy to see that there were several dolls of color among them. Not that I feel she is at all responsible to have any around. But it was nice to see more than before. There were these adorable customized petites that I don't remember before at all. Oh! They were so sweet! I wanted to look at every one! It looked as if she had just gotten in a large shipment of stuff because there were lots of boxes stacked on the right as we came in. Some were Blythe wigs and others dolls and some really cool Blythe glasses that I had to tear myself away from.

I was very restrained in my purchases this time. The truth is I had a pretty good idea what I needed for the girls. I just got two tops from Moshi Moshi, waiting on a hat from BK and ahem, have a HOP dress being commissioned as I write this. I'm doing okay. I need to scale back a bit and focus on custom stuff so I mostly bought eye chips I really liked and a few clothes. I had to put away a couple of pairs of shoes I liked because I went over my budget a bit but all in all I got what I needed within my means.

I chatted with Gina a bit about really wanting to have a meet which included customizers so that we could have some carving and make-up tutorials. She said I should drop her a line around the Spring to talk about arranging something. I would be sooooo jazzed for that! Imagine? I mean that would rock my socks!! LOL!!

I also had a great chat with Erica about making Black Blythes and she told me a little about her technique coloring eyelids with pastels. Her work is just amazing. Also, it's become apparent that I should be using MSC (Mr. Super Clear) to seal in my work when I'm done to protect it I suppose from smudging and other elements. I've been aware of the use of MSC in doll customs for a while now but I wasn't sure how necessary it was to use until I spoke with Erica. So I'll have to get some pretty soon.

I also talked a bit of camera shop with Katie because I saw that she was shooting with a film camera at the meet and she had a lomo flash attached to Nikon EM which turned out to be the exact same model I have. I was impressed with the attachment of the plastic powder blue Lomo attached to this old black manual camera. She showed me the adapter that allowed the flash to be compatible with it. She also told me about the cool effects you can get shooting expired film. I've seen many photos I love shot with expired film on flickr so I'm really excited to try it myself.  So I had a really great time. I mean I was on a high all day afterward! But that could also be because I was starving and forgot to to eat anything all day besides that bubble tea. LOL!!

saturday, 12.4.10

saturday, 12.4.10
Originally uploaded by cybermelli

Hey, sorry to mention this so late! There's a holiday Blythe meet tomorrow! I wasn't sure I would be able to make it which I guess is why I never mentioned it. We're meeting at the same place we met for the first Blythe meet I ever attended last year. ST. Alps Teahouse and then off to Gina Garan's studio. Please put your Blackface Blythe away Gina! I'm coming for a visit! LOL!!!
Just kidding...sort of.

"Sugar Fairy"

"Sugar Fairy"
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

My first experiment with seed beads and invisible thread. It's hard to see since they're basically the same color of the dress and so close to her neckline but I didn't want to take any chances in case they turned out looking awful.

Heartfelt

Heartfelt3
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

I cut out a little felt heart and glued it on to the felt dress I made on Tuesday. I'm in love with the way it looks on Hamsa. I got a few yards of sequins last in the garment district but when I got home and moved them around on the felt it didn't really look like what I envisioned in my head for a design. I may have to go with something tinier like sparkles or glitter. I will definitely be buying more felt today. I also need to tackle how I'm going to close it up in the back. Snaps? Velcro?

So good I'm Blogging it

So good I'm Blogging it
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

This is not the best shot of these lovely blouses by Hilary Wagstaff for Moshi Moshi but you should be able to see even through the cellophane just how precious and detailed they are. I am blown away by them!

I couldn't really afford them but I didn't want them to get away. When I saw them I was so captured, not only by the detail but also the energy and imagination of them. They look so much better in person than you can tell here. I think I was also dying to see how she closed up the backs. She's just such a pro! They really are little miniature blouses!

I think one of the things I've always loved most about Hilary's Blythe wear is that I would absolutely wear most of her stuff if they human sized. She's a very practical designer, with a vintage palette but she doesn't ever seem to over romanticize. And not taking anything away from all the countless charming over the top fantasy designers out there, whom I adore as well. I just really appreciate her flare for the sweet, tailored and modest in the doll clothing realm which often defaults to fantasy and kitsch merely on the basis of it's subject being a doll.

Craft Ambitions

My First Felt Dress

I have creative spurts, peaks, spikes if you will. I have pending doll/craft projects laying about all over at any given time. I have an addiction to newness and I think this explains a great deal of my tendency to collect unfinished projects. Occasionally, the excitement over that newness doesn't last. 
Last night I was struck with the need to attempt several projects at once, but I plan to see them through to completion. I bought several pieces of felt in the craft section at Kinokuniya yesterday. I've been dying to work with felt and when I came upon these fat squares while I was at lunch yesterday, I just grabbed the opportunity. I had a great idea for the beginnings of a simple, seamless Blythe dress so I came home and made a pattern using a couple of dresses I already had. The first one I made was a bit wonky. The second which Hamsa is wearing to the left is closer to what I'm going for. I feel so ashamed being the daughter of a seamstress who graduated and taught at the Paris Academy of Fashion that I don't know a lot of sewing terms so bare with me. I mean the thing is I didn't sew anything, which is exactly my intention. LOL!! I always hated sewing. I would just sketch dresses and get my mom to make them. I think it's probably more that I'm intimidated of sewing then that I hate it. You know how that goes. I am in total awe of designers who are incredibly skilled at sewing like my mom and Valentine Westphal and Hilary Wagstaff  but I never for a second think that I could ever be that good because I would always get really frustrated when I was younger helping my mom with all the needles and bobbins and holding the pieces straight in the sewing machine. I was awful at it But I loved playing with her fabrics and draping them around me and thinking of things they could be used for. I was good at imagining and drawing, not so much execution where fashion was concerned. I made bathing suits for my Barbies which was a simple process of sewing two spandex halves together and turning them inside out. I was lucky if I remembered not to sew the leg holes shut. LOL!!

But ever since I saw this felt exhibition last summer with my cousin at the Cooper Hewitt Museum I've had it in my mind to make a dress for myself or Blythe from felt. I was so impressed by how the felt made garment pieces on display seemed literally molded onto the form and without any sewing or seams because felt takes on the form of the owner eventually and becomes like a kind of fabric sculpture. So anyway, that's what I have in mind for these Blythe dress pieces. I also plan on gluing little designs on them the way mom used to do on felt animals she made for our Christmas tree. She was into creation myths at the time and cut out a bunch of animals that represented those found in the Mayan "tree of life" myth, from the highest winged creatures to the lowest underground serpents. Yes, my mom is one of a kind, really ahead of her time. She glued on sequins for eyes and thin bits of felt for stripes or whatever she saw fit and it was all based on animals from the tree of life that she had seen in this huge  reference book on Ancient Art that she had borrowed from the library. This was combined by all the usual more traditional Christmas tree decorations, lights, icicles, wreaths, fake snow spray. We had a very eclectic tree. : ) 

In addition to the dress, I also spray painted Bowie's eyelids green with a little gold and glued her scalp into her coolcat dome which arrived a day ago finally! I'm super happy so far with how she's coming out. I also decided to work a little bit more on carving her nostrils. I think they look good, although I have no real idea what I'm doing. It's really helped a lot reading Fanny Zara's incredible fashion and customizer interview blogs this week. I just try to look at the work of people whose work I really like, like Melly Kay and Gbaby and others. I always feel that there must be some technique to carving but it seems as if everyone has their own unique way of doing it.  I love the diverse result of all that uniqueness and how special all their dolls look when they are done. They have such a sweet and singular spirit.