Hello! It's me Whitney!

Hello! It's me Whitney! a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

So Whitney made her debut at my place last week and I love her!!! I'm so glad I got her! She is just the sweetest little lady. She's stylish, serious, funny, curious and adorable. She is the first stock Licca Blythe I have ever purchased. I didn't like licca bodies when I first started getting into Blythe but I absolutely love them now. Licca bodies which are more bendable in a sort of Gumby way give Blythes a very charming animation that is different from Takara bodies. They can hold things and wave and actually appear more physically engaged in photographed situations.

Another very charming thing about the Hollywood Blythe is how vintage she appears because of her pale make-up coloring. I never really dreamed I would like a Blythe with such pale coloring but it really does give her retro look that I'm a total sucker for and it gives me ideas for colors in future custom Blythes I may design.

Colors are so important in the message they can convey to the viewer. Because of their placement in a historical and cultural context, they often become like codes from the designer or manufacturer for how they want the viewer to think about or perceive a product. I find that kind of thing fascinating.

There are a few challenges with Whitney however.
1. Her hair is also very vintage, meaning a vintage mess. It looks adorable in pictures but it feels like awfulness. She has slightly matted, hard to comb curls. I plan in soaking her in fabric softener for a bit this week to see if that makes a difference. Otherwise, I don't mind it that much. I've heard how awful her hair is from other HB owners so it wasn't unexpected.

2. The ebay seller had also mentioned that the pull ring was missing but that it should be easily replaced. But HB is not an RBL with three screws, but an ebl with two. I can't bare the though of cutting her open to get to that string. I sent out an SOS on flickr for help and suggestions and was sent some instructional youtube videos on how to possibly replace her string without cutting her open. I haven't watched them yet but I really hope they work. So far I've been rolling her eyes down with my fingers which is fine but I need that pull string for the subtitles of expression that occur with the lids down at different levels. To Whitney's credit though, she's pretty darn expressive with her eyes wide open as well.

So that's pretty much it. I don't mind a doll with few challenges. It gives her some character. And in this case it is so totally worth it.