An Apple for New York

Blythecon 2013 in NYC is happening in October. For a lot of reasons, I will be there, but really I am just excited to see the many people who love Blythe as much as I do. Jean Yates


and I wanted a super duper donation to give this year that would be a cool gift for someone attending Blythecon this year, but would also be reflective of the things we like to do.



Jean likes to make cool jewelry and give things to people. I like to customize dolls and make outfits for them. While I was on a trip to Syracuse this past week, I was emailing her from my phone while hanging out in the car watching John drive. We decided on Apple, which is a green-haired doll Jean sent to me with a load of jewels fit for a queen.



I did a faceup for her and a couple sets of eyechips (she already had some really pretty ones she arrived with) and gave her a steampunk costume. Jean sent so many things, I wasn't completely sure I could get them all on her and also get them in photos. I think I did pretty well.



There was one really long belt piece that I used as a drop on the little top hat she is wearing. It is like a drapery pull with class. I think it goes with the overall theme and makes her especially ornate. The rest of the stuff includes earrings, a necklace, some wonderful pullcharms.



This girl is not going to leave here wanting, that is for sure. I got a vintage metal toolbox and sprayed it randomly with metallic and green paints, and she will ride in that as her time machine, to New York City.



Jean and I will both be there, along with a motley crew of dolls and people. If you are going, plan to stop by and say "hi".



We will be at a table set out for our For the Love of Blythe project. Hope to see you there.

Magic Bus

A few months ago I bought a goofy VW style bus for my dolls off Ebay. It's kind of on the small side, and there's no way Blythe could get her fat head into that van. Too bad. I don't have dolls that are small enough to even get inside, to be honest.



I have some dolls I painted with crazy flowery faces, mostly for myself and friends (though if you like this style, I do have one for sale in my etsy store, on the cheap side as far as these things go). The van is for them. It turns out if makes a good prop up device, so I used it today in photos. My friend Jean sent me some awesome jools to go with the crazy-faced girls. If you haven't seen her stuff, go over and look. She might have something you could talk her into. Today was the day to photograph my magic bus with the magical jools, and here is how it turned out. Thank you, Jean. We love our loot!

Bemasked

I have had a fascination with masks for quite awhile. I like masquerade masks, leather masks, painted masks, all sorts of masks. I don't really ever wear them. I just like them. Lately I have been painting dolls with masked faces. It is fun for me. It unleashes my doodlebug. I have always liked to draw squiggly lines and hearts and flowers and that sort of thing.

I spent most of the 4th and 5th grade in elementary school doing just that. Oh, and making paperdolls. Another form of doodling for me. The past couple of weeks I have been working on a skull mask (calavera) Blythe. I didn't want her to be depressing or scary exactly. I wanted her to be colorful. What better way to emphasize color than on a white mask background? So, her face got painted white. I then set to doodling.

My good friend Jean Yates agreed to do the jewelry for me. What's a doll without jewelry, I ask you? This one has some really fabulous things. Earrings (3, for her 3 ear piercings), 3 necklaces, 2 I strung together as a waist decoration, a butterfly pullcharm, and even some little beads at the tops of her shoes. Her name is Esmeralda. Esmeralda will be up for sale on Ebay on Sunday, December 10 at 7 PM PST. Please stop by and have a look if you are interested. The other photos are other masked girls I have been having fun creating. Hope I don't scare you. It's all in color and fun :)

More Fun With Mohair - PINK!

Bride of Frankenstein? No, that's just Pinkk, a mohair custom Blythe I finished a couple weeks ago for my friend, Jean Yates. I took that picture before washing and combing out her hair and it struck my husband that she looked like the Bride of Frankenstein. In the next photos you will see her with her hair coiffed more neatly :)



Awhile back, when I first thought I wanted to do more Blythe customizing, Jean sent me a bunch of dolls that she had around and wanted spiffing up. The agreement we had was that for every 2 dolls she sent, she would keep one and I would keep the other. So far I have done 3 sets of dolls like that, calling them all part of the "Serendipity Clan." Jean has 3, I have the other 3. Jean loves pink, and so out of 2 dolls, 1 pink, 1 purple, it is not surprising she picked the pink haired one. It is also not that surprising that she named her Pinkk :)



I'm really happy with how she came out. The pink dye job I gave her is quite variegated and the tonality is that it is lighter on the top and moves out to more vibrant as you get to the tips. I love that look. She has quite a lot of hair, and so it is wilder than some like it, but I love a lot of hair, and it has become just sort of the way I do things. The mohair is kid mohair, so is soft as a bunny, which makes having a lot of it quite desirable to me.



One feature of Pinkk that I am especially pleased with is her eyelids. I had in mind sort of cherry blossoms dropping off the trees. I am really happy with how they came out. I gave her a natural look in lashes rather than going uber glamorous and some freckles. I think the look suits her.



I am having a ton of fun customizing dolls and making costumes for them. I am way way way behind on my blogging and have a lot more to show you, from Monster High dolls that I have done to clothes that I have got for them as well. I will try to get to that sometime this weekend or next week. The hair is taking so long to do, that I just get more and more behind every doll I pick up! Pleased with the results, but who knew it could take so long?!



In the meantime, I turned 50 (!!) a week or so ago. I almost can't believe that. Where does the time go? A friend years back (who was 60 when I was 20) told me that when you get this age you don't feel any different than you did at 20 (true, for me anyway), but you look in the mirror and say, "who is that and what have they done with my body and face?!" I think that is probably true as well :) But, time marches on, and it's what it is. Don't think I will be the one to find the cure to aging. In the meantime I am happy playing with dolls, and imagine I will still be at 90. Wonder what the dolls will look like then?!



Hope you are having a warm spring wherever you are. We have had some lovely days in Vermont. It is in the 60s this week, and not humid, so can't really complain. Would love the 70s, but then the humidity comes, so this is okay for now. Enjoy!

For the Love of Blythe

I told you all I had a secret project up my sleeve.  It is being launched this week.  It's a Blythe community project involving about 50 artists from all over the globe.  The purpose is to get 7 teams of 7 artists from around the world participating together in creating OOAK Blythe dolls that will be auctioned for charity, with 3 of us, Fanny Zara, Jean Yates and I pulling together a book detailing the project.  Our project is called For the Love of Blythe.  We hope you will follow what we are doing and play dolls with us.  Fanny created a FTLOB Blog to capture highlights.  Please check it out.