Last, but certainly not least, in this year’s March Talent Showcase is Kate, better known as Moofers or Moofala in the doll community. While Kate is not a stranger to customizing dolls or sewing or them, she’s new to the always interesting world of Blythe eyechips. A lot of people may paint eyechips, but hers have become popular since she started painting them. Maybe your next custom will want a pair of her chips? I hope you’ve all enjoyed this year’s March Talent Showcase.

Hi Kate! What can you tell us about yourself?
Hello! My name is Kate, I’m 33 and a mom of 2 kids, Taryn (11) and Garrett (7 months). I recently made the transition to a SAHM and full time customizer after many years in retail and it’s proving to be an adventure. Most of my family member are artists in some way and it’s taken years to discover what my niche was – I think I’ve finally found it! I’m also a fabric and mohair hoarder, I love those pretty colors. If people lived closer to me it would be a Blythe crafting party all the time.

How did you discover Blythe? What drew you to her?
I discovered Blythe in late 2007. I was interested in sewing clothes for my daughter’s dolls that weren’t poor quality and revealing so I searched for days online and on ebay for patterns and I discovered Blythe through the Doll Coordinated Recipe Books. From there I found them on Flickr and on TIB and was inspired by the fashions, he creative releases like Art Attack and the ability to customize the dolls.

I know you’ve been customizing for a while now, what made you decide to start handpainting chips?
I have been customizing Blythes since mid 2008 and while there are a few companies that provide wonderful alternate colors of stock-type chips I love the artistry of handpainted chips and how each pair is as different as each pair of human eyes. I love discovering new color combinations that I hadn’t previously thought of as well- it’s all an adventure. In a time where many people are downsizing their collections and trying to be more fiscally responsible it’s satisfying to be able to offer something affordable that can make someone fall in love with a doll all over again.

Working at home while taking care of your kids must be quite hectic at times! How do you schedule your work so you can do it and take care of your family at the same time?
Scheduling work time can get a bit frustrating. Scott runs two businesses as well, so we’re often at odds – getting to the post office is the bane of my existence. I try to do any cleaning and internet surfing/email answering earlier in the day when the baby is content to play for short periods of time by himself. If possible I consolidate errands to what I drive by on the way home from getting my daughter from school and family time is usually sometime between 5-7 if we’re coordinated at all. My daughter is in a much more challenging school this year and spends most of her evenings consumed in schoolwork. I’m very lucky that I have a man who loves cooking – and even went to cooking school! So I very rarely shoulder that burden unless there’s baking to be done or it’s a holiday. My work time starts when the kids go to bed and I’m regularly up past 3am or later working, then I get up again at 7:30 to take Taryn to school. I try to work as efficiently as possible!

I think handpainted chips are lovely. What would you say is one of the easiest things about them and one of the hardest things about painting chips?
I would have to say the easiest part of making handpainted chips for me is sourcing the materials. I’ve spent many years hunting down the most fabulous mohair and alpaca and working endlessly with suppliers for my reroots that it was a really nice change just to be able to go to a store and get paint or to go to an online shop and just decide how many chips I needed. I have a tendency to multitask so I would say that the hardest part for me about the painting is to sit and paint until it’s done – because I end up with paint all over my hands and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to do something else while they’re drying and I’ve gotten paint on my clothes, towels, Blythe bodies and WIP faceups!

How does it make you feel to see people posting photos of their dolls with your chips?
It’s a wonderful feeling to see someone enjoying my creations, however small they may be. I even have a few other friends who are customizers who have used my chips in their custom dolls, such as Tiina and cocochoo. I love seeing how they compliment the chips with their own personal customizing styles and color palettes!

What would you say is something that you know now that you wish you’d known at the beginning of your chip painting venture?
Haha, well – I wish I had held back just a smidge. I attacked the venture and I think on my second upload to etsy I listed something like 75 pairs of chips. Now those are so far down in the feed that no one sees them! Now for uploads I do about 5 pairs at a time. I’m still sourcing and developing packaging, so that will change at some point.

What would you say has been your most daring combination of colours or design for your eye chips?
I purchased most of my chips in bulk and when I did I chose some that were already colored to see how my paint colors would change behind a colored lens instead of a clear one. Some were so dark that I had to go quite bold! I think that hot pink and black was probably one of the most striking combinations. I do enjoy my more subtle combinations though and that’s what I generally stick with.

What can we be expecting from you in the future that you’d like to share with us now?
Well, I will continue to make chips and experiment with different techniques in painting. I will be a vendor at BlytheCon 2012 in Dallas and I’ll have my chips there as well as fully customized dolls for sale. I’ll also be selling rooted mohair and alpaca scalps separate from dolls and that will continue after BlytheCon. My commissions list keeps me very busy, but I also have plans for clothing lines for dolls from Lati Yellow size up to slim MSD size and I’m hoping to launch that at BlytheCon as well!

Thanks so much for doing this interview with me, Kate! What advice do you have for someone who’s new to the Blythe community?
I would say for people just getting into Blythe – try to resist impulses at first. There is a wealth of information about these lovely ladies at both TIB and Blythe Kingdom. Do your research and decide what it is that draws you to them before you purchase lots of things you’ll regret. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people attempting to sell off a large amount of clothing and dolls that were impulses to fund things they really want. Have fun! This should never be a stressful hobby! Sure, I stress sometimes, but it’s my job as well. For me a huge part of Blythe is the people that you’ll meet and form lasting relationships with and I’ve loved every minute of the last four years!

You can find Kate over on Flickr, her blog and at her Etsy shop (where you can find all her handpainted chips for sale) called Chantilly Lace.

Eyechips Giveaway!

Kate has graciously decided to giveaway one pair of handpainted eyechips! I think these will look very lovely for perhaps your Blythe? Enter to for a chance to win!

You can get up to eight (8) entries for this giveaway draw and you can enter until Saturday April 7th 2012 at 11:59pm Pacific. The draw will be held on Sunday April 8th 2012 and the winner will be announced on BlytheLife.com. Remember to use a valid email address for all comments. If you win, your email will be forwarded to Kate so she can be in contact with you about your eyechips!

Please only use one email address per person, those using multiple email addresses for more entries will be disqualified.

Mandatory Entry: Comment below about the interview with Kate! This is worth 1 entry into the giveaway.

Bonus Entry #1: Tweet about the contest! Please retweet the following once per day from your public Twitter account! (If you look below, there is a box for you to include your Twitter username, if you do, I can easily verify your bonus entry!) Each tweet is 1 entry into the giveaway for a maximum of 2 entries into the giveaway. Please comment below to tell me that you’ve been tweeting (1 comment per tweet!)

Check out the @blythelifecom interview with Kate a.k.a. Moofers for a handpainted eyechip giveaway! http://bit.ly/Hsj2GE

Bonus Entry #2: Blog about the contest! Be sure to include some details about the contest and include links to BlytheLife.com, this interview/giveaway page and to Kate’s Etsy shop, Chantilly Lace. For 1 blog entry, this is worth 5 entries into the giveaway! You must comment below with the URL to your blog post.

I’m not in the market to buy a new doll (I’m not). But I do still look from time to time at what princesses need ‘rescuing’ over at Blythe Kingdom because it is still a great way to keep my eyes on what customizers are out there and to see if there’s anything interesting out there. I’ve noticed a lot of listings where they list one price crossed out followed by a lower price. And then that price is crossed out and followed by an even lower price.

With the economy being difficult, I know that a lot of people have had financial issues (either with loss of employment, loss of hours or other financial emergencies). And with that, non-necessities are sacrificed for things that need to be purchased. While the prices of some dolls have been going down and down and sitting for ages for sale, some customized dolls have been going for skyrocket prices.

What makes for the price discrepancy?

I think it’s a balance between the fact that people are being smarter with their money. Stock dolls seem to sit longer, unless priced low, because there’s (generally) more where that doll came from (unless it’s a doll that never comes up for sale often; then she might get snapped up). But with custom work, especially if you’re a fan of a particular customizer, you really do need to jump on it when it becomes available because they may not come up often or you may never get a chance at that doll again. Some dolls get absorbed into doll families and they never get sold afterwards. Other dolls end up in families for a bit and then come out again after there’s no bonding between the doll and the human. But you never know if that custom you’ve got your eye on will end up for adoption again, you just never know. It’s one of the risks you take by not jumping at a chance at a doll that you really love.

I do think that it’s still a buyer’s market, for the most part. Many customizers are asking for offers on their work, in order to earn top dollar. But not everyone sells dolls that go for a thousand-plus on a regular basis. I think it’s great that people are being smart with their money, and it’s a great way (buy making offers) to see if you can get that dream girl for a price you can afford.

A lot of people in the Blythe hobby seem to have a grail doll. Like the Holy Grail, it’s a doll that’s either very expensive or somehow otherwise unattainable. I think customized Blythes make either very good (because they really are fairly unattainable unless someone sells) or very bad (because it’s likely you’ll ever get her) grail dolls. But for me, all my dream/grail dolls have been stock dolls. Who my grail doll also changes based on how much I become comfortable with spending on a single doll. Let me go through them with you:

1. At the very beginning of my life with Blythe, Love Mission was my first ‘dream’ doll. I loved looking at photos of her (I still do!) and I got her a month after I started collecting Blythe.
2. My second grail doll was Margaret Meets Ladybug. At that point (and until my first Kenner) she was my most expensive doll. She doesn’t come up as often as some other dolls do for sale, so I had to wait and wait and wait and then I ended up getting her NRFB.
3. Velvet Minuet, oh yes. Velvet Minuet was the newest release when I had first found out about Blythe in 2004. But at that point I wasn’t able to buy a Blythe because of lack of money (and I didn’t have a Paypal account back then either). She was my first second-hand/used Blythe too. I got her off of the forums and I adored her the moment I saw her. She’s also had the best hair out of a lot of my dolls, and (not counting the Kenners) she’s my only pre-loved Blythe.
4. Red-headed sidepart Kenner Blythe, vintage 1972. Like a lot of people, a Kenner was on my wishlist. I wanted one so incredibly bad. I lost so many auctions, missed out on so many ‘for sale’ threads. And then one day I finally one an auction and waited for the longest week of my life to be over to go to the post office and free her from the hands of Canada Post.

I have been incredibly lucky. I’ve managed to get four of the doll that I’ve most wanted in what is considered to be a ‘short’ amount of time in the Blythe hobby. Since 2009, I’ve had a total of twelve dolls in my custody (one recently fled because she was tired of still being NRFB!) and I have some of the prettiest dolls (in my humble opinion) ever.

Have you ever gotten a grail doll?

I think one of the things that we should all remember is how incredibly lucky we are to be able to afford this hobby. Not everyone can afford to spend $100+ on a doll. Not everyone can afford to spend money for a Kenner. Not everyone can afford to send off a doll to get customized. Not everyone can afford to buy doll shoes or commission helmets or dresses. But we can. We can afford to be part of a doll hobby because it’s what we love and what we can do with our time and money. And I think we’re all incredibly lucky to be able to afford to be a part of Blythe.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered for a chance to win a custom cardigan for their Blythe doll by Lauren of Sparkle Monster!

There were 8 people entered with a total of 10 entries! Just a reminder for those that do Tweets or blog entries that you need to do an additional comment for those entries (I counted those entries this time, but if any tweets were from private Twitter accounts, I was not able to count those in, sorry!).

Click to read more of this entry.

Shopping Saturday is a feature on BlytheLife.com to help you either shop or promote your shop’s sales. If you want to have your sale included in Shopping Saturday, submissions must be made by 12pm Pacific on the Friday before and all coupon codes must be valid for the entire weekend that they are featured.

For more information, you can check out the Shopping Saturday page or send questions to michelle@blythelife.com.

• AnneArchy has a 10% off coupon code for your entire order until Saturday March 31, 2012: WELCOME