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Question of the Week: Are there any “original” names left?

Written on April 30, 2012 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: Question of the Week

The Kenners, today.

I’ve been spending some time working on my two February acquisitions lately (TLC Kenners that need some work!) and I began to think about doll names. Now the brunette got her name very early on. She ‘spoke’ to me, probably because I wasn’t going to do a lot with her (besides giving her some legs, which I did) and she wasn’t going to go through some big change. I think that’s why she told me her name. But the blonde? She murmured something, but is refusing to confirm her name until after she’s all restored and ready to show herself off to the world.

Non-dolly people are going to think that I’m insane, but you all know what I mean. Personalities and all that.

I was really thinking about how many ‘original’ names there are left (probably a lot), but at the same time…. Does it matter if your Blythe is the only Blythe ever with a certain name? Does it really matter?

I personally don’t think so. I think that dolls could be named anything, and it doesn’t matter. Because what matters is the personality that we give them, the photos, the stories, the way we make them ours. That’s what really matters. I think that a name is just part of the story, but what we inject into the dolls, what we give them, it’s makes a huge difference in how I look at dolls, especially on Flickr.

Sometimes, a doll has an original name, but then it’s like, ehh, there’s no photos, no personality. Then a doll can have a run of the mill name and be so interesting. In part because of her owner, her story, her photos, her personality that’s invoked in the photos. I think, just like with people, names don’t matter as much as a personality does.

That said, Miss Blondie Kenner is still holding out on telling me her name…

Are there any “original” names left in Blytheworld? Does it matter?

cocochoo Custom Faceplates Giveaway: The Winner!

Written on April 29, 2012 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: Giveaway with tags: ,

Happy Sunday, everyone! The giveaway for the cocochoo custom faceplates has had an overwhelming response. I just had a few things to say about it.

In total, there were 71 individuals and 171 entries. I did have to disqualify some entries, please make sure that you read all of the details regarding how to do a bonus entry in order to have your entry count. Overall, the majority of you did do the entries correctly and I thank you for that, it makes my job a whole lot easier when I’m writing up the spreadsheet of entries for a particular giveaway.

And just to remind you all what you had entered for, a lovely set of Blythe faceplates customized by the ever wonderful Coco (a.k.a. cocochoo):

And the winner is…
Click to read more of this entry.

Shopping Saturday #5

Written on April 28, 2012 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: Shopping Saturday

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.

How can you contribute back to BlytheLife.com?

Written on April 27, 2012 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: News


Photo from sxc.hu user thea0211.

I get emails from time to time from people who have just found BlytheLife or have been reading it since I started this website back in 2010. A lot of the comments and feedback have been positive and I’m always so happy to know that people like this website and read it (because what’s the point in a blog without readers?). I’ve been asked how readers can contribute back to the website so I figured I’d come up with a list:

  • Write an article and have it posted here! I love getting submission of articles and you can also contribute a lot of different other things as well. Read more on the How to Contribute page.
  • Offer up suggestions for what you would like to see in the future! It’s a great way to help me when I’m not feeling particularly creative and there’s a handy email form on the Suggestions page.
  • Advertise on BlytheLife! There are three paid advertisement spots and the funds from your sponsoring BlytheLife goes towards the domain name and hosting costs, as well as money to go towards shipping of prizes that come from me. You can check out the details about advertising here.

You can also help BlytheLife with getting more readers by talking about the site on your blog or adding a button to your site!

Primrose; a little restoration story

Written on April 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
Filed under: Article with tags: ,

Primrose is a centre-part brunette Kenner Blythe doll. She came to me with seven lines on her back, super frizzy hair, a replaced string (and pull ring). At one point, her cracked pelvis had been reglued, but she came without any legs. She is also one of the ‘Vancouver Seven’ or ‘Group of Seven’ Blythes that you might have heard about when a Vancouver Blythe collector happened upon a secondhand toy shop that had seven Kenners in stock. Poor Primrose, along with two blonde sisters, were shoved aside because they weren’t presentable enough for the display case.

My two 'new' acquisitions

There was some speculation (on my part, mostly) about what kind of hair she really has. After all, centre-parts are very rare. But close examination of the rooting pattern (and the length of the hairs in front) help secure her place in the world as a centre-part.

Really a centre-part

At one time, someone well-meaning had somehow managed to replace her string. They also gave her a layered hair cut and glued her pelvis. Of course, some little girl out there must have loved her legs right off because despite the secure glue job, she came without her original legs. I like to imagine that at one point in the last forty years, a little girl presented the doll with the pulled-out string in tears and some handy fix-it dad managed to replace the string. Her head, despite little parts of the scalp looking like it’s coming up, appears to not have been opened before.

As always, my disclaimer: I am not a “professional” when it comes to restoring dolls, so if you’re not comfortable with fixing your own Kenner, you should really seek out someone who knows what they’re doing. So I am not responsible if you try this out on your own doll and cause any damage.

I was more than a little nervous when I was pulling out the glued-but-cracked pelvis piece from her 1972 torso. After all, I hadn’t opened her head and did not want to break her neck. I leveraged it out through the leg holes though. Oh, I also hacked apart a stock Takara body. I cut across at where the body’s breasts are and leveraged apart the halves of the torso until I was left with the pelvis and legs.

Are you *sure* you know what you're doing?

The problem with Takara bottoms is that the little ‘plug’ that keeps it from falling out of the torso is too big, so it needs to be made smaller. After reading some tips on This is Blythe and Blythe Kingdom, most people seem to file it down or shave it down. I opted for filing. I was nervous enough about ruining it forever and making it too small. After getting it down to almost the same size as the hole in the torso (but just a wee bit larger), I had to start trying to get the legs in.

Tip! Hot water works wonders! If your hands are getting too hot holding the pieces into water,  you can use tongs or oven mitts to make it easier on you. If you’re trying to pop the pelvis in and it’s not going, put it back into the water (or reheat the water) and try again. Don’t try to force it when the pieces have cooled down.

Learning from what I did when I had worked on Emmalynn, I had a cup of hot (steaming, but not boiling) water. I dipped the plug of the pelvis into the water and also dipped the torso into the water as well. And then I held them there until I got bored of holding them (so probably about 2-3 minutes).  I had the pelvis sitting up and then I pressed down on the doll’s shoulders while holding the pelvis straight until it popped in. Do not press down on the doll’s head, you might break the neck.

I still haven’t switched out Primrose’s string for a while string, or swapped out that weird white plastic ring for a Blythe pull ring. But for now, her restorations are “complete” (mostly giving her legs). Besides washing her hair and giving her a bit of a bath, I did nothing to her hair (not even combing through it!). Her frizzy hair makes for a lot of fun.

Primrose - now and then

Too cool for school.

easterrarityviolet

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