Blythe 105 is part 5 of a 5 part series directed towards people who are new to Blythe. In part 5, I talk about the do’s and the do not’s in the Blythe hobby.

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When you have a hobby that’s primarily women, the cattiness and the claws can come out from time to time. Actually, that’s not fair – not all women are like that (and the hobby is not all just women either). When you have a hobby that’s just full of people, cattiness can occur (from the women or the men involved). While it’s generally a positive, friendly atmosphere, people are human. We’re all human and we all make mistakes, tone and meaning is loss on the internet in text and we draw our own conclusions. That isn’t to say that all people end up drawn into the cattiness of spats, but some people do. Either because they’ve become directly insulted or because they’re friends with someone. Next thing you know, it’s like a part of the movie Mean Girls, only with doll collectors.

Image from sxc.hu user takje.

It can be hard to avoid the drama, and getting sucked into it is so easy. I would recommend to you the following tips of staying out of the drama (and staying out trouble):

• If you’re not directly involved, stay out of it. Yes, it’s great to support friends, but you don’t need to bash someone else to do it.
• If it’s not something that you would feel comfortable saying in from your grandmother (or someone else that you wouldn’t say nasty things in front of), don’t say it at all.
• If it’s something that you wouldn’t want someone to say to you, don’t say it.
• If it’s something that you would not be willing to say to someone’s face (and not hidden behind a monitor), don’t say it.
• Remember that every story has multiple sides: the sides told by the people involved and thetruth.

The internet is so easy for people to misconstrue things, because we don’t get the “full story” out of what someone is saying when it’s just text. It’s different than if we’re able to talk to someone in person – we can see their body language, facial expression, the tone in their words, pauses for emphasis. You lose all of that in text communication and it’s easy to misread sarcasm, a joke, or just simple facts. Always be careful of that when you’re writing something on the internet, and don’t take offensive if someone misreads what you say – simply correct the situation before it gets into a big mess.

And with that, you are now done Blythe 105, which was the last section in this mini-series. I hope you’ve enjoyed it! If you have any suggestions for future mini-series, you can email me or submit a suggestion!

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Want to learn more?

• Blythe 101: A Guide for Newbies
• Blythe 102: Commonly Used Abbreviations and Words
• Blythe 103: A Guide to Forums
• Blythe 104: Meets and Conventions
• Blythe 105: The Undramatic Class– You’re reading this!

Like many of us dolly enthusiasts, I’ve taken many, many photos of my Blythes. Some have been very bad, some have been pretty okay. Some have been taken on ‘real’ cameras, others on my phone. But like many of us, I have a favourite photo that I loved.

My favourite that I took? This one:

It’s a photo of Sophie, my mostly stock Cappuccino Chat doll. She was my very first Blythe and still lives with me. It’s special to me because it was taken near the beginning of 365 when I was first getting through a struggle of actually taking a photo every day. It’s hard work! I also love the act that it emphasizes the most striking part about Blythe, the eyes. But I adore Sophie and I’m glad that she was my first introduction into the world of Blythe.

What is your favourite Blythe photo that you took?

I’m looking for energetic Blythe fans to write posts here on BlytheLife.com!

If you have a great crafting tip, fun photography tricks or just want to share your experiences so far in the dolly hobby, I want to help you share it with the world!

Everyone has a creative side and writing about it is a great way to get it out into the world. Why not share your favourite way to style Blythe’s hair or a handy tip you figured out on getting tights on? One of the great things about the doll community is how people learn from each other and share their knowledge. You can help others learn by sharing your knowledge with everyone.

There are some super simple guidelines to writing posts here on BlytheLife.com:

• It should be at least 300 words long – that’s not very much writing at all, if you think about it! If you want an example, this blog post that you’re currently reading is exactly 300 words long.
• You can get the topic preapproved first to see if it’s appropriate – this is important because I want to keep all of the posts here at BlytheLife friendly for people of all ages.
• You get to write a little blurb about yourself! Think of it as a way to introduce yourself on this blog; you can include information about yourself, why you love Blythe and how people can get in touch with you.
• You retain full credit! Posts will be here on BlytheLife, but I don’t claim to be the writer and I give a lot of links back to your blog, Twitter, Flickr or other social media accounts.

You can read more about the article guidelines here and also read about how to contribute.

Doesn’t that sound easy? It is! So what are you waiting for?

Blythe 104 is part 4 of a 5 part series directed towards people who are new to Blythe. In part 4, an introduction is made to the idea of meets and conventions.

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If you’re new to Blythe, you may have heard of something called a ‘Blythe Meet’ (or ‘Blythe Meat’, if you happen to be in the Portland, OR area) or a ‘BlytheCon’ or even ‘Blythe Fest’, depending on where you are. Meets are like the smaller version of conventions, but they’re both great fun.

Meets are gatherings of like-minded dolly people. Most people who attend meets are local to the area, but some travel to get to meets if they don’t have Blythe friends nearby. Blythe is a great hobby in that there are a lot of people everywhere who happen to collect Blythe, even though the dolls aren’t mainstream. Meets are generally small in number (less than 20, I’d say, on average) and what happens is that people arrange a meet up, bring dollies and then they all eat, drink and be merry. It’s essentially a gathering of friends who all happen to share at least one thing in common: love for Blythe.

You can have a meet with as many or as little people as you’d like. If you’re unsure if there’s anyone in your area, you can always post on one of the forums (as mentioned in Blythe 103: A Guide to Forums) if there is anyone in your area who happens to collect Blythe. Always be mindful that the internet is an open, public place. Just as you wouldn’t announce your home address in the middle of a busy subway car, you wouldn’t announce your address on the internet. I’d recommend using the closest major metropolitan centre (if possible) or just giving a generalized location.

Conventions are fun. They’re usually consisting of over a hundred people (and the number keeps going up!). It’s pretty much an all-day event in which people from all over travel for a convention. There’s usually vendors, contests and raffle prizes. Conventions would also cost more money than a local meet – especially once you factor in transportation costs and somewhere to spend the night. Fortunately, conventions are generally announced well in advanced so that you can have plenty of time to organize and to save for the trip. Conventions can be overwhelming, especially if it’s also your first meet, so just remember to breathe and have fun!

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Want to learn more?

• Blythe 101: A Guide for Newbies
• Blythe 102: Commonly Used Abbreviations and Words
• Blythe 103: A Guide to Forums
• Blythe 104: Meets and Conventions – You’re reading this!

Alpaca, human,  mohair, plastic (saran, nylon, etc.) or wool. There are so many different types of material that people use to reroot dolls. Like with hair on a real person, I think everyone has their own preferences. Except when it comes to our own hair, we have the choice between: straight, curly or wavy; short, medium or long; natural coloured or dyed. With Blythe hair (Neo, Middie or Petite), we have so many more choices. And variety is the spice of life!

I’ve seen some beautiful reroots in my time in the Blythe hobby. I’ve seen (and felt!) some lovely stock hair as well. For instance, I never knew that Simply Guava’s hair was so soft until I touched it in person. I got to pop an alpaca reroot onto one of my Kenners briefly once and I have a mohair rerooted doll.  In Portland, I got to see so many customized Blythe. Some had a lot of hair, some had very little hair, some had added facial hair (but that’s not what this post is about). Some people have even used yarn to give their dolls ready-made dreads or a rag-doll look. I think there’s just so many options to what kind of hair our dolls can have, and that’s really awesome.

What’s your preference for your dolls’ hair?