I’d like to put the blame on BlytheCon for my reasons for wanting a Kenner. It was 2011 and I was totally okay with not having one. That said, I met some fantastic people, held some beautiful vintage Blythes and the rest, as they say, is history. It took me a while after BlytheCon to find my first Kenner. She was an eBay ‘win’ and came to me from the UK. A little sidepart redhead with a lot of potential, but quite a few ‘issues’ that needed to be fixed. Notably a big ol’ crack that doesn’t naturally occur on the body. Restoring Emmalynn took me a while and it was frustrating for me. I wanted a Kenner that I could play with, straight out of the box as it were. I didn’t set out really wanting to find a doll that needed some help – but she was what was available and I fell in love with her photos so… I won the auction and this little waif made her way to me…

Looking back, I’m pretty amazed that I just jumped in on dismantling her. After a few photos, I had her scalp off, then removed her hardcap to get her dismantled to give her a good cleaning. Probably a good thing anyways, she had a fair bit of grime on her. But what I really learned (besides how to secure hair plugs and how to put the silly scalp back on) is to be patient. It was hard, because I wanted to just play and get her all dressed up in fun clothes. But I had a goal to reach – and that was to put her back together in a way that she’d be restored. So off I went on that little goal, which took a long while.

Being patient was something I really did need to learn. I had to do the research to find the right materials, I had to read the instructions to figure out how to use the glue product. Then there was the clamping and then waiting for the glue to set and trying (repeatedly) to get the legs back in. It is frustrating to watch it crack open all the time, very frustrating. But finally (finally!) it held and I was so ecstatic that all the time and effort had been well worth it (along with actually being able to fix her without sending her off!). It’s a pretty awesome feeling when something you read about doing online actually works. It’s also a really rewarding feeling when you realize that your little TLC girl isn’t so TLC anymore…

All Kenners are different, which is what makes them magical. They all have different quirks, different things to be ‘fixed’ and sometimes, they tell you that all they want is some new legs and their hair left alone. The neat thing about Kenners is the personalities that they come with and share.