We’re halfway through the March Talent Showcase! I hope you’ve been enjoying it as much as I had enjoyed interviewing everyone. For the third installment, I interviewed Jenni – she’s the one behind the name ThriftyDolls and she customizes Blythe dolls. She’s a braver soul than I am, clearly!

Hi Jenni! What can you tell us about yourself?
Hello! I’m 25 and from England, I’m married to my teenage best friend and sweetheart and we have a beautiful daughter who I stay at home with. I have a long history with art and attended art school. I love creating, be that painting, sculpting or customising Blythe!

How did you discover the world of Blythe?
I discovered Blythe when a good friend of mine posted on Facebook that her husband had bought a pair of Irregular Choice Blythe shoes for Valentines Day, because I am nosy I Googled them! I instantly feel in love with the big eyed girl on the shoes and started researching them like a mad woman! Blythe was all I could think about and I ordered my first (superior skate date) a few weeks later!

What drew you towards customizing dolls?
I saw the beautiful custom Blythe on Flickr and thought the artists had really bought the dolls to life, so I looked into it found all the information I could and decided that I wanted to try it, and having an art background I was confident I could give it a good go!

What can you tell us about you first customizing experience?
My first customising experience didn’t go exactly to plan! She was Superior Skate Date, notoriously difficult to open so I decided to work on her with her head still on her body, which does make things more difficult! I made so many mistakes, such as accidentally filing her cheek with the end on file while I tried to found her nose, but I was ever so proud of her at the time! She now lives in my daughter’s toy box!

What do you think is the most important thing you’ve learned about customizing so far?
I think the most important thing I’ve learnt so far is that there is no single “right way” to do things. If you remember that you can always learn, evolve your skill set and develop your techniques.

What is one mistake (besides filing the cheek) you’ve learned from since your first custom experience?
A mistake I’ve learnt from is using the wrong tool for a particular job. When I first started carving the file I was using for shaping the lips was way too big and the groove between the lips was huge! I’ve since invested in a Dremel bit set which gives enormous variety and range.

What’s a tool that has become indispensable to you?
I couldn’t work without a curved craft knife, I use it for reshaping the sides of the lips, the sides of the nose, finishing off nostrils, smoothing out the chin, all sorts! It is completely indispensable to me!

How would you describe your customizing style?
At the moment it’s mostly cute and whimsical, I have a lot of pink and fluffy girls through my doors which I love to do. I would love to try and push my limits with a goth girl or something similar!

What kind of styles or techniques are you hoping to experiment with in the future?
I’d love to work on more “out there” girls, I’d to experiment with illustrations on the face and I’m bursting to work on a tanned girl, Ideally a tan girl with a pale scalp! I’d also love to try a vampire girl as I think there are some adorable vampy customs out there!

What would you say so far is definitely “your style” in the dolls you’ve customized so far?
When I started I thought bottom eyelashes would be my “thing” but then no one requested them! Looking over my past work I think the thing that makes them obviously “my style” are the lips. I like quite full bottom lips with lots of detail so it’s something all of my customs have.

What’s your favourite mold to customize? What makes it your favourite?
My favourite is RBL, I find the mold to be so versatile, she can be happy or sad, sweet or sulky. The ease of opening the head certainly adds to it too! I also think that she looks the most like my idea of “Blythe”, I suppose that’s because she’s the most Kennerish as a stock doll.

Thank you so much for doing this interview with me, Jenni! What kind of advice do you have for someone who’s looking to try their hand at customizing?
Thank you for interviewing me it’s been so much fun!

My advice would be to do lots of research, look at lots of pictures and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Blythe people are very friendly and I have found that people are happy to help. Then when you do decide to jump in, be confident in what you’re doing, most mistakes can fixed and everything can be a learning experience!

You can find out more about Jenni and her ThriftyDolls custom work on Flickr, Twitter and on Facebook!

Blythe Face-Up Giveaway!

Jenni of ThriftyDolls is offering up a face-up for one of your dolls! You could get Jenni’s beautiful work on one of your dolls! The winner will be responsible for provide the base doll and shipping costs (to and from Jenni).

You can get up to ten (10) entries for this giveaway draw and you can enter until Saturday March 23rd 2013 at 11:59pm Pacific. The draw will be held on Sunday March 24th 2013 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 Jenni so she will be in contact with you about your doll’s face-up.

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 Jenni of ThriftyDolls! 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 Jenni of ThriftyDolls! #giveaway http://bit.ly/Y3Fleb

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

Bonus Entry #3: Share this giveaway on Facebook! Include a link back to this interview page! For 1 Facebook share, this is worth 2 entries into the giveaway! You must common below with the URL to your shared link.