Thank you so much everyone for the birthday wishes! It always makes me happy when there’s positive feedback about BlytheLife. A reminder of what the prize is…

Congratulations to…
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Image by sxc.hu user alicja_sto.

I’ve noticed that over the course of the last year, there’s more and more Facebook groups dedicated towards Blythe. For those who are blissfully unaware: there are a lot of Facebook groups dedicated towards Blythe. I love sharing Blythe with the world as much as the next collector, but sometimes it still feels strange to have Blythe on Facebook. I spent a lot of time establishing a presence online that was distinctly Blythe and not-Blythe. I started adding (and being added by) Blythe people on Facebook after Portland and meeting more Blythe friends in person. I’m expanding my social circle, which I enjoy, but it’s still weird seeing Blythe photos sandwiched between nursing school blurbs and status updates from people I went to high school with.

Since Flickr’s changes in May, I’ve been finding that I spend less and less time on Flickr. The overall design is less inviting to me now, and I find myself scanning through some photos and then making my usual visits to specific pages (groups, recent activity) before leaving. I now spend more time on Facebook than I do Flickr, which is odd for me because since beginning to collect Blythe I’ve spent a lot of hours on that website (mostly scanning through pretty photos of dolls and daydreaming about who the next dolly will be). Now Facebook takes up some of my online free time, because it can and it doesn’t cost me anything to keep a tab open.

Funny enough, I don’t actually go seeking out Blythe Facebook groups to join! Yet I am a part of quite a few. I’ve grown to enjoy it, although I don’t post very much in the groups at all. I get notifications when there’s new posts, so I can keep up to date when people are posting about new items in their Etsy shops (which is always exciting when I’m hoping to get something elusive), when someone has a new doll and just when someone has something new to share. In a way, it incorporates a lot of things that I enjoyed with the old Flickr (the social media/commenting aspect of it), but it’s still weird to see real people’s names with real people’s photos. Whatever happened to seeing avatars all the time? I’m far too used to seeing people’s dolls as ‘them’. This leads to the unfortunate aspect of me expecting that people look like their dolls. It’s like “What, you don’t have a giant head and four sets of eyes?”.

Needless to say, I think the influx of people into Facebook groups since Flickr decided to do a big overhaul has been a welcome thing on the internet. Not everyone goes to the forums, or onto Twitter, but many people do go onto Facebook! And it’s been fun seeing more pictures of Blythe on the good ol’ Book of Face.

Are you in any Blythe groups on Facebook? How do you feel about having Blythe mingling in with your non-Blythe cohorts?

Shopping for dolls in Hong Kong is very, very different than shopping online. When I’m usually shopping for dolls, I can do it from the comforts of my own home where I could be sipping tea while hitting the tempting Buy It Now button and waiting for a shipping notice. I’m sure this is a very familiar setting for most of us when we’re purchasing dolls. It’s either that or waiting for a private message from a seller to let us know that “Yes, that doll is still available”. But buying dolls in person is an interesting experience!

My first Blythe (Sophie) was bought in person, but she was bought in British Columbia at a small, now-defunct store that had a small number of Blythes. My latest doll (Monique Magnifique, still lacking a ‘real’ name) was also bought in person, but in Hong Kong.

There are a few shopping centres that I will mention here that you can go to in Hong Kong to look for dolls. Some of these have multiple Blythe/doll shops, and some aren’t well labelled, so if you’re shopping, you just need to look for the tell-tale signs of dolls. All shopping centres in Hong Kong are multi-floored, so be sure to check out all the floors and the side hallways as they’re not always well-labeled. I wish I’d gotten more photos (or better photos!) of the shop displays, but they were very strict (and upset) over having cameras out and I got yelled at (twice).

CTMA Centre
1N Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong – noted by the “A” on the map.

Ginza Plaza
2A Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Sino Center
582-592 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong

All of these shopping centres are easily accessible from Mongkok Station (oval red icon on the map). There is also fantastic shopping in the Mongkok area for human-sized goods!

One thing to note about these shops is that most do not have what I consider to be “normal” business hours (e.g. 9am-5pm). Many of them opened at around 5-6pm and would stay open until 10pm or so. If you are looking for dolls, I would recommend making two trips – one to go to all of the stores and get a feel for what is available and pricing, and then the second trip to do the actual shopping and perhaps some price negotiation.

Not all shops will have clearly marked pricing. Many of them also had dolls behind glass displays or up on shelves – so feel free to ask if they have a specific doll if you’re looking for on. I was initially looking for University of Love and some of the shops had to pull her off a shelf for me to look at before I hemmed and hawed over the pricing. It’s hard to negotiate with sellers about pricing because Blythe has such a high suggested retail price, but it can be done. It helps if you know the language (Cantonese) for negotiating though! It is easier to negotiate if you are buying multiples (e.g. more than one doll) or a lot of items in general.

Many of the shops that carry Blythe dolls also carry clothing and shoes. Some are familiar brands (e.g. Sugar Mag, Azone) while others are created for those shops. I found that, in general, prices of clothing and shoes was on par with pricing found online (via forums, eBay, Etsy) so I didn’t actually purchase many pieces. My big purchase was Monique Magnifique, although I may have eyed the Ambrosial that was on the shelf next to her quite a bit as well! Next time I go to Hong Kong, I’ll definitely have a better game plan (and more spending money!).

Summary of my shopping tips:

• Go check out the doll shops at least twice. Once to scope out what dolls are on hand (and pricing!) and the second to actually purchase a doll (or five).
• Be sure to walk through the shopping centre completely, even the littlest stores in the corners will have Blythes or Blythe clothing for sale!
• Price negotiation is difficult to do – it is easier if you are buying a lot of dolls or items from the shop. They’re more likely to give you a discount of some kind, but don’t expect to save on hundreds of dollars.
• If you don’t see something that you’re looking for, ask! Most of the shops are small and they only put out a portion of their products out.

I don’t know who you think I am, but I do not share rooms with people. Ever.

Lately I’ve been toying with the idea of building or buying a room box. And by lately, I really mean “all the time”. I love the idea of having miniatures and rooms set up, just like I love the idea of having a dollhouse. I love the idea of decorating, having a cute little kitchen set, even set up a bedroom for some of the dolls that are nearest and dearest to my heart (which means, of course, that I’d be making over a dozen bedrooms – unless they deem each other worthy to share!). As I’m currently stuck with the problem of lack of space, I can only dream about what it would be like to have a room box or two (or twenty… or a doll room… that’d be nice to!). It’s definitely one of those “one of these days…” kind of thoughts, yet that still doesn’t stop me from thinking about miniatures and collecting little bits of furniture here and there. It’ll be a very uncoordinated first house for my dolls – much like the furniture that I mostly live with now.

Do you have a room box?

Share a link to a picture if you do! I want to see!

As it is BlytheLife’s birthday month, what better way to celebrate than with presents? I personally think that’s a great way of doing it! It’s a small token of appreciation from me to you as a way for me to say thank you so much to everyone for all of your support! It’s been a busy three years as I’ve gone through this blogging adventure with you all.

Up for grabs is a cute little hand knit cardigan that I knit up myself. It’s white with working pockets and 3/4 sleeves. It is this hand knit cardigan in particular:

The giveaway runs until Saturday July 13th 2013 at 11:59pm Pacific. The winner will be announced here on BlytheLife.com on Sunday July 14th. Remember to use a valid email address for all comments. If you win, I will contact you for your mailing information and get your prize out to you as soon as possible.

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

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