On a good day, I sometimes pick up some knitting and knit away on whatever project that I have on the needles. At present time, that would be a pair of socks and, sadly, not something for the dolls. I’m not a prolific sewer, despite a fabric stash and other sewing things, and I probably have enough yarn to last me the next 20 years, despite always wanting to buy more because I don’t have that particular yarn… But I do, on occasion, make things for Blythe. I’ve sewn some dresses, knitted some dresses and cardigans, made some toques for them, but it’s not an every day sort of thing. I know some people create things for Blythe every single day and I applaud them for that because I don’t think it’s something that I could realistically do. Not do and do well, anyways. So for now, I stick to whatever project I have going on.

It just happens to not fit Blythe. Although I guess that they could use it for some kind of hat…?

How much do you create for Blythe?

DIY Customizing is an irregular series of customizing tutorials. These are tutorials for things that I am able to do for my Blythes and I try to make it as simple as possible so that you can do these easy customizations to your own dolls. I am not a customizer – professional, amateur or wishful thinker of any kind. If you’re a kid – ask a responsible adult for help. As always, safety first! BlytheLife.com is not responsible for any damage that you do to yourself, your doll, or your home (or wherever you’re customizing).

One of the challenges with some Blythes (notably Kenners, BLs, EBLs, some SBLs and some of the newer releases) is that it can be a pain in the bum to get their heads open if you want to do anything in there. One challenge that I faced with one of my dolls, Belarus, was the fact that her stock pullstring was fraying. So I changed her string. She is an EBL and at the time I was not up to the task of opening up her head (I’m still not), so I had to do it without actually opening her head. It can be tricky, but I wanted to show how I did it.

Now, Belarus doesn’t need another string, but Eden Mouse’s string had broke once or twice since I had changed it to a light pink cord. It’s super short now, and I wanted to swap it out for a darker pink cord (but still keeping the same pullring). Eden Mouse is a Punkaholic People RBL, which means that it is relatively easy to open her up, if I wanted to. I opted to keep her head closed for this tutorial.

This is just for changing the pullstring for the string that changes the eyes, not the string (if your doll has one have one) for sleep eyes. I haven’t figured out a way to change that without opening the head (if your doll no longer have a spring), so you’re flat out of luck there.

To change your doll’s pullstring, you will need:

• Scissors
• Lighter (or lit candle)
• New cord
• Super thin wire (or a u-shaped upholstery needle)
• Fishing line or nylon thread
• Wire cutters (if using wire)
• Well lit working area

Let’s say that your doll’s string just broke, or the knot inside loosened so it came straight out. So what I did here was just snip Eden’s string.

If your doll’s string broke, I know this is the point of complete sadness. If you love the chips that are currently up, handroll them to chips that you either don’t like or don’t like as much – just in case you scratch them during this process.

The first thing you need to do is remove the old string inside of the head. I used wire and poked it out. The knot should lie on the left hand side (if you are facing the doll, that would be your left, not her left). Just poke it out until you see it come out the eye hole. Remove the old string. Click to read more of this entry.

Factory doll, photo by Meg/irulethegalaxy.

I wanted to do a little survey on TBL/factory/fake Blythe dolls so I created one:

TBL/Factory Questionnaire

There was an amazing 100 responses to the first survey, I had to start another one due to limitations with the website. This contains the exact same questions: TBL/Factory Questionnaire #2.

This is anonymous – you do not need to give your name/username or email address when doing this survey. The questionnaire consists of four yes/no questions, and one comment box if you have any other thoughts to share about TBL/factory/fake dolls.

I will be writing about the results in a couple of weeks, so there is plenty of time for you to fill out the survey and to share it with your Blythe friends! I’m really curious about the results and hope that they’re enlightening!

When Cameo arrived, I did a little photostory of her first meeting with Eden.

To me, playing with dolls has taken on a different meaning since I was a little girl. Before it was all about make believe and the imaginative play that would go on for hours and hours. Nowadays, playing with dolls is primarily the dressing-up fun, finding the right pair of shoes for the outfit of the day, and doing little photoshoots – because why not?

How often do you play with your dolls?

You have a doll-related website/shop/blog and BlytheLife has your target audience!

BlytheLife.com is an active doll website with a high readership that primarily consists of women who are Blythe and other doll collectors/hobbyists. By advertising your doll-related site or business with BlytheLife, you can ensure that your ad is being seen by the people that are your potential customers. Every time someone visits BlytheLife, they’ll see your ad on the side!

Did you know? Sponsorship costs are purposely kept low to keep advertising accessible to people in the doll community.

There are three spots currently available for the month of October and all sponsorship funds from now until July 2015 will be donated to BlytheCon Vancouver 2015!

Large – 1 spot available for October! (325×200 pixels)

• $10 – 1 month
• $18 – 2 months
• $26 – 3 months

Small – 2 spots available for October! (160×160 pixels)

• $5 – 1 month
• $9 – 2 months
• $13 – 3 months

If you’d like more information on how you can advertise on BlytheLife, click here.