Original image by bredmaker.

In case you haven’t liked BlytheLife.com on Facebook yet, I shared a survey on social media last week! This survey is about fakes (counterfeit) Blythes and your thoughts/opinions on them. I’m still in the data-gathering stages and would love to get more participants before I go through and publish the results. The more people participating, the better!

It’s a very short survey with mostly yes/no options, and shouldn’t take you more than five minutes to fill out (unless you get really wordy with the last question). Please take the time to fill this out – I will be publish the results here on BlytheLife soon!

Click here to fill in the survey!

All participants are anonymous – I have no way of figuring out who you are unless you decide to leave your name in one of the fill-in-the-blank options.

I finally unboxed my Intensive Care Petite and I’m so happy about it. While I’d love to give her a change of clothes, it appears as though her hat is firmly stuck on. There’s quite a thick piece of plastic that seems to be holding her hat on, and it seems to go through her scalp. So she will remain in her outfit indefinitely, at least for the time being – and here some Chickadee spam!

I had a discussion recently with a friend, who declined to be identified, in the doll hobby about how she often sold dolls to afford new ones. She called it “cycling” as in, one doll out, a new doll in. She has what she considers to be a “core group” and a “fluctuating group”, which I thought was interesting. Her core group consists of a Kenner, her first Blythe, and her first custom (that she did herself). Her fluctuating group is usually 3-4 dolls that changes every one to two years. She says its her way of not pouring even more money into the doll hobby, while always keeping her collection “fresh and exciting”. At one time, her fluctuating group was a group of one – she had a custom doll who was created by a sought after customizer at the time. Then she traded that doll for two dolls, and then she sold one of the customs and bought two other dolls with the proceeds. In her words, there are (surprisingly) more important things to spend money on than dolls, but she still wants to have the excitement of a new addition to her collection.

And then there’s me. I have only sold one doll before (a Fancy Pansy that never even made it out of her box – and to add insult to injury, I stripped her of her stock before shipping her off to her new home), the rest of my dolls enter into the family and here they will stay forever (barring unforeseen circumstances). And I know there are collectors out there like me – minimal selling, none of this “cycling” of money business, but I also know that this is not completely the norm. Some people sell, some people don’t – but it’s not a hard or fast rule that anyone should adhere too. What if I wake up one morning and decide that I need to sell a doll to afford something? Anyone who read this post would think that I’m a hypocrite and that’s okay – because presumably I’d either fallen out of love with a certain doll, or I really need the cash for something necessary in life – and that does not include doll clothes or shoes.

Do you “cycle” through dolls? Do you keep all your dolls? Or do you fall somewhere between the two extremes?

Everyday Collector is a feature I first wrote about in March 2016. It’s a feature to showcase the collectors in the Blythe community. If you are interested in being featured, please click here for more information.

Tell us about yourself.
Hi, I’m Ollie, a Melbourne born and bred teenage photographer, crafter, tea drinker, clothes-wearer and collector of small things. Oh, and an absolute addict to Blythe!

How did you discover Blythe?
In 2009, my cousin came back from Japan with this doll. She had these big, round eyes which magically changed with the pull of a string. I was in love, and I knew I just had to get my hands on one of my own! After discovering that the doll was a Blythe, I scoured the internet for days trying to find the perfect one. Then I saw the price tag. Whoa. Maybe I was just too used to $19 Barbies but $140 just seemed crazy for one doll! So I put my dolly dreams on hold for a while. But there was just something about Blythe that I just *needed* to have. So me and my wallet winced and hit the ‘Submit Order’ button on a Bohemian Peace. Nowadays I laugh at my old non-Blythe-educated self whilst I pay for $350 second-hand custom : )

Tell us about your Blythe family.
My Blythe family is forever changing and swapping. I go through phases of wanting ALL THE NEW RELEASES to eyeing off fancy customs. At the moment I’m pretty happy with my bundle (herd? flock? What’s the proper term?) of dollies. Sitting on the shelf I have Ellie, a Mondie, Chloe, a Yumiko Dolls Custom University of Love, Alex, a Royal Soliloquy, Mable, a Chu Things X MayYeo custom Simply Lilac, Nina, a Nenya Dolls custom FBL, and Audrey, a Strawberryland Dolls custom.

What is your favourite thing about Blythe?
My favourite thing about Blythe would be the creativity surrounding the dolls. There are just so many amazing people creating everything from tiny leather boots to carefully carved mouths. It still astonishes me how tiny stitches can get! Blythe wouldn’t be where she is today without folk like this.

What is your favourite aspect of the Blythe community?
My favourite aspect of the Blythe community is how inviting and lovely everyone is. I went to Blythe Fest last year and there wasn’t a single person in the room that I couldn’t chat to!  I also love how diverse the community is. Blythe seems to share the love with everyone, whether you’re brand new or have been collecting since ’72.

Ollie can be found on Flickr.

Photo by Meg/irulethegalaxy.

If money was not an obstacle and I had unlimited funds to spend on any one Blythe doll? I would get a Parco! Parco-Parco-Parco-Parco-Parco! Preferably one that came with her fantastic 90s-era cell phone. (I’ve become quite smitten with BLs, and while Sunday Best & Aztec Arrival are definitely on the ‘list’ of what I want – Parco will cost more pennies and is more out of my price range right now.)

If money wasn’t an issue, which Blythe doll would you buy right now?