As March draws to a close, so does the 2014 March Talent Showcase! To round out this year’s lovely entrants is Monika of Orchid’s Designs– who sews, designs and created a fashion sketchbook! Are you as curious as I was? Continue reading!

Hi Monika! What can you tell us about yourself?
My name is Monika Viktoria, designer and seamstress for Orchid’s Designs, specialising in one of a kind Haute Couture for dolls. I have a background in Fine Art and illustration, and work from my home studio in London (though I am originally from Australia.)

I find that everyone discovers Blythe a little different, how did you discover Blythe?
The first dolls I discovered were precious artist-made porcelain BJD. Through Flickr and doll-forums it was inevitable I found out about Blythe, but didn’t get my first till mid-way through last year – Prima Dolly Violet SBL. My good friend Karolin Felix customized her for me, and the obsession with Blythe was truly begun.

What was the first thing you created for your Blythe dolls?
Almost immediately after falling for Blythe I began designing the Dolly Fashion Sketchbook. Frustrated with my designs being scattered throughout different sketchbooks and notepads, I wanted to create a beautiful and useful fashion sketchbook just for Blythe. Each page has a big-eyed cutie template, room to plan custom eye-chips, jot down notes and inspirations, and glue in fabric swatches. Perfect for customizers and seamstresses, the Dolly Fashion Sketchbook is ideal for all fans of Blythe, to plan her next fabulous outfit!

How has your background in Fine Art and Illustration been able to help you with your business? How has it hindered you?
My background as an illustrator helped me when designing The Dolly Fashion Sketchbook, wanting to create a beautiful tool for people less confidant with their drawing skills. The entire book is fully hand-drawn, including the design elements and templates inside. Also, having a romantic painting style of my own applies when customizing my own dolls, they are the three dimensional embodiments of the nymphs and coquettes I have been illustrating for years.

What was the first project that you sewed for Blythe? What did you learn from that experience?
The first Orchid’s Designs creation I sewed for Blythe were a series of vintage-style attic dresses of silk and gossammer organza. I usually make my designs “skin tight” so had to be careful when working out the patterns to fit both the Takara and Pure Neemo bodies.

What would you consider to be your most elaborate outfit for Blythe? How about your most favourite? Or least favourite?
My current favourite design for Blythe is my “Ghost Fairy” dress, inspired by antique elaborate ballerina costumes for theatres – puffs of shredded tulle and lace tatters, delicate beading glimpsing at the neckline and along the hem. Citrine – my first custom Blythe wears an extravagant 6-piece OOAK costume including a brocade corset, lace leotard and fully beaded sequin helmet. At my first Blythe-con in Glasgow, UK, I was awarded first place in costume design for my pink tartan ensemble, a great honour and recognition for me.

How has designing for Blythe changed the way you interact with people in the community?
Blythe has found me many good friends, and allowed me to reach a great audience. I’ve met wonderful and creative people at BlytheCon, on Flickr and Facebook. I really enjoy participating in group challenges, competitions, and doing creative trades with other talented artists, customizers and designers. It would be wonderful to work on a communal project, I have seen some incredible collaborations!!

What can you tell us about what we can expect from you and Orchid’s Designs in the future?
Orchid’s Designs will continue to create exclusive and OOAK haute couture for rare artist BJD. For Blythe we will be offering unique pre-order commission slots for limited edition designs, and beautiful customised Neo and Middie Blythes with a unique and artistic twist, elaborately costumed visions reflecting my paintings. All my future custom Blythe’s will hopefully be unique creatures completely different from other dolls.

What do you find different about sewing for Blythe in comparison to other dolls and body types?
Blythe with her odd proportions demands her own style. My elegant designs for long-limbed BJD do not translate well, she suits cute and quirky styles, and can pull of silly designs that might appear twee on other dolls yet still look endearing on Blythe!

What would you say is the most important tool that you use for your design work?
A good imagination!! I draw many designs and ideas in my Dolly Fashion Sketchbook, filtering it down so that only my favourite ideas make it to realisation. Then I spend a lot of time lovingly creating a precious finished object, making sure everything is one-of-a-kind. My materials are sourced from around the world and carefully selected to ensure the highest quality and individuality.

Thanks for doing this interview with me, Monika! What advice do you have for someone who’s interested in designing for Blythe?
It’s been my pleasure!! My greatest advice would be to always stay original and true to your own personal style – there are so many talented artists involved with Blythe doing their own thing, don’t fall into the trap of wanting to copy their designs, styles or trends. Creating something fresh and new will be far more rewarding than re-creating something by someone else. Also – do it for the love of Blythe!

To learn more about Monika, check out her website, blog, Facebook page, Flickr photostream and Etsy shop.

Five Orchid’s Designs Gift-Packs!

Monika has generous decided to giveaway five gift packages from Orchid’s Designs. Each gift pack will consist of postcards, sample pages from her Dolly Fashion Sketchbook and a knitted scarf, like in the photos above!

The giveaway runs until Saturday April 5th 2014 at 11:59pm Pacific. The draw will be held on Sunday April 6th 2014 and the winners 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 Monika so she can get in contact with you regarding sending you the prize.

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The second week of BlytheLife’s March Talent Showcase showed off Blythe Happy, the Etsy shop ran by Leslie. What doll, Neo or Middie, wouldn’t benefit from adorable, hand-embroidered panties? These are definitely several steps up from those sorry excuses of underpants that new stock dolls are being sold with now. If you weren’t one of the lucky three who won, there’s always Blythe Happy!

Many thanks to everyone who entered, and to Leslie who generously donated the three panties (designs to be chosen by the winners!).

Click to read more of this entry.

Who’s next in the March Talent Showcase? How about someone who transforms vintage and modern dolls and gives them a full head of hair? From natural or synthetics, let’s see what Addie of Little Curls Re-root Services creates!

Hi Addie! What can you tell us about you?
I’m 38, married, a medical secretary and “mom” to a Jack Russell terrier and my kitten. My hobbies (other than dolls) include walking, cycling, watching rugby, listening to music, knitting and crochet.

How did you discover Blythe? What dolls are in your family?
I wasn’t a big fan of dolls when I was a young girl, I much preferred teddies and other plush toys (I had over 100!). I had a T-shirt in 2003/2004 that had a big-eyed doll on it but I didn’t know it was a real doll. I rediscovered Blythe in 2011 when they featured on a blog that my husband reads, I really wanted one of those “Christine Ricci looking dolls” but didn’t think I could afford one – imagine my surprise when one arrived on Christmas Day 2011!!

My current family is 21 dolls – three Neo Blythes (two customised), a Kenner (wispy banged brunette), a Blybe/clone, an Icy doll, two Susie Sad Eyes, a Middie Blythe, a Moof, three Liccas, three Dollcena, two custom LPS Blythe, a stock Petite Blythe, a Tangkou and a Remco Heidi doll.

Who was your first rerooting project?
My first rerooting project was a Blybe/clone Frankie who I decided to reroot using knitting wool. It created such a great effect, and I enjoyed the process so much, that the next two Blythes I adopted both arrived bald!!

What made you decide to start rerooting?
I already had an Etsy store, and loved the creative opportunities that Blythe and her dolly cousins offer 🙂

I’d received a lot of positive feedback from people online and at dolly meets about the quality of the reroots I had completed for my dolls (Rose, Casey and Olive) and so I started rerooting Susie Sad Eyes and selling them – this led to setting up my commissions list.

I won’t agree to reroot a new type of doll unless I’ve had a practice go to see what the head is like to work with, how they look rerooted, how much fibre they need etc – this has inevitably led to my dolly collection growing and diversifying (which is fine be me)!!!

What can you share with us about your routine when it comes to a rerooting project?
I work full time so my rerooting is done during evenings and weekends. If I’m working with a few dolls at a time, I like to spend an evening removing all of their hair and cleaning their heads ready to work on.

I use a laptop tray that has a lamp and hollows for my glue, scissors and needles. I work in batches so I will prepare approx 50 plugs at a time, knotting them and gluing the ends, before positioning the plugs in the dolls head, and then making another batch…

I take lots of photos along the way, especially if i am working on a colour blend, to make sure the overall look is right, and when I have finished I condition and style the doll’s hair before taking her final photos.

What kind of doll do you like to reroot the most? Which kind gives you more challenges?
I’ve had most practice of working with Susie Sad Eyes and I particularly enjoy giving Susies a new head of hair because frankly the poor things were given so little to start with!! I find LPS blythes to be particularly challenging as they have such hard heads and their neck hole is so small, I have to use a very thin long needle! The best dolls are those with squishy heads as they are easier on my hands 😉

I know that different fibres have different pros and cons – what has been your most favourite and least favourite types of fibres to work with when rerooting a doll?
I know that different fibres have different pros and cons – what has been your most favourite and least favourite types of fibres to work with when rerooting a doll?

My least favourite has to be saran – I admire those who work with it and I know you can achieve lovely, in fact stunning, results with it. Its just not for me!

My favourite is mohair – it’s so versatile, it styles well, and holds colour beautifully. It can be washed and conditioned the same as human hair, and its just so tactile! I love the feel of a mohair scalp!!

I have found that the animal it was taken from and the age and length of the fibre will determine the overall curl and feel of the fibre. I source my mohair from a few suppliers that I trust to supply me with premium fibres.

What do you feel is your most important tool for rerooting? What could you not do without?
I actually have very few tools that I need – a darning needle, a set of long narrow doll needles, tweezers, non-toxic fabric glue, and kitchen paper.

What I find is a absolutely vital is something good on the TV – nothing too complicated that I have to concentrate on (and definitely no subtitles) but movie reruns, cookery shows etc are great for keeping me entertained while I work 😀

What has been your most favourite rerooting project to date?
I love working on custom colour blends and my most recent project was just that – I was asked to create a mermaid inspired reroot using jades, turquoises, greens and blues. It was really fun to work on and I know that her new owner was really pleased with the result.

I have a Flickr group so that people can post pictures of their dolls that I have rerooted and its always nice to see how other people style the dolls once they have left my hands…

What can you tell us about some of your future projects and what we can look forward to seeing from you?
As my dolly collection grows and diversifies, so does the range of dolls that I work with… I really love bringing a new lease of life to vintage girls, so as well as rerooting I hope to be able to offer little refresh details such as make up and eyebrow touch-ups, and also little outfits and accessories. As ever I always practice on my own dolls and I have already started on new techniques and patterns…

I will definitely be continuing to work with Susie Sad Eyes, and I have a special witchy Susie planned in the coming months! Just watch this space!

How has selling in the doll community affected how you view it?
I have made so many friends in the past two years, several of whom are down to my work as a rerooter. I’ve found that rather than be competitive or aloof, everyone is friendly and happy to share tips, ideas, make trades, and even swap contacts. I look forward to meeting more people in 2014!

Thanks so much for doing this interview with me, Addie! What kind of advice do you have for a beginner rerooter?
You are so welcome! For any beginners I would say, take your time, choose a doll that you will love and buy the best fibre you can afford (already dyed, combed and banded if you can). Look at as many tutorials you can find and ask lots of questions – that’s how I learnt.

You can find out more about Addie from her Flickr photostream, her Flickr group and over at her Etsy shop.

Rerooting Service Giveaway!

Addie has generously decided to giveaway rerooting service to one lucky reader here at BlytheLife! The rerooting service will be for a small headed doll where the winner provides the doll, fibre and shipping cost. Addie will provide the rerooting service!

The giveaway runs until Saturday March 29th 2014 at 11:59pm Pacific. The draw will be held on Sunday March 30th 2014 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 Pamela so she can get in contact with you regarding sending you the prize.

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As the first giveaway for the March Talent Showcase draws to a close, I’d like to thank Pauleen of Sweet Serendipity for graciously offering a cute crocheted Blythe beret for one lucky reader here at BlytheLife!

Again, I’d like to remind readers that if you are looking to enter into the raffle, you must complete the task associated with the entry! For example, if you entered and did not leave a blog post comment, I had to remove the entry. This goes for all raffles here at BlytheLife since I’ve started using Rafflecopter to handle giveaway entries.

And a little reminder as to what the drawing was for…

And the winner is…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations! Your email will be forwarded to Pauleen so she can get in touch with you about sending you your prize!

It’s another Friday, which means another installment of the March Talent Showcase! It is time for you to meet Leslie, who is the creative woman behind Blythe Happy! So happy to share her and her wonderful embroidered creations with you – what a niche that she entered into in 2013!

Hi Leslie! What can you tell us about yourself?
I am happy to be a stay-at-home wife, mother (although my two kids are in college right now), cat-wrangler (we have four cats who don’t always get along…), crafter, seamstress, blogger, Blythe collector and Etsy shop owner! For the past 15 years we have lived in the touristy town of Williamsburg, Virginia, which I love for it’s small size and proximity to bigger cities.

This is me at Blythe Con 2013 NY with my fave girl Candy. Although the quality of the photo isn’t great, it’s my favorite picture of myself with a doll–you can see how happy Blythe makes me!

How did you discover Blythe? Who is in your dolly family?
I first started seeing Blythe on the craft website Craftster.org in 2012, and I wondered what these dolls were. My curiosity took me to eBay, where I started spending a lot of time scrolling through the Blythe listings. I was especially captivated by Raspberry Sorbet, with her long, swingy hair, and finally I took the plunge and bought her. I hadn’t had a doll since I stopped playing with Barbies at the age of 12, and I had mixed feelings–what will my family and friends think about me playing with dolls??? So I kept my new interest quiet at first, but slowly, as my collection grew and my confidence grew along with it, I became more open about my dolls. Starting my Etsy store this year was the turning point–it made my doll collection more “legitimate”, because I was actually making money on my hobby. Now I have no problem talking about what I do! I’m sure I would not have gotten into this hobby if it wasn’t for all the things I saw people making for their dolls; I love to sew, knit, embroider and do general crafting, and all these skills come together for me in Blythe.

I have a nice variety of Blythes in my collection now, including several of the face molds and lots of different hair colors. My first two girls were brunettes (Petit Dejeuner was #2), but I’ve come to realize that the fantasy hair colors are my favorite. Right after Christmas I lined up all 20 of my Neos and took this picture of them in their bookcase/dollhouse:

What was the first thing that you crafted for Blythe?
The first patterns I found for Blythe were at Puchi Collective, and the first one I made was the Empire Dress. Here is Bonnie–this is both my first dress and my first picture of Blythe! She didn’t even have shoes (she came with boots but they didn’t go with this dress), and I just plunked her down on my front doorstep to take the picture.

Since then I’ve become a lot more creative with both my sewing, crafting and picture-taking; here’s a recent photo. I made the room box on the right, and the winter-themed stand on the left; I also made the yellow table (from perler beads) and the red and white outfit on Heather (my Prima Dolly Violet). Oh–I just added Precocious Candy Mushroom to my collection–this is her first photo!!

Tell us a little bit about Blythe Happy – what made you decide to open up a shop?
As I’ve already mentioned, one of the main reasons Blythe appealed to me was that I could make lots of “stuff” for her. I quickly became involved in swaps on Blythe Kingdom and Plastic Paradise, and I got so much positive feedback from my swap partners about the items I knitted and sewed, that the thought of opening a shop started to form. I resisted it for a while though, because I didn’t want the hassle of running a business–getting a business license, keeping records for taxes, and filing quarterly returns for Virginia sales tax DO NOT appeal to me! Eventually, though, as I sewed cute dresses and knit fun little hats, I really wanted to share them with more people. I decided the hassle would be worth it, so I opened Blythe Happy on Etsy in the summer of 2012.

How has opening a business changed the Blythe world for you?
The biggest change has been all the people I’ve been able to connect with through my shop. Although I am active on the Blythe forums and Flick’r and some Blythe groups on Facebook, I’m not really “chatty”, so it was hard for me to meet people. Now that I have a shop, it’s easy for people to get an idea of who I am by seeing what I make. Many of my customers are also in the on-line groups I belong to, and as a result of their purchases, we’ve connected in the groups. It’s so fun to connect with people!

What is the first thing that you sold through your Etsy shop?
The very first thing that sold was a Happy Cloud Dress, which was purchased by one of my lovely swap partners because it matched a hat I had sent her! See what I mean about connections? Several other former swap partners made purchases from me in the early days of my shop, which really warmed my heart and boosted my confidence–I truly appreciate those first customers, and every single one since then. Here’s a picture of that first dress; I opened Blythe Happy with a dozen dresses I had made as a personal challenge to sew or knit a dress every day for a month.

I soon noticed that a lot of people on Etsy sold outerwear for Blythe, but not many were selling underwear, so I decided to try making some panties. I wanted them to be pretty and practical, so I used white fabric (practical, so there are no worries about staining) and I came up with some simple embroidery designs for the front (pretty, but still practical, because embroidery is flat and won’t cause lumps under clothing like other embellishments–bows, buttons, beads, etc.–would). As soon as I started offering the panties, they sold well, so that’s what I concentrate on now. I try to keep a good variety of designs available all the time, and I’m always coming up with new embroidery patterns to keep the shop fresh. I’ve also started making the panties in Middie size, and they have received a good response from my customers.

Do you end up keeping a lot of what you make, or does most of it end up in the shop?
When it comes to the panties, everything I make is for sale–leaving my own dollies with “seconds”! Only a couple of the girls are actually wearing my panties, and those are the prototypes I made that had imperfections. But I do like to see all my dolls dressed nicely, and I like to see them in items I’ve made myself, so I go out of my way to sew and knit outerwear for them. If a dress doesn’t sell in my shop by the time the listing expires, I keep that for myself. Since I only make items that I love, I am very happy to keep anything that doesn’t sell quickly!

What has been your best-selling panties design so far?
The top favorite design is a flower trio (on the Middie panties it’s a single flower) that I do in several different colors. I consider it my “signature” design, because it’s the only one I do completely free-hand (for all the others, I trace the design onto the fabric and embroider over the lines.) The next best-seller is a kitty face; every time I put one in the store it disappears quickly! But all the designs sell well, probably because I am careful to choose themes that are popular in the world of Blythe collectors–anything cute or pretty or kitschy will work–like animal faces, mushroom houses, gnomes, hearts, crowns, unicorns, rainbows–even a cute little T-Rex! But since the surface area for the design is small, the images can’t be too complicated or detailed. I keep a little notebook where I brainstorm ideas for embroidery designs. Later I go back and decide which ones will work, and I refine those sketches into workable drawings.

Generally speaking, my dolls don’t run around with their underpants showing – how does it make you feel when you do get to see your embroidered pants on other people’s dolls?
This question brings up the biggest drawback to making panties–they rarely get to be seen in action!! Recently, however, I sent a pair in a swap package, and my partner posted a cute picture of her doll raising her skirt to show off her panties–that really made my day!

Photo by Heather Roy – used with permission.

I always enjoy the surprise of seeing pretty panties on my dolls when I’m changing their clothes, so for the most part, the panties are a pretty secret to be enjoyed only by the doll owner (and the dolls themselves, of course!)

What’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned about business owning and being the owner of an online shop since you’ve started selling things?
You have to advertise! After opening Blythe Happy, I quickly realized that I couldn’t expect customers to find me on their own–as with any business, you have to advertise so people will know you exist. I post links to my shop in the Facebook Blythe groups; and both Blythe Kingdom and Plastic Paradise have sections for shop owners to show what they sell. All of these are fantastic opportunities because they directly target the Blythe community, and they are FREE!! So far I haven’t used the option at Etsy to pay to have my listings at the top of the page when customers do searches, but I am keeping that in mind for the future. Another thing I’m considering is making up something small to be packaged with my business cards to donate to Blythe Con 2014 for the goodie bags. I know that when I got home after Blythe Con this year, I made a point of looking up all the businesses that gave freebies; that would be a great way to put my shop name directly into the hands of Blythe collectors.

You can find out more about Leslie and Blythe Happy on Facebook, her blog and over at her Etsy shop!

Embroidered Panties Giveaway!

Leslie has generously decided to giveaway three pairs of embroidered panties and each panty will have one lucky winner! Winners will get their choice of size (Neo vs. Middie) and design (from Leslie’s existing designs).

The giveaway runs until Saturday March 22nd 2014 at 11:59pm Pacific. The draw will be held on Sunday March 23rd 2014 and the winners 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 Leslie so she can get in contact with you regarding sending you the prize.

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway