The first time I ever took a Blythe out for photographs was at school, in the very early morning hours when there was hardly anyone there. I picked mostly secluded areas with decent lighting. I was a big chicken about being out and about with my dolly photography. I felt shy about it because, well, there I was holding a doll in one hand and a camera in the other. While at school. (Let’s not forget that I go to a huge school with more people than I could probably care to count [or even care about].) Maybe I just didn’t feel like being the girl that someone would go home and write a Facebook status about?

Saw a crazy girl at school today. She was holding onto a doll. She looked like she was about 12?

I have gotten better, but not as comfortable as I would like to be. I did take one of my dolls to the aquarium and got some fun shots there (poor lighting indoors, but still – it was fun!). There’s a lot to be said about how much more fun it is when you’re not feeling embarrassed about taking photos of dolls out in the open. When I was at the aquarium with my sister and Kindred, I was far more shy about public dolly photography than my sister was. Of course, she may have been tired of hearing me go “But there’s people around!” all the time.

I still feel a little uncomfortable when taking a doll out for photos. I suppose it’s just one of those things that I need to work on. I do hope that being around a whole bunch of fellow doll fans will help with my shyness of taking photos of dolls in public over the next couple of days though!

Were you shy about taking photos of your dolls at first? When did you get over this shyness (if you have)?

The doll hobby was a lot more expensive than I had originally expected when I got my first Blythe back in 2009. Just a Blythe costs a hundred dollars (or more). Clothes, well, those add up. A few dollars here, twenty dollars there, some people have piles and piles of dresses that cost them $20 each – maybe not me, but some people do. That’s… a lot of money. Even buying as frugally as possible (only during some sundries sales, only on things that are ‘special’ enough to be bought or things that I can’t make), the hobby is expensive. And while I may have spent more money on dolls than clothes, it all still adds up when you consider the need to buy things to create with.

Even if you were to make everything yourself, there’s the cost of thread, fabric, a sewing machine, shoes (unless you can make shoes yourself, in which case I think you’re awesome), yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks and all those little accessories. There’s so much money that goes into this hobby that makes it expensive to make things, expensive to buy things, and all those shipping costs? It all adds up, at the end of the day.

But it’s just money, at the end of the day. There’s so much more than you gain from the hobby, even without expecting it. Some people learn how to sew, crochet, knit. Some people learn how to turn any Blythe into a work of art. Some people restore vintage beauties to their former glory. And, it seems like everyone does this, we all make friends.

We may not have very much in common, we may not even have the same taste in doll clothes, but we all love Blythe. We all find a little something in common with each other – a doll with a big head, an even bigger ego and four set of eye chips.

What have you gained from the Blythe hobby?

It was within a month after buying my first doll that I ordered my second – Love Mission. She was one of those dolls that I adored in photos, loved seeing her both stock and customized (but I did see a lot more photos of her customized than stock). She’s a lovely doll, an EBL (!), affordable, came with two (?!) stock outfits, two pairs of shoes (this was important to me, I don’t know why) and had that very subtle make-up that I thought was really pretty.

Things I did learn after is that: it’s not always a good idea to buy the most affordable Blythe available, but it worked out for me (because I love her).

I spent the entire week that it took for her to ship from Hong Kong to Canada checking the tracking obsessively. I had that tracking code memorized, I could probably recite it in my sleep if I had to. I checked it at least once every hour that I was in front of a computer. Just over and over again. I was annoyed that it stayed at the port for a while (before leaving Hong Kong), I was even more annoyed when she stayed in Canadian Customs for a good long (what I thought was long!) while. And then suddenly the day arrived that she was delivered to my house and I was at work, but my sister signed for her.

Opening the box was a huge treat for me. I discovered very early on that I have a love for unpacking doll boxes and getting to open up all those little plastic packages holding the shoes and clothes and little accessories. And the day that I had unboxed Love Mission, I not only gained another Blythe (who I named Belarus, after the country, before she even arrived) but Sophie (Cappuccino Chat, my 365 girl, my first Blythe) gained a sister.

Things I learned after receiving Love Mission (Belarus!) in the mail was…

• I can be very obsessive about checking tracking numbers, this process repeated when ordering any other doll.
• Love Mission’s accessories are super cute and you never know when you need a cop outfit around.
• EBL’s are fantastic and do have this very unique look that’s only found in them.

It’s almost Mother’s Day here in Canada and the USA (I know it may fall on different days for other countries, but many do celebrate it on the second Sunday of May) and there is a lot that many of us can be thankful for towards our mothers.

My mom, while she thinks I lack sense over money when it comes to expensive dolls, does enjoy Blythe (aside from the eye changing business), but she’s not a part of the hobby as she does find it strange for her adult daughter to play with dolls. But I love her anyways. She gifted to me Simply Peppermint, who was my third Blythe doll and was later named Tertiary Jane. There’s a lot to be said from that – she doesn’t really “approve” of money being spent on the dolls (or their clothes…) but has no problems with buying a doll for me while she’s on vacation. Quite a woman, my mom is.

How does your mother (or grandmother or whoever was the maternal figure in your life!) like Blythe? Do you share the hobby with her? Does she support your Blythe obsession hobby?

Sometimes I look at my dolls and wonder why I spent so much money on them. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

I think about all the other things I could have gotten with that money. I could have paid for most of one term’s worth of tuition. I could have bought a lot of books or a new laptop (!) or a new digital camera. I could have bought new clothes (for me!) or shoes or pretty dresses (wait a moment, I buy dresses anyways…).

But then I think about all the things that Blythe has drawn me towards.

It drew me more into uploading and participating on Flickr.

It drew me more into sewing (I did knit and crochet before, but now I do it on a smaller scale).

It drew me more into the Blythe forums (I was a member prior to owning a Blythe, but I certainly wouldn’t have been so actively participating if I didn’t own one… or seven.).

And Blythe drew me to create this blog (yay!).

So while I could have bought a whole bunch of other things (and, to be truthful, I still spend money on tuition, the occasional new book, clothes [not that often] and pretty dresses [possibly too often]), I don’t think most of those things would have done as much for me as Blythe has. After all, if it weren’t for Blythe, I wouldn’t have made so many friends online (or tweet so much!) and it’s definitely been worth it, making friends with people and being active in a community like the Blythe community.

What has Blythe done for you?