I like taking photos of Blythe, but I am not a photographer by any means. I use a point-and-shoot camera sometimes and my cell phone most of the time. For a long while, after getting my first smartphone, nearly all of my photos were taken with my phone – I recently changed this after ‘rediscovering’ my trusty Sony Cybershot. And even after five years into this hobby, I’m still shy about photographing dolls in public unless I’m with other people who have Blythes out. The idea of strangers watching me bugs me. Strength in numbers works well for me.

A little while ago, I went out to take some photos and instead of bringing a Blythe along, I brought my Petworks Usaggie, Kanin. Dressed in a cute top and a scarf that is woefully inappropriate for the weather, I took him out for photos. And it was fun! I got a lot of photos of him with beautiful backdrops that is British Columbia.

Kanin is wearing an “I Love YVR” LuxieLou top and a rainbow scarf (by me/Michelle/chelleshocks).

I was with other people (my sisters) but not other doll people. Strength in numbers again, but a little less dolly involved and just having people around. There were quite a bit of people around – it was a beautiful sunny summer day in British Columbia, everyone comes out in droves to soak up what little vitamin D we can get throughout the summer months. So there were people, and I did see quite a few people watching me as I held out Kanin to take photos of the water, the lighthouse, and boats.

It may have helped that Kanin is smaller than Blythe is, and perhaps he draws slightly less attention. Or maybe I’m just starting to care less about what people think of me? Maybe I’m not as shy about public doll photography as I think that I am. Who knows.

I recently got asked by a friend if I prefer my (vintage) Kenner Blythe dolls over my (modern) Takara Blythe dolls, and I didn’t really have a straight forward answer for that.

See, if you were to ask me about my top favourite Blythes in my current collection, I would start talking about the same four as I am painfully predictable in that manner:

Clockwise from top left: Primrose (Kenner), Eden Mouse (Punkaholic People, RBL), Emmalynn (Kenner), and Sophie (Cappuccino Chat, RBL).

But do I prefer Kenners over Takaras? To me, they’re sort of in different ‘classes’ of Blythe. Much like how I wouldn’t necessarily compare Middies to Neos/Kenners or Petites to Middies, because they’re in a different grouping all their own. There is something special about Kenners that has never been perfectly replicated in a Neo Blythe. Maybe it’s the fact that they are just so different even if you have the ‘same’ ones, or the smell, or the fact that I just adore the glow that they have, the sweet Kenner pip, and the ease of how they can look so sweet one moment and look like they’re rolling their eyes at me the next.

I love them for different reasons. By now everyone knows that the majority of my doll family is stock (or mostly stock) and that’s because I prefer stock dolls over custom dolls. But does that mean that I’m going to go up and sell my custom dolls tomorrow? Of course not, because I love them for different reasons. I appreciate the dolls for their own characteristics. Much like how I think of Kenners differently from Takara Blythes, I think of customs as being different from stock dolls – because they are.

Essentially it boils down to a few things for me. I play favourites with my dolls, I have fully admitted to this. But I still love my ‘non favourites’ just the same because they’re mine. Like a child who hoards the dollies from the toy box, I love all of my Blythe dolls. If I had to sell off all of my Takaras and only keep my Kenners, I would not be happy. And that would be true if the situation was revered with selling off all of my Kenners and only keeping my Takaras.

In short, I play favourites – but I still love all of my dolls and I welcome both Kenners and Takaras into my dolly family.

Custom dolls are a bit of a rarity in my doll collection. A lot of people are into custom dolls and I think that’s fantastic. I find that I really enjoy stock dolls, or ‘lightly customized’ dolls. By lightly, I tend to mean minor changes that I can do myself (sleep eyes, gaze lift, eye chip changing – the extent of my customizing capabilities).

There are a lot of customizers that I admire because of the amount of talent and beauty that they can put into a Blythe doll. Or the addition of a reroot in kitten-soft alpaca, lightly carved lips with a slight smile to go with it. Customizers are talented. I just don’t tend to see myself as someone with want nor the need to start taking a knife to my dolls.

I own exactly two custom dolls, both aren’t considered “extreme” in my mind. To me, extreme customs are the ones that have been carved to look like cats or dogs. Or they have vampire/monster teeth, or just teeth in general. And maybe a reroot, or scars, or something. Light carving does not necessarily an extreme custom make. There are some beautiful extreme customs though, and some not-so-beautiful extreme customs. I love dolls that tell a story behind their eyes, or are so amazingly beautiful in an fantastical kind of way. Much like the customs to the left, I love the artistry that goes into extreme customs like that – so much talent, so much more talent that goes into a single doll than I could ever hope to achieve.

The thing to remember with truly one-of-a-kind (OOAK) art dolls is that the prices can also be OOAK in the way that they will make you wish you fond that OOAK money tree. Because of that, I will not be adding an extremely customized doll to the family any time soon. Maybe one of these days, but it would definitely have to be at the right time, and the right doll.

Do you own any extreme customs?

It’s time for another Tiny Shoe Love! And we all know how much I love shoes – just a tiny reason why Sophie is so interested in shoes as well. In the first installment of Tiny Shoe Love, I featured Monique Magnifique’s stock heels and vintage dark brown squishy Barbie boots. What are you in store for this time? Very happy that you asked!

Stock engineer boots from Jackie Ramone (Middie):

Left: on Jackie Ramone (Middie), Kitty Brighton. Right: on Love Mission (Blythe, EBL), Belarus.

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Sometimes I muse about getting another Middie Blythe. After all, if having one Middie is awesome, having two must be even more awesome, right? And then I think about it some more, and change my mind.

There are stock Middies that I am interested in (a certain Marshmallow one comes to mind), but I haven’t pulled the figurative trigger on that yet because I’m just not a good Middie owner. Realistically, I am fully aware that Middies are just dolls. Dolls don’t have real feelings and don’t feel temperature by wearing a sweater in the summer and aren’t aware when I leave them in the same outfit for like half a year. I get that. But at the same time, having a doll that just hangs out that I don’t really play with makes me feel like I’m cluttering up my living space.

That and I really don’t have many clothes that are Middie-sized, so it does make me reluctant to continue to add to the Middie part of my doll collection because I just don’t have the clothes (or the shoes!) for them. Yes, I do have some Middie-sized shoes but I don’t have nearly as many as I do in Blythe-sized. And as much of an effort as I had put into amassing the Blythe collection, I don’t fancy doing the same for Middie when it comes to just… things. I think that’s one of the reasons why I decided to hand craft my Middie’s wardrobe – I want to be inspired and creative when it comes to Blythe (and the other sizes of dolls). This mindset didn’t last very long because I do go through periods where I just don’t do much with my dolls aside from picking out, redressing her, and taking her to a meet. And then she’ll stay in that outfit until the next time that she happens to attend a meet.

This is one of the reasons why I think photo challenges like 365 are great for people who want to become more creative and take more photos. But alas, that is just not in the cards for me at this time. And my only Middie girl will continue to be the only Middie for a while long… If only because I don’t need another reminder that I don’t make enough things for the dolls around here.