According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word selfie is an early 21st century informal word that is defined as:

A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.

– Oxford Dictionary

And as far as social media goes, applications and websites like Facebook, Flickr and Instagram definitely count. Many people engage in the process of taking selfies. Some people as a lark, some people to show off their new outfit or purchases. Whatever your reasons for taking a selfie, maybe it’s time that Blythe started getting in on this fad? After all, we share photos of Blythes everywhere, we enjoy taking photos of them and sometimes the photos end up being somewhat blurry, at an odd angle or even mostly cropping someone out. I know that before I got a smartphone with a front-facing camera I did that all. the. time. Even with the little circle that was described as being a “mirror”, intended use to help with self-photography, it was a difficult task to master. No excuses now since there are such things as front-facing cameras though, but I digress, sometimes dolls are just really bad at holding the cell phone in place. Maybe it has to do with the lack of Licca arms in my house, but they’re all pretty bad at it.

Does this photo make my head look big?

On behalf of the organizing committee for BlytheCon Vancouver 2015, I have a little announcement to make…

It’s official! BlytheCon Vancouver 2015 will be on Sunday, August 9th!

More details are forthcoming! In the mean time, you can head over to join the BlytheCon Vancouver 2015 Facebook group and get updates on details as they are released.

Fakes, factories, TBLs. Whatever you call them, they’re not made by nor sold by Takara as legitimate Blythes.  ADGs, long since discontinued, have not been ‘faked’ since or during the time that they were being actively manufacturered. ADGs have, however, gained in monetary value, especially those who are still mint in box.

Let’s consider this. If a person owns a fake designer bag, it’s still a fake (or counterfeit, if you want to use that term). And it’s fairly frowned upon. And yet, when it comes to Blythe, a lot of people turn a blind eye to the fact that someone has a TBL, or just ignore it altogether. Because there’s just so much joy when it comes to owning, and playing with, these wide-eyed dolls. Is it wrong to own a fake doll? In the ball-jointed doll community, a lot of people frown upon re-casted dolls – people still own them, enjoy them love them; but as a whole they’re still frowned upon, and some BJD forums even ban the resale of re-casted dolls. Yet not a lot of public frowning seems to come along when someone is announcing a new doll that happens to be a TBL, or selling a custom doll who’s origin are less than legitimate. I will admit that since people started scalp swapping (otherwise known as hybrid Blythes), it’s harder and harder to tell which are the ‘real’ Blythes (with minor alterations) and which are the factory, TBLs or fake Blythes. After all, people have been customizing these dolls since the beginning. Blythe makes a beautiful canvas that seems to know no bounds. A scalp swap here, a change in face-up there. It can be difficult to tell the difference between what is faked and what is customized.

Is there outrage over owning a fake doll? Is there a sense of controversy? Or do people not care at all about if there’s fakes floating around? What happens when someone sells a customized TBL as a real Blythe, either intentionally or unintentionally? It can be rather hard to tell them apart. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to tell (in a photo) if the doll is a fake or not, mostly because of the way the doll is positioned or customized. It can be difficult, especially if a hybrid doll is created from TBL and real Blythe parts. A FrankenBlythe, if you will.

Is there controversy behind owning a fake?

As my courses wind to an end for the term, I start to think about summer (and yes, I am aware that it is May). Sure, I have summer classes that will probably make me curse the format of distance/online classes that are mandatory for my program, but isn’t that what school is all about? Making students grind their teeth? But on a more serious note, what am I going to be doing this summer in regards to Blythe?

Firstly: working on BlytheLife! I have lots of plans for upcoming posts, notably Blythe On A Budget posts, some DIYs in the future, perhaps some free patterns, more interviews, and, of course, giveaways! As my course load goes down, I will have some more time to devote to writing, which makes me immensely happy because Blythe is one of my favourite topics to go on and on about, too bad some people I know offline don’t think that Blythes are as fascinating of a topic.

Next I will be creating a wardrobe for Kitty Brighton. As previously stated, the poor thing doesn’t have many clothes and it’s starting to be really pitiful. She’s not nearly as demanding as Sophie is, but just as whiny. I’m surprised I made it this far without breaking down and just buying everything she could possibly need off of Etsy. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for my bank account, I do have several pattern books with items that just might fit her fairly well. I’ve read that Odeco and Nikki patterns should fit Middie, so this is good news for Brighton!

As August comes nearer, I’m planning my trip to Seattle! I look forward to meeting people who share in my love for Blythe. As the day nears, I’ll be blogging about wardrobe planning for the dolls, and who will be the lucky few that will be going to BlytheCon with me. Chances are, very familiar dolls will be going with me. I have plans for catching up with friends, both new and old, and lots of shopping to do! I’ve been fairly restrained so far this year in terms of buying dolly things, so I’m looking forward to getting some new goodies for the girls.

And lastly, I will sewing my way into a wardrobe for the Blythes as well. I have so many Doll Coordinate Recipe books, that it’s such a shame that I haven’t been using them to their full potential just yet. I plan on sewing new pieces for my dolls to both further my sewing skills and to increase their wardrobe without completely breaking the bank. We’ll have to see how successful I am at it though, hopefully it goes okay!

What are your upcoming summer plans?

When I first saw custom Blythes, there were two very obvious groups. The ones that were customized lightly, still had their original hair, and some light carving for the lips. And then there were the ones that were completely overhauled. The ones with wefts or another kind of hair change, vampire teeth, body changes. Now there is a huge variety in the type of customs that pop up: sassy little girls, the dolls that end up on Pure Neemo bodies and look a bit like pin-ups, and then there are the vampires, monsters, girls with braces, cross-eyed dolls, and then the ones with severe carving (of which monsters, vampires, cleft palates, open mouths, full set of teeth, and scarred on the faces all fit in).

Lately I’ve seen a lot of vampires and monsters, and more extreme customs that often pop up from time to time. Overall, there always seems to be a good mix of styles – some are lightly customized, some extremely customizes, but the majority are somewhere in the middle. Like most things in life, the spectrum of customized dolls rests on a bell curve.

What is your least favourite custom trend? How about your most favourite?

As I took a little looksee through some active sale postings for custom dolls, I found that quite a few had reroots (usually mohair, although there are some alpaca), usually all custom chips (many gorgeous handpainted ones!), mostly Licca over stock Takara or even Pure Neemo bodies. Most of the dolls that I see selling have minimal carving. Perhaps the mouth, nose and the philtrum, but the majority of dolls don’t seem to have more than that. Teeth seems to be a factor that can, depending on who the customizer is, keep the doll on the market for longer. For some more popular or well-known customizers, dolls with teeth or other more ‘extreme’ carving gets snapped up quite quickly. For those unknown, they just seem to linger longer – or maybe that’s just because Facebook will bump up the post every single time someone bumps it, and it’s like I’m seeing it all over again for the umpteeth time.