Something that seems to confuse people is that I am perfectly comfortable with opening up a 1972 Kenner Blythe doll when I’m not comfortable with customizing a newer doll (basically, any of the Takaras – nothing against ADG, I just don’t own any of them). It seems weird to me too, when I really think about it. Considering one is generally more expensive than the other, older plastic and is less replaceable than the latter. Granted, I haven’t done any ‘serious’ fixing work for my Kenners, mostly because I’ve grown to become attached to their primarily unfixed charm. But my dolls need to have limbs and fixed cracks. No ifs, ands or buts about it. I give my dolls limbs.

Eye chips, gaze lifting and new charms. That’s about all I do with Neos!

And you might think “But Michelle, that seems to be some serious restoration work” (and maybe it is), you pause and then continue on with “Surely if you’re comfortable with detaching a hardcap from a vintage doll’s head, you could be comfortable wrenching an eye mechanism out of the front of a Blythe’s face?”. The funny thing is? I’m really not. I’ve done it before (removing an eye mechanism from one of my RBLs) and it was hard! It took a lot of effort on my part (I lack the hand strength to ever do customizing efficiently) and to be perfectly honest, I’m pretty convinced that if I were to customize a doll, it would end up looking a bait doll. That is how much confidence I have in my wannabe customizer capabilities. And you know what? That’s okay! There are plenty of capable customizers out there that I do not need to throw my name into the ring because I’d rather just sit back and lovingly gaze onto the work of others (and believe me, I do). Restoring a Kenner? Let me at her! Customizing any Blythe? Ohhhh no.

Are you brave enough to customize a doll?

When this question gets posed to me, I know what the person is really asking is “Who’s your favourite?”. By definition, I should only have one favourite. Because if there was more than one, there’d still be a ranking of who is number one and who is number two. Plastic is unfortunately one of those materials that will melt in a fire, so in the event of a fire, I’d probably try to rescue all of my dolls. You know, if it was safe to do so and I wasn’t putting myself in any dangerous. (Yeah right, I’d probably be the last one out clutching onto my dolls like they were some kind of life raft and somehow going to keep me alive when I walk through the flames.)

That said, whenever I get asked who my favourite is, my answer is to show people my phone. Now, my phone isn’t anything particularly unique (a white Galaxy S3 in a fun lime green case), but it’s the wallpaper that is the most telling part of all. As in who’s featured…

Because, let’s face it, the moment I laid eyes on her Frizziest-ness, I knew that Prim had to be mine. Princess Primrose, Primrose, Prim, Prim-Prim. I’m still incredibly thankful to my friend who a) found her (and her other six sisters that make up the Vancouver Seven) and b) for allowing me to adopt her and her other sister (Miss Lillian Rose). She is, without a doubt, the ‘top’ favourite out of the dolls that I have and I wouldn’t trade her for the world. And yes, that means rescuing her first in the event of a fire because she’d probably rise out of the ashes and beat me senseless if I left her behind and ‘dispose’ of whichever doll(s) I did rescue first.

Which doll would you save in a fire first?

I’d like to start this off by saying that I think eyelid art on Blythe dolls is awesome. Some people (coughcough) do some fantastic work – I don’t understand how people can paint and draw such detailed work on possibly the world’s smallest canvas. It doesn’t make sense to me because I’m pretty sure that if I tried that, I would go permanently cross-eyed from focusing so much. That and I can’t draw for beans, so not only would I be permanently cross-eyed, it’d also be a waste of time because it would not resemble what I want it to look like. Sad, but true.

The best way that I think that eyelid art is showcased on dolls is with sleepy eyes. I’m sure many of you know how sleepy eyes are done on a Blythe doll. For those unfamiliar, you replace the use of the spring on the eye mechanism with a secondary string. So you pull one string to change the eyes and then another string is used to open the eyes. This allows you to temporarily see the eyelids and have the doll “sleep”. (I’ve read online before that it’s not recommended that you leave your dolls “sleeping” for long periods of time because it can result in damage to the eye mechanism due to stress.)

While I love the idea of getting to see eye lids from time to time, only two of thirteen of my Blythes have sleepy eyes. This is mostly due to the fact that I am terribly lazy when it comes to my dolls. When I need to change to the next set of chips, it’s because there’s a specific set that I want to have facing for photos and I don’t like having the added step of pulling an extra string. Plus, I have a hard enough time as it is finding charms for the main pull string – now I need to find charms or something neat for another string? That’s just so much work! So, sadly, only two of my dolls have sleepy eyes. The rest just get dosed up with some caffeine so that they can stay up for all hours of the day!

How do you feel about sleepy eyes on your Blythes?

Meet Spin and Lemon, Mondies times two! – photo by irulethegalaxy.

There are always dolls that I want. I think that’s part of being a collector (and also a collector who can’t buy All. The. Dolls.), you end up looking for the ‘Next One’ and continually eye up the new releases in hopes that something tickles your fancy. I am no different in that regard as I’m always looking for a new doll here or there. I may not be able to afford all the dolls that I want, but the thrill of the chase in fun nonetheless!

Here are some of the dolls that I’ve been wishing for lately:

• Mondrian (Mondie) – BL
• Aztec Arrival – BL
• Ahcahcum Zukin – RBL
• More Kenners! – I’d love to have a chunky bangs redhead, a chunky bangs brunette and a pink rerooted KB

I also love collecting stock clothing and shoes as well, mostly because they can be so versatile (or just plain crazy!) and there’s just so many choices. Hopefully I’ll be able to make all of my doll, clothing and shoes wishes come true one day!

Who’s on your wishlist?

I actually find it fascinating that everyone looks at Blythe differently. Some people think of Blythe as a child, others think of her as an unruly teenager or a young adult, while some just think of Blythe as being the same age as them. I have a friend who gave her doll the personality of a toddler who’s still in diapers, and another who thinks of all her dolls as being in their early twenties. Me? My dolls vary in age – but for the most part they’re around my age (or younger). Clothing, I find, makes a big difference in the “age” of a doll. Styling of the hair, the way a doll is dolled up makes all the difference. If your doll is wearing an evening gown, I’m more inclined to think that she’s in her twenties or older as opposed to a doll who’s in a cute romper that has a playful nursery theme on it (hello, early childhood!). Shoes also make a difference. Strappy heels make me think that she’s older, while flats or T-strap shoes make me think school-aged or just younger in general.

As for my own dolls – they’re usually around my age, except for Eden who’s a lot younger and enjoys pink and tea parties. It’s not always terribly obvious to me, the age of my dolls, because there’s no set number for them. It is rather fluid and goes up or down when the occasion warrants it. But the Kenners? The Kenners are always my age or older, mostly because they’re already older than I am!

What is the age of your Blythe?