I have been out of school for well over a year now, and working for almost a year (it will be a year in the latter half of October), and I am still struggling to find a balance between working, socializing (with non-doll people), and doll (socializing with doll people). My dolls are (still) frequently ignored as they stand on the shelf, patiently waiting for the times when I can notice them, give them an outfit change. As it is, many of them don’t get any attention unless it is time to attend a doll meet.

Let us not dwell on how long Minnow has been wearing this outfit for…

It’d be different if my work was related to dolls, then it’d be more of a work/doll-life balance. Such as it is, my work keeps me pretty busy with regular 12 hour shifts that occasionally cause me to be M.I.A. to my family and friends on the weekends. On my days off, I wind up doing laundry, cooking and cleaning, and then some dolly fun from time to time. I try my best to attend local Blythe meet-ups as well as just keeping in touch with my local doll and non-doll friends. It’s a struggle now that I’ve moved further from the bulk of my friends – this reminds me of a song I used to sing in Girl Guides.

Make new friends, but keep the old
One is silver, the other is gold
A circle is round, it has no end
That’s how long I will be your friend.

How do you balance your work-doll-life life?

It’s cooled significantly over the last few days where I live – helped by the fact that it actually rained for the first time in over a month! With the cooler weather, it reminds me all too well that summer is coming to an end There’s back-to-school sales on in all the big shops and it also reminds me that I am not going back to school this autumn for the second time in my life since I started kindergarten way back when. With weather and temperature changes, it’s got me a little it down about the impending end of summer – so I decided to focus on some happy, upcoming things!

Life at the BlytheLife Headquarters has been both monotonous and exciting at the same time. There’s still unpacking and organizing to do, and I do get into quite the routine when it comes to the days that I have work (wake up, go to work, work, get home, eat, sleep – rinse and repeat). On my days off, I try to pack as much as I can since I don’t do much outside of eating, working, and sleeping on the days that I do work (12 hour shifts do not allow for a lot of extra activities). I did preorder a new doll – if you haven’t already seen her, I preordered the October 2016 release, Devi Delacour, from Junie Moon. I’m pretty excited, she’ll be my first preorder that I’ve gotten strictly off of an illustration and not official product photos. Gosh, I hope she turns out well! So while I’ve made my Blythe life slightly more exciting by ordering a new doll, I also have to wait until October to get my hands on her, which is a bit annoying. But, I digress, because there’s more news to cure the end of summer blues!

BlytheLife has hit over 900 likes on the Facebook page – which is very exciting for two important reasons: because 900! and because it’ll be giveaway time! I’m working on procuring the giveaway prize (prizes?? Haven’t decided yet!) and will be sharing details on the giveaway and what the prize(s) will be after I get them in hand, so realistically the giveaway will happen sometime in September.

How do you cure the summer-ending blues with Blythe?

When I first started collecting Blythe dolls, I thought that Kenners were grossly overrated (and overpriced) and that customs were some kind of far-fetched dream for me because who pays $300+ for a doll. Yes, back when I first started in the hobby (2009), I saw beautiful customs being priced at $300-400 and thought that was grossly expensive.

Little did I know that the norm by 2015 would be that they start at the lovely price of $500 and only go up from there!

Fast forward to 2016, and I own three of those “overrated” and “overpriced” Kenners. I wouldn’t trade them for anything because I’ve since been enchanted by their vintage charm. I also own two custom Blythes, which I was lucky on because I didn’t spend over $500 each on them (the perks of buying custom dolls secondhand for customizers that aren’t the current trending artist – not that there is anything wrong with buying the work of who is hot right now! If I could afford it, I totally would). But back in 2009 when I went from buying a Cappuccino Chat in June and a Love Mission a mere month later? I did not imagine and could not imagine buying a Kenner or custom, because that was something that I always thought was out of my reach. It wasn’t something that I thought that I would be able to afford or even something that would be within my purchasing power.

At the time, I also didn’t see myself owning a BL (they cost many pretty pennies, even then!), any custom with a reroot, or an Ashton-Drake Galleries Blythe. BL because they were expensive, a custom with a reroot (because they were expensive), and an ADG because photos of dolls with the green undertone to the plastic was just not appealing. Funny how things change over time!

Is your Blythe collection what you imagined it to be?

BlytheLife posts over the next couple of weeks may be on different days that normal as BlytheLife HQ is a) moving, b) will be without internet at the new location for a week and a half, and c) I will be very, very busy (unfortunately). Please bear with me as I work behind the scenes in making my new house a home.

“I only need one Blythe.”

This is something that I told myself early on after buying Sophie, my first Blythe and my Cappuccino Chat. It took me a month to get my second Blythe (Belarus, a Love Mission). I also said to myself that “I don’t need another Blythe”, and then that ultimately results in me buying a new Blythe. Such is life!

“I don’t need that dress.”

“Or those shoes.”

“Or that hat.”

I tell myself those lies quite a bit. But the truth is that while I don’t need them, I want them, which then leads me to the inevitable purchase because why not?

And my most favourite doll related lie that I’ve told myself?

“I’m only going to buy one thing this month for the dolls.”

What are some lies that you’ve told yourself in regards to Blythe?

There is a hard upper spending limit, and then there is a hard upper spending limit when it comes to dolls and doll things – and for me it really varies depending on what it is and what my income level is like.

Way back when I was a lowly unemployed student (basically, just over a year ago), my spending limit on dolls and dolls things was very close to $10-15 a month. If I wanted a new doll, which was most of the time, I really needed to juggle around the money a bit to figure out how I was going to come up with the money. Was it going to be selling old textbooks for a bit of cash, or holding out for a research study that was going to pay me $25-50 for an hour of my time? Broke student life is pretty much the definition of stretching every single dollar as far as it will go.

“Basically, you’re saying that I was totally worth it.”

My upper spending limit has me looking at a few things: what doll is it, do I really want it or just ‘really’ want it, and the condition the doll is it. I’m far more willing to spend more on a limited release or a Kenner if it’s something that I really want vs. a regular release of a doll. I’m also more willing to spend more for a doll with a really nice and gorgeous reroot in natural fibres than I am for a hybrid doll that may come with a scalp that came from a Simply regular release Blythe. This goes for clothes as well, because I’m more likely to be picky about cost when it comes to stock doll clothes or very run of the mill shoes vs. a commissioned and/or handmade doll dress, or hand stitched boots. Since I’m somewhat gainfully employed now, I can afford such things (but given that I have 7 years worth of clothes on hand at this time, I can also afford to be more picky about things).

For me personally, the most I’ve ever spend on a doll was just under four digits (ahead of the decimal point…) and the most I’ve ever spent on a single item of clothing was probably around $70 or so (after the exchange rate from USD $ to CAD $). And let’s not discuss shoes, because I feel like that would be a) embarrassing and b) worthy of its own post.

What is your “upper spending limit” when it comes to dolls or doll things?