One of the cute, quirky things about Blythe is her over-sized noggin to body ratio. It’s also one of the things that makes her so difficult to stand up! This is one of those moments when geometry comes into play in “real life” and suddenly it makes sense why your math teacher in grade school told you that this information was important.

Basically, there’s the ground, the doll, and whatever you’re using to stand up your Blythe. You want your Blythe doll and the ground to form a right angle, and then whatever you’re using to prop up your doll to form the hypotenuse, like so:

Now, there’s a variety of things that you could use to from the hypotenuse. Some sampling of things that I have used before include: plastic fork, chopstick from sushi take-out, bamboo skewers, and random sticks found on the grass. There’s pros and cons to all of these items, so lets go through some of them.

The plastic fork is fantastic because it can be inserted into the ground. This is especially good if you are trying to stand your Blythe up in grass or a sandy beach. You can insert the tines of the fork into the ground at and angle and that provides more support of your top-heavy Blythe. Plastic forks don’t tend to be particularly long, so chances are the end of the fork will rest on your Blythe’s back. Bonus – plastic forks can be clear/translucent! This is especially useful if you’re not wanting the fork to show that much. I used proper silverware in the photos of this post because silver is easier to see in photos than clear plastic, and for the tutorial’s sake it makes it easier if people can visualize what I’m talking about.

Chopsticks are fantastic. I personally like the unused variety of take-out chopsticks that are still attached together. Why? Because it provides a larger ‘base’ for the doll to rest against. Having a wider surface to rest against means that there’s less risk of her tipping to one side or the other while I’m trying to stand her up. Win-win!

Bamboo skewers are cheap, they’re easy to find at dollar stores (or perhaps you have some leftovers from making kabobs?), and they’re sharp and pointy – for the ease of inserting into the ground. One of the problems I’ve personally found with bamboo skewers is that they can break easily. They aren’t the sturdiest things I’ve ever used to stand up one of my Blythes, and I find that they can break in the ground if I’m trying to insert them into not the softest earth. Another downside to using skewers is that they don’t offer a particularly wide base – but you could use two bamboo skewers to form let another triangle – but this time it’d be an equilateral triangle (geometry comes in so handy in real life!) where the ground forms the base and the skewers form the equal sides.

Random sticks can be fantastic – free, and you won’t feel bad leaving them where you found them because that’s where it belongs! Chances are you’ll be able to find sticks anywhere – the downsides is that it may not be long enough, or too stick, and you may have a hard time hiding it in your photo (and if you don’t have the magical Photoshop skills, it may be hard to edit out). This is by far the cheapest method (can’t beat free!), so it is your best bet if you’re out and about and just need something to help you out with a photo.

But last, and certainly not least, just lean your doll against something! Propping up your Blythe against a wall or a bench or a tree will save you the hassle of trying to put geometry into action, although it may not provide you with quite the look that you were looking for. Use grooves between floor boards or tiles to your advantage! They’re there for a reason (and it’s an added bonus that they help with your doll photos!).

(And if you’re a parent, feel free to use this as a lesson to your kids about why math class is important!)

Often when I get a new doll I admire her in the box for a short while. Devi Delacour arrived on October 25th (technically the 24th, if the building buzzer actually worked properly…). Beautiful box, although I do miss the boxes that have the proper flaps/covers in the front. But this is Devi Delacour, and I’m quite excited because she’s my first translucent Blythe, and my first preorder (from an illustration). For those curious, because I think this is the first time that I’ve seen it, Takara Tomy includes this information sheet regarding returns:

Her box is beautiful, her stock is amazing. I just love how creative it is with all the components – the corset waist cincher, the bat wings, the pitch fork, and those strappy boots! She’s so pretty, I am over the moon with my decision to preorder/buy Devi Delacour.

Yes, new dolls these days are packaged with a lot of plastic wrap on the bodies. She comes with protective plastic over both arms, both legs (which goes underneath the underpants), and underneath the hair. Her hair was actually divided in half, curled and also in protective plastic as well! So much plastic, so bad for the environment!

My favourite details about this doll are the black glitter stand (and pullring), her deep blue eyelashes, and the winged eyeliner. These are my favourite of her all special eye chips, she also has light blue, a deep pink, and an olive green. My first translucent doll, and she’s so pretty! Readers, this is Maple Reed:

Do you photograph the unboxing process of a new doll?

I’ve missed the aspect of taking a dolly photo a day, so here I am attempting to do 365 with Eden again. Here’s hoping that I do better than last time (114). If you want to keep up with the adventures of taking 365 photos of a pink-loving Blythe, the photo album is here on my Flickr account.

Here was day 1:

Eden wants to wear a completely different outfit every single day – I had to tell her that we didn’t have enough pink clothes or funds to make that happen. She may be sulking.

I have a feeling that most of my 365 photos will be taken on my phone and likely uploaded to Flickr via Instagram!

For those who are not long-time readers of BlytheLife, it may shock you to know that I do not take a Blythe with me everywhere that I go. In fact, some of my dolls have only left my house once or twice since they’ve arrived. I’m occasionally just a very bad Blythe owner. However, I have made a conscious effort to change that by taking a doll along when I go out. Even if that doll doesn’t come out of my bag, I still carry one sometimes (except when I’m going to the hospital, because then she’d just stay in a carrier, in my bag, in a locker for 12 hours and that just seems unusually pointless).

On two separate occasions, I went for a short day hike with a doll. Most recently, I took along Lydia Melbourne (my Yellow Marshmallow Middie Blythe doll), mostly because she’s ‘newer’ and I felt that she needed some camera time. And you know what? There’s just something so fun about having something to photograph beyond the scenery (not that the scenery wasn’t beautiful, because it was). People passed me on the trail and the look out points and nobody asked about why I was holding onto a doll or asking me what the doll was about. I took photos, posed my dolls on perches, and just have a really good time.

Maybe one of these days I’ll pull a doll out on a busy street downtown and be as comfortable as I was on a trail. Maybe…

Lydia Melbourne is wearing a rainbow knit dress (by me), and Kelly shoes.

Once upon a time, when I began this blog, I only took photos of my dolls and for the blog with my camera. True, it was a point-and-shoot type of camera, but it was a standalone camera. Which also meant that I had to go and pull out a cable, or some kind of adapter, when I wanted to get photos from the memory card, to the computer, to the internet. That’s a lot of steps, and may be the reason why I rarely use my camera anymore.

Not bad for a smartphone that’s two generations old, eh?

Then comes in… my smart phone. It has a camera! In fact, it has two cameras! I can upload to Flickr or Dropbox just by tapping the screen a few times and then presto, it’s on my computer or up for the world to see. It’s a lot more convenient for me that way – less cables, less adapters, more instant photography upload. Sure, the camera on my phone could be a lot better, but given that I’m not trying to have my pictures printed as poster sized they’re not bad.

I know newer cameras out there have more features, with WiFi accessibility, and use of memory cards that could be inserted into my computer’s card reader without me having to hunt down an adapter – Sony, I’m glaring at you and your past need to have proprietary memory cards! One of these days, when I get a new camera that plays nicer with my computer, I’ll probably go back to using a standalone camera, rather than a cellphone camera. But until that happens… More instant gratification! Especially when it comes to doll photos!

Do you use a camera or a camera phone for your Blythe photography needs?