Bitten By The Blythe Bug

I'm a long time doll hobbyist. I've been into fashion dolls and BJDs for many many years, but it's only this year 2016 that I discovered Blythe dolls and their wonderful world through my Flickr contacts. I had known about Blythe for a long time, but rather than admiring them, I'd thought them somewhat strange, even unattactive, compared to other types of dolls out there. It was only through my wonderful online friends that I found the beauty and the charm of Blythe dolls.

About a year ago I saw my friend's dolls on her Dolly Shelf Sunday photos, as well as featured in lovely outdoors scenes. Little by little I could not help but be drawn to them. I started to truly find them intrigueing and after a year of pondering up on it, I finally decided to take the plunge and get my own pair of Blythes.

I am not going to get into the whole controversy that the Blythe scene holds with the fakes and factory Blythes crowding the market. But I will say this: my own first dolls ended up being the factory kind and I only found out about the issue after having bought them. I was ok with my decision though, as I wouldn't have been interested in investing 200+ dollars on a doll that I might or might not like in hand then. I also always meant to customize mine. I don't know how I would feel about altering and potentially destroying a perfectly good stock doll and robbing the avid collectors of the chance to get a genuine Blythe in their collection. If I see a proper Takara release that I absolutely love, I might be persuaded to get one, but at the moment there's very little of interest for me there, whereas the factory dolls come in all kinds of colours and styles. With so many people mostly into customizing Blythe, I find it somewhat foolish of Takara not to release basic nude dolls themselves for a similar price that the factory dolls go for.

My two girls, called Marnie and Fern, are now not only my precious fashionistas, but they're also getting pampered with a dollhouse. They share it with my BJD tinies. I've been working on it with my father, who's a very talented carpenter. It's been a great joy for me to get to share a part of this hobby with my dad and observe him make use of his considerable skills.

Marnie (cotton candy pink hair) and Fern (brown/purple hair) also have a dog called Monty (TY Beanie Boos Brutus). Before they arrived, I got the girls a started pack of clothes from Ninabella on Ebay, Coolcat and some hats from Etsy stores. I've loving styling my little big heads and they're proving wonderful to photograph. Marnie and Fern are as they came and I'm too fond of them to change them yet at least.

I have 2 more factory Blythes on the way. I've invested in customizing equipment and the up-coming two Blythes will get a comprehensive makeover: sanding, carving, re-painting, eye chip change, eye boggling, gaze correction, sleepy eye fix... you name it! Everything apart from a reroot. I've done too many reroots on fashion dolls (Barbie and Fashion Royalty) in my days and can't bring myself to take that tedious job up anymore. Hehe! I can't wait to get cracking on them - I'm looking forward to this journey with my little big heads!