What happens when you love one of your creations soooo much but you know you have to sell it? Well, if you're me, you price it so high on Etsy that nobody will buy it but you don't have to feel guilty for not offering it for sale! Having said this, here is Kristine, my first African American Blythe. I recently listed her on Etsy!

I love Kristine. I love her smile, her eyes, her skin tone, her hair (which I didn't like on it's original doll), her little personality. Everything. I put her in my family room so I can look at her every single day.

Imagine my dismay when I got notice that she sold!! Lucky for me, I know the buyer so I can keep track of her and if her new owner ever gets tired of her, I am quite sure that I will buy her back! As it is, I must pack her up and send her off tomorrow. That place in the family room sure will look mighty empty. Almost like letting one of the family go. Sigh..... Almost.

Well, I am looking at the picture of faces in my last post. I was not pleased with them and sanded, re-whittled and sanded some more, re-painted and got them where I wanted them. I am knee-deep in dolls and doll parts at this point! Get a girl together, take her apart, reconfigure, and do it all again. I have by now almost a dozen girls and am about ready to list a couple for sale. The ridiculous part is that I really don't want to part with any of them. Even the ones I don't particularly like seem to have an emotional hold on me. I've sold various artistic creations before so I am not sure what the deal is. Maybe it's because as I work on them, it's like they develop their own little personalities. One of my least favorite girls emerged into a version of my mom as a child and she is now one of my very favorites. Interesting process, creating these little souls. I MUST get my act together and sell some if I want to buy more to continue customizing!I can hardly justify buying, customizing and keeping a hundred Blythes, can I? (Hah! I am actually pondering whether in fact I can!)

The girl with the light brown hair - "Patty" - is my Mama's doll. I purposely left her eyes downcast as that is how my mom looks in one of my favorite photos of her as a child. I have no idea what model of Blythe she is as she was in no box, hair a wreck (I cut and styled it), nude, just an abandoned old doll that looked like nobody wanted her. The pink haired girl I like "because." When I used to think of the kind of Blythe I would want if I were to get one, she is what I pictured in my mind. She came from a stock Simply Guava and I did a few minor things to make her what I wanted. Whatever dolls I may sell, I think these are the two that will remain with me. Oh- and Patience. I love Patience, too.

Patience awaiting hair.

Patience with hair!

I think I shared with you that Karen West and her sister Marty Horner were creating a tutorial on customizing Blythes and I was lucky enough to hook up with them as they were embarking on their mission. They have completed their tutorial now and I highly recommend it. They are quite experienced and knowledgable and very helpful when it comes to all things Blythe. Their company name is BlytheEverAfter and you can find them online at http://www.blythely.com. They also sell on ebay. Besides the tutorial, they offer all kinds of tools and products necessary for doll customization. If you are the least bit interested in creating your own girl - or girls - you really do owe it to yourself to check out their site! As for me, I think it's time to head out to the hot tub and relax for half an hour before climbing into bed. It's gently snowing and I know it will be a chilly trip to and from the tub but I also know it will be oh-so-worth it!

We have faces!! Not COMPLETED faces, but faces none the less!

I could hardly wait to do the faces on my girls. I had such visions of what they would look like. I dreamed of breezing through their face-ups in a couple of hours and - VOILA - my beautiful girls would stand before me, in the flesh - er, plastic - all done in all of their glory! Wrong! I have put on faces, taken off faces, sanded, re-sanded, carved, re-sanded. This project is more of a challenge than I envisioned. I think of gifted Winamac sculptor Casey Eskridge and his genius creations and I wonder why I can't even finish an already created doll face. Well, I have not given up. I think I will just have to be a little less of a perfectionist and live with the fact that I am not even close to a sculptor and not even much of a make up artist! But these little girls WILL have faces and just like our human faces, they will be imperfect. Stay tuned! PS Several people have asked what happened to my past posts. I deleted them - at least most of them. I am not sure if it was a good or bad decision but there you have it!

DOLLY SPRAYING - First three coats are done! Now on to face painting. Dolly making is much more fun than vacuuming (so please excuse the dust if you come to my house!

...AND THEN THERE WERE THREE!

I started with the goal of customizing my very own Blythe. On the advice of customizer Karen West, I was concurrently customizing a "practice doll" - another Blythe. I would work on practice Blythe first and then proceed to real Blythe after first practicing a technique on practice Blythe. (Both, of course, are real Blythes, although one is an older doll.) Well, I just couldn't help myself. Despite the fact that tackling two Blythe dolls as a first project should have been daunting enough, I have added yet a third! This helps me from getting so antsy when I feel like I want to proceed with something I haven't received instruction about yet. My biggest challenge might just turn out to be keeping all three girls straight with all of their respective screws, strings and other parts! The other big challenge is trying to wait for instruction before plunging right ahead without it! Below is a photo of all three faceplates, carved and sanded. They all need just that final bit of smoothing with the finest sandpaper before they are ready for their "make up" - but by and large I am done with this part of their work ups. Although they all look basically the same in this photo, there are definite differences among them, particularly their mouths. For as basic as they look, there has been a lot of carving/sanding involved on every face. Hours of work. No, I agree, it doesn't look like it...yet! As a novice, I am hoping that each subsequent step will help each girl become more her own unique self!

Stay tuned as these girls come into their own personalities!!

WHO LOVES BLYTHE?? I have friends who have loved Blythe for eons. I thought Blythe was, well, intriguing, but I can't say I ever really felt like dolls were something I would ever want to get into. Hah! Don't ask me what came over me but certainly something did. I now own two custom Blythe dolls. Here is one - Yoko. Her creator is Aline8 from France. I tried to post a link to Aline's shop but was unsuccessful. You can find her on Etsy.com at her shop, Aline8. ALine8 also took the photo of Yoko that I have posted here. I will post pics of my other Blythe another time. The thing that really surprised me was my sudden urge to start customizing my very own Blythe!! I didn't have a clue as to how to start and I must say I have been extremely fortunate to have discovered Karen West and her sister Marty who are helping to guide me in my very first Blythe customization. Here is where I am to date!

I am really excited about my new venture and will keep you up to date. Since I have been so sparse on posting here, I am sure you will have to see it to believe it. But stay tuned.... More Blythe to follow, I promise!