Love 'N Lace Makes Nine.

Love 'N Lace

Squeeee! Just became the proud owner of an Ashton Drake Blythe!  In 2004 Ashton Drake Galleries began producing Blythe reproduction dolls.  The aim was to design them in the likeness of the original 1972 Kenner Blythe dolls.  They reproduced each of the 12 original Kenner outfits and named each doll accordingly.  ADG stopped production of the dolls in 2007.  The ADG Blythes have the same eye mechanisms as Kenner and Takara dolls with the colours switching from Blue to Pink to Green to Amber.

Release:  ADG  ’Love ‘N Lace’
Release date:  Sept 2004
Original Price: $79.99
Style: Redhead wearing Love N Lace

Original Hasboro Ad for Blythe

The Design Studio is Now Open

Raven and the first Blythe Blanket sample

1972 Blythe Advert.

I previously posted a Chrissy and Velvet advertisement so thought it most fitting to also include a  Blythe Advertisement  l. Until I figure out how to embed the video it will have to be just the link for now. *sigh* #missingtheseventies

Pieces of Me

Blythe '72

To your left is my Blythe '72. This was my Blythe as a child and she'd been in my mother's basement for the last 40 years. Considering how much I played with her as a child, she's in pretty good shape (or so I thought). The biggest issues seemed to be her broken neck. This task seemed a bit daunting so we let her sit and wait. And wait. And wait.  

Gack! We finally took the plunge and took her apart. At first I thought I could be a willing participant in the dismantle but in the end couldn't bear to be there. I waited nervously in my office distracting myself with a shopping sprees for  Blythe baubles on e-Bay. 

The First Cut

Following  how-to videos on the web, we first removed her hair for a wash, detangle and defrizz. There was some damage to the back skull plate - I figured I must've done this as a child BUT once inside the head we realized that this was not the first tyme that Blythe '72 went under the knyfe.

Five years old and it seemed at one point in my lyfe, someone cared enough to take my doll to be fixed when she was broken. We also discovered the eye mechanism had been previously repaired.

As she came apart, piece by piece, I realized one of the reasons it was so difficult to watch was because it was more than just a doll sitting on the kitchen / operating table; it was my childhood.

Removing the Spring is a bit trickier in the vintage models. 

Taking apart the scalp revealed even more damage in unsuspecting places. The broken neck was becoming less and less important.

 

Skull Fracture

 

 

I also gave Blythe '72 pubic hair. I was a very progressive child.

Pieces of Me Laying Open on the Table. I know there's a Frida Kahlo painting in here somewhere.

Aaaaaah, here it is: Henry Ford Hospital, 1932; Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907-1954)

Previously broken and repaired eye mechanism becomes weirdly symbolic of a fleeting moment of childhood tenderness.

                                                                                                                

Flowers from Work

One of my bosses sent me flowers for what I considered 'just doing my job' but it is always nice to be appreciated for the everyday. Blythe was certainly appreciative of the impromptu photo shoot it provided. 

  

A Day @ the Beach

A Day @ the Beach

As I frantically try to finish my play before my husband returns home, I find it much more pleasant to take the Blythes to places they haven't been before. Like the beach. I love this shot of Raven for so many reasons. The now dead cricket made from a palm leaf in Tulum, The 1920's feel of the stage. It's kinda like Little House on The Prairie but Blythe-ified.