Why the dolls?

Late last night, a friend of mine asked  Why the Dolls?  First of all, let's get something straight - they're not just  dolls, they're Blythe. I am not some crazy woman with a shitload of dolls. locked in a tiny room, having tea parties on every second Sunday with inanimate children (or maybe I am and if so, does it really matter?). BlytheLove is a life style  and the more appropriate question would  be "Why not more Blythe?".

If you have not been bitten by the Blythe Bug, then you should probably shut this window and carry on with your life. However, if you are a Blythe Believer then this should resoundingly hit home.

The dolls bring me full circle. They inspire me to be creative. They take me to a world that is all my own. So often, we travel a million miles and wait out a thousand years to find and understand ourselves. They live in a universe all their own - a parallel dimension. A community of fellow BlytheLovers who share the same passions can also give your spirits a boost after long day in reality.

Virtual Hugs from A  Dozen Blythe (and more)

Veronica and Mr. Stitches

Veronica & Mr. Stitches (image and OOAK Art Doll by The Tatty Closet)

The latest addition to the Blythe Family is a hauntingly beautiful girl named Veronica and companion rabbit, Mr. Stitches. She's traveling across the ocean and should arrive home in a couple of weeks. This is the last doll that I'll be purchasing this year. Many people in the Blythe community are more like dolly brokers, buying and selling, but I'm simply a collector. Even the girls that are not my favourites will stay part of the family (aka THE COLLECTION). Simply gorgeous.

Kenner is ready to travel!

Kenner just got a groovy Pan Am bag and is ready to travel -  back to 1972. Anyone else miss the good old days? At only five years old, I had Blythe by my side and my entire lyfe ahead of me. I never flew Pan Am but my mother and I went to Disneyland via Hughes Air West - the big yellow banana in the sky. 

Comes nude, no original stock or box....

A popular way to sell a second hand Blythe doll is nude with no original stock or box. As a museum professional, this goes against everything that we value when obtaining a piece for the collection. For instance, a few of the questions we would ask:

1. Is it in mint (or museum quality) condition? If not, why and is it significant to the history of the object? 
2. Who is the original owner?
3. Is it complete?
4. etc....

You kind of get the gist. I appreciate that you gave your 6 Line Kenner doll a spiffy new bob but unless Dali or Mab Graves (and yes I clumped those two together) cut the hair, the doll is losing value as we speak. Oh, you say you changed out her torso and applied a whitener (often Mr. Clean Magic Eraser) to her face, my inner museum goddess cringes.

Make no mistake, I BlytheLove all my custom girls and have tried diligently to catalogue provenance, history and all associated ephemera but in the end if they take a great photo, it seems as if all of that doesn't matter.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/studiomelenka/

The Value of Blythe

After putting another girl on layaway I began to think about what's the value of Blythe?  The original Kenner Blythes are easy to figure out - they're extremely rare and hard to find MIB.  Really want one? Expect to pay anywhere between $600 to $2,500 USD depending on the condition and whether or not they still have all their original stock.

As a museum professional, I look at the doll value from two perspectives:

Their value as an art piece:

• Is the Customizer well known? Different customizers fetch different prices
• Amount of work done - reroot. sleep eyes, matte face, carving, body change etc...
• Dolly Couture

 The value of the doll as a collector:

•  All original body parts. Many customizers change out the body, add new eye chips, suspend the eye mechanism, etc....).
• All original stock. Many dolls are sold 'naked' or with a 'Seller's Choice Dress". This leads me to believe that people are selling the original stock separately in order to maximize return on their initial investment while stripping the market of intact collectables.
• Original owner and if not do you know the doll's provenance?

Some other facets that I've noticed that add value:

• The doll's Flickr set. The better the set, the higher the price. It seems that many of the Blythe-ists are actually photographers and not doll collectors. 

• Connectivity - how does one connect with the doll? Many of the dolls that go up on a popular Dolly Adoption page are there because their owners couldn't bond with them

My latest acquisition is a Takara Tomy Neo 12" Blythe Doll - I Love You It's True. She is listed new on Ebay for $229.99 USD plus shipping, This is MIB. The doll I purchased is not new in box but came from Gina Garan's collection and is hand signed by Gina. Although I believe the value of my doll to be higher, it will ultimately depend on how we get along.

Virtual Hugs from A  Dozen Blythe (and more)

Felicity

While on vacation in the summer of  1974 (I believe) my mother's brother threw me into the olympic sized swimming pool.

He said "It's the best way to learn. They'll come by it instinctually - survival of the fittest. It's perfectly natural. You'll see. She won't drown"

A Facebook post on safely teaching your child how to swim brought this memory to the forefront. I asked my cousin Felicity about it. I honestly couldn't even remember if she was there. And if she was, she was just a baby. #smiles

She replied "He did the exact same thing to me." And then added on some more.

It struck a nerve. No wonder we all have trust issues with our parents. I wasn't crazy. There were others! And we were related!

I've never had someone know exactly what I meant without having to explain it in morbid detail. Even though we grew up separated by land and family issues, we were connected on another level. I sat alone, in front of my computer and cried. After all these years, I found my home.


Virtual Hugs from A  Dozen Blythe (and more)

Prescription - Blythe

Pinky(actual name to be determined)

So, another long week at work coupled with the knowledge of another frigid weekend (-25 degrees celsius), tightening budget (my husband was recently laid off to part-time) led to a rousing bout of depression that I remedied by spending non existent Blythe dollars.

In addition to four super cute smocks from Amanda Popples, a Steampunk outfit by Cindy Sowers, I also put a custom doll by Kira Gold on layaway - a factory Blythe with long pale pink hair. My hope is that she'll be somewhat Marie Antoinesque. She may also become the Protagonist in my upcoming cozy mystery (feedback?).

Will this weekend be better? Who knows? My co-worker recently said "To die with debt is to have profited in life", well I am in the profit margin!

Virtual Hugs from A  Dozen Blythe (and more)