Blythe!

I've been fascinated with Blythe, the doll, for oh, about 17 years. I remember in the early 90s seeing a picture of one at some kind of art show and I loved it immediately. Blythe dolls are an early 70s creation. They stand about a foot tall and have these super large eyes that blink and change direction when you pull the cord attached to the back. They weren't really popular when they first emerged in 1972. Their production only lasted about a year. Some 27 years later, the doll has had a resurgence in popularity and Hasbro allowed a Japanese company to make the dolls again. And they took off like wildfire. Originally inspired by the art work of Margaret Keane, who painted kids with big eyes, Blythe now has a whole army of people who are fascinated by her.


Original Blythes from the 70s are rare, but sought after, and can be worth hundreds of dollars.
The Takara remakes are also worth a pretty penny. Ashton Drake, the US company that is replicating them, charges about $60 for their Blythe. All of them have slight variation in skin tone, shiny-ness, and eye color, but the basic shape of the doll is the same.

Here is a 1972 Kenner Blythe:
I think she struck me as interesting because most dolls are happy faced, and she seems to be kind of pensive. Also, I loved Margaret Keane and mod 60s style, so she fit into a lot of my design requirements. What has happened since the resurgence in the 90s is a total explosion of Blythe. People who are into Blythe not only buy the dolls, they remake them, which is amazing! They not only buy clothes, accesories and wigs for her:


They make them over completely, changing eyes, sanding the faces to reapply makeup. Here's goth Blythe:


To do this, of course, you have to kill Blythe. Some models easily come apart with a little prying. Others require cutting open her head! There are tons of websites devoted to helping you figure out what doll requires which kind of surgery to get apart. And then, what you can do is limitless. Some go as far as to resculpt the face, to give lips a new shape.


Eye chips allow you to play with eye color, and with an airbrush, you can change little white Blythe into any number of skin tones.

There's a number of Flickr groups devoted to Blythes of color with names like Black Blythe is Beautiful.
This is one of those beautiful cultural moments where people take something aimed at one group of people and totally transform it to fit their own needs and desires, ignoring the intentions of the creator. A whole subculture has grown out of this. People who make and sell clothing, wigs, trade techniques and post images on Flickr and Blythe websites like This is Blythe, What's Blythe. There are tutorial sites like the Pucci Collective, and YouTube has tons of videos explaining how to customize your doll. But...well, most of the big Blythe aficionados don't refer to Blythe as a doll. It's not like they think she's a real person, like they are divorced from reality (at least not most of them), but they seem to participate in the fantasy of her realness. They call her "my girl" and sometimes name her, giving her a personality. Some photograph their Blythes in tiny dollhouse like settings, like kitchens or living rooms, as though she has her own life. She has long days at work, has to get ready for tonight's party, that kind of stuff. And though Blythe is definitely big in Japan, and probably has a few fans under 18, most of these websites seem to be by middle aged women. Fascinating.

Oh yeah, I'm one of them now. I don't call her "my girl" nor do I play with Blythe, but the idea of a customized doll was right up my alley! I had a fantasy of transforming her into a mini-me, but that didn't happen. Once I found a cheap enough doll, I did what I could with what I had. I didn't want to cut it and open up the skull, so I decided to just do minor adjustments. Here's my original doll, the Aztec Arrival Blythe:

I, being me, made her all gothy. I cut her hair, painted her face (girl needed some eyebrows, for sure), and made her a tiny little dress.



I think these would be great dolls to give a kid who doesn't see herself in the dolls at the store. You could make a really beautiful gift for someone by customizing the doll to look like a kid or just look like they could be related!

If I have time and money, maybe one day I'll get more of these babies. But for now, Vampire Blythe will be my little companion. I don't have the heart to pack her up yet, so she might be the last thing to get boxed up before our move.>var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
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Shoulda Got an A on It

Saw this posted on Jezebel and it blew MY MIND.

Friday Finds - Baby Junk

I know way too many people who are having kids these days. Or already have kids. It's an epidemic. After turning 30, my body has decided to assault me. The War of Ovarian Aggression, I call it. Now, when I see cute baby stuff, I'm all "how cuuuute!!" Stupid things like fedoras for babies make me gush and smile. I always thought babies laughing was the most awesome thing ever, but I never was into baby paraphernalia.

Anyway, with all these buns in ovens (and no, not in mine, and not for a while, no matter what the ovaries have planned), I decided to find some interesting baby/toddler stuff.

These are real gifts:

#1 I kind of want these for myself. Kitty crayons for little hands by kittybblove

#2 Cute owl pillow for a nursery by manicmuffintotes. So cute!


#3 For your lil swashbuckler, a toy sword that is made from soft and durable wood. From Little Alouette


Barking Bird Art's little birdie paintings are super cute for a nursery. This is just one:


The rest of these are frightening, funny, or silly things:

p.s. I'm not linking them, because what if one of you weirdos actually buys this stuff? I'd feel so ashamed!

Ok, what is wrong with people? Canyou see yourself strapping your kid into this?


By the time the strapping contraption is complete, you've already lost the will to pee!

Have you ever thought, gee, my baby is bald!? I should fix that. Well, don't worry, because there are fleece-lined baby wigs for total freaks and their children.




The pictures and names are hysterical.

How about this:
For just $35, you can prove to everyone that the balance of power in your home has forever changed:

Yes, folks, it's...wait for it.....the "Daddle"

These "Billy Bob" pacifiers are horrific. This is actually the least offensive one!

They have a pig snout, buck teeth, teeth holding (I kid you not) a tiny American flag, and a camoflage pacifier.

Now I know that kids are hard to handle and sometimes you have ill-timed and embarrassing "accidents" to deal with, but this seems like a really bad solution:


Yes, a personalized bottle that exclaims "I'm filled with Alexis' Pee!!" Pink for girls and blue for boys, because you don't want to give them gender dysphorea along with a fear of public urination, right?

Can you imagine trying to throw this away when you find it in your mom's attic when you are 22 and she's all "Not your pee pee bottle!!"

There are just too many levels of psychological scarring that one plastic bottle will create.

This one actually kind of rules:

From Milkbomb

I'm slacking on this blog because the semester is hellish right now, but I will be back with a vengeance very soon. And this summer, I'll be a blogging fiend, I'm sure, so hold tight.

Friday Finds - Aprons

I love aprons, and I've found quite a few cute ones on my internet travels. Here are some finds:

Jessie Steele makes beautiful aprons of all kinds. High quality but not overly expensive.
Jessie Steele 50s apron. You can get one for kids too.
Cute monkey apron for kids from oneredpanda


T-bone apron for meat lovers and dudes afraid of floral prints from Snappyshop



This is a cute half apron for little girls from Bloom Woosie
All of the sites above have many more choices. Check them out!

Confessions of an Apron Queen Blog is fun for vintage images and reproductions of aprons. The Apron Queen also has a Flickr set of men in aprons:

Men in Aprons on Flickr

Got a fabric you think would be perfect for an apron? Here's 52 free apron patterns!

Lil Cuties

Can you believe my left eye is still blurry? I don't feel any pain or even much sensitivity to light anymore, but the blurryness remains. Hopefully it will go away. I stop the meds soon, so I will have a better picture of things then. Sheesh. I stayed in all day on Saturday, which sucked because it was so beautiful here. Everyone went to the beach while I read the last Harry Potter. M.'s friends were in from out of town with their little one year-old daughter Ella. She's a real sweetie, yet at the same time, it was clear that we were all her servants. "Get my food servant," "Hold my popsicle so that when I occasionally come over to you it is ready for me," "My binky is not in my mouth! Fix it servant!"

I was better on Sunday so I visited my mom with my mother-in-law. She gave me some interesting news. I knew that my grandparents were divorced on my mom's side, but apparently my grandmother's parents were also divorced. In 1935. Kind of a big deal then, no? M.'s great grandparents were also divorced. I guess we come from some pretty strong women who weren't afraid to be independent even when it wasn't socially acceptable. At least for my side, I know my grandmother was pretty stubborn and hard-headed. This is a woman who slapped a teacher because she attempted to force her children to sing the communist national anthem (she also insulted my grandmother because they didn't want to sing it). After that, her kids got a pass when it came to group displays of patriotism. She supposedly got that spirit from her mom.

In our reminiscing about all things family, my mom remembered that my brothers and I had these little silhouettes done at Disneyland when we were about two years old. I love them!






















I am happy to have visitors, but I really need to get myself ready for the fall. I have 187 students to look forward to. All of my classes are full and closed. Yikes! Wish I could do multiple choice exams. Damn ethical standards...