Customs Plus!

Dear Sarah,

Last night I took my Mysterious New Blythe Clone Lotus Blossom and did some serious customs on her. By serious I mean more than just changing eye chips and MSCing. (Followers: I'm going to allow Sarah to properly introduce these new clones, but the link above takes you to a Flickr group we formed in order to find out more information about them.)

Here she is when she first arrived.

A few days ago I removed the eye makeup from around her faceplate. 

Last night I scalped her. Her scalp and dome are very similar to an RBL -  they're apparently the same size, but the extra RBL dome I have lying around didn't fit with her faceplate.

"We ate all the hair."

She had really nice, thick hair but the cut was driving me crazy. I've been wanting to do a reroot for a while, so I decided to chop it all off! Look at those crazy spaces - are Blythe scalps like this? Can I make my own holes? I'd rather her not have bald spots.

 

Then I decided to carve! There's really not any tutorials online, but I did find the below video. I used a Xacto knife and a sanding sponge. I also sanded down her nose a bit and thinned it, which I might have to work on more. I think her mouth is good though, I was aiming for a smile. I also don't want to over carve her, and I really don't know what I'm doing. I also don't know how much the paint will have an impact.

And here she is all finished from Day 1! My next step for removal is just to take the paint off her eyelids.

I have a lot of plans for her, and am going to stick with this Lotus Blossom theme.

More soon!

♥ Jillie

Bent Bones

Dear Sarah,

Coraline and I are quite excited to see the Vampire5! She wants to know if your vamp will have fangs as wittle as hers.

I promised her no, so hopefully your girl will have nice full fangs. :E

I finally got my hands on some MSC and what a wonder it has made! I have pictures to upload of the new de-shined girls, but I want to share what happened with Quinn's innards first. When I was putting her back together, I noticed her white arch looked a bit funny.

Say what?

Then her eyes didn't close. I posted the picture on Flickr and people said it looked like I had put the eye mechanisms back together wrong. After feeling incredibly stupid, I took more pictures and posted them, because I've never removed the actual eye pieces themselves from the lid part.

Thank goodness for Flickr! Another Sarah, sglahe, the wonder woman behind Kaleidoscope Kustoms Kuties and Rag Bag Designs sent three reference photos for help:

Okay so this is what the rectangle at the top of the clip should look like. It just moves forward and clips on like this.

The clip should be this direction with the shorter parts of the rectangle on the sides...

This is the direction that your clip is and that is why it's extended out like that. You just need to rotate it around so the rectangular part is clipped the other way. The shorter sides of the rectangle go on the sides of the clip...not the top and bottom.

Turns out poor Quinn has a broken bone that can basically never be fixed unless I get a replacement white arch. I can still move her eyes, I just have to do it with my thumbs. So it's not a big deal; she just doesn't have a pullstring.

And she can look down and judge from above!

Sarah said I can share these pictures with our readers so hopefully it will come in handy!

Also, Quinn is sporting new hair.

No matter the hairs, always Quinn. ♥

She's now a bobbed brunette! I took the Simply Chocolate scalp from Hester/Zooey/Brooke and chopped it up. I adore it on Quinn. Now she's a three part hybrid...I guess not even a hybrid, she's like a puzzle girl. And she has a soft spot in my heart for it; she's become one of my favorites.

Currently, Quinn is made up of:

1. Simply Lilac face and back plate
2. Stella Savannah eye mechanism
3. Simply Chocolate scalp and dome
4. Licca Chan body

My little girl of many parts! 

Get those vampire pictures up ASAP! I'm so excited to see her!

♥ Jillie

P.S. Next: review of Margo Unique Girl, and why I'm glad I waited

Operation:Vampire Five

Dear Jill,

For a long time now I have wanted a vampire girl, and since seeing Coraline I know I DEFINITELY want one! She is so cute!!

My problem is I am too scared to buy a Blythe and customise it! Plus I don't have the money to spare if I get it wrong. But I also wanted to try something different from a Blybe/CCE, so I decided to customise a Jecci Five!

This is the girl I got from Ebay...


I chose her for her dress! Isn't it cute?! I want my vampire to have black hair, but again wanted to try something different from yarn. So I opted for mohair wefts, which I bought from Coolcat.

They all arrived in really good time, so I started straight away. My first big problem was trying to get the scalp off the dome - the scalp has flanges like a Blythe scalp and it was glued in...


After much forcing and prying, I got it free with minimal damage...


I removed all the hair, which was really well rooted...


...and prepared the mohair weft. This is what it looks like out of the pack...


I have never used either wefts nor mohair before, so this was a totally new experience for me. I figured it would be best to start at the outside edge of the scalp, and sew it in quite tight with extra strength cotton and a thick needle...


I got about half the scalp done in the first sitting, but had to stop when my thumb just couldn't take it any more! So I left it, and returned the next day.

I got it finished in the second sitting, and all in all it only took about 3 hours to complete the whole thing!


I would definitely use wefts again! It was so easy! At the moment it just looks like a big mass of black fluff...


Lol! I will style it when I put her all together again. I aim to pull it into little bunches!

I then moved on to the face up, which I will tell you about a little later on :)

Sarah
-x-

A Hair Affair

Dear Sarah,

Before I get all giggly and crazy about the shop and introduce the newest Blythe release, I have long delayed introductions.

All the way back in January I purchased two girls: a Simply Lilac with a Stella Savannah eye mech, and a FrankieDarling custom Simply Vanilla vampire with a Simply Mango scalp:

No one's really too thrilled with their hair. The SL, named Quinn, had okay hair, but the ends were kinda jankity. The SV, who went through being named Fyvie, to Mimi, to eventually and finally Coraline, was none too happy with her orange hair, and we knew it had to be changed ASAP.

Quinn's hair was the easiest to remedy. I took her to my hairdresser, (who my mom has known longer than she's been married to my father, so I wasn't too concerned about weird you're-24-with-a-doll looks) and asked her to give her a bob. I've wanted a shorter hair girl for a while. It turned out my hairdresser wanted to keep her (NO!) and Quinn got a cute cut.

And she got a trip to Washington DC!

Coraline on the other hand, poor Coraline. Who knew it was going to be so hard to find a danged black scalp? Since I usually look for fantasy haired girls, I haven't really noticed that Takara/CWC hasn't put out that many black haired girls, so people cling to these scalps. They're not readily up for sale on BK as others are. So I got her a wig.

 

It was okay, but was ruining the Simply Mango scalp underneath, and was sitting on her head weird and was poofy. The SM scalp was in great shape, and I knew I would either sell it or save it. So, the wig came off, even though it made me want her to have black hair even more since I knew how great it looked.

Then I found a Nostalgic Pop scalp on BK, but it was pretty expensive! But pah, I went ahead and bought it anyway. Yay, Coraline would be complete! ...right?

Well, it was coming from the Netherlands, and it didn't have tracking and I was impatient and was watching Shrek one night (apparently that helps with inspiration) and looked at Zooey and Coraline and thought "why don't they switch scalps?! Then I could save money!"

I figured it looked okay on Coraline and would be happy and then resell the NosPop scalp, especially since an unforseen medical issue means we've had to put a stop on Blythe clothes and Domos, but what I didn't expect is how amazing it looked on Zooey! She's a completey new doll, and I am sosososos much happier with her!

Even though she was my mini me, I didn't really bond with her as much as the other dolls. If I had to sell one, I would have been her. But now, with this scalp, there's no way she's going anywhere! I gave her some little Domo charms as pullrings, and she is just the cutest thing. She's changed completely.

 

And then a few days later, Coraline's NosPop scalp came in, and I was awed at the thickness (I think she has better hair than I have!) and it looks divine on her.

So it seems as though there won't be any scalps sold (I think I'll keep the Chocolate one, maybe root some highlights in or something.) but now I have some pretty amazing looking girls, and it feels like I have a new doll! Who knew how much a simple scalp switch could change them!

♥ Jillie

In Progress Customization Pictures are Creepy

Dear Sarah,

I've really been wanting to customize, but have been scared about messing up an expensive Blythe, and a little wary after reading how hard it was to get the chippies out of Blybe and CCEs. So I decided to practice on a staple of every American girl's childhood, a beloved Barbie doll. I've had this one lying around for a while, and I haven't used her for much, only to swipe her shoes, socks, and skirt for Coral. So instead of studying for a final, I decided to start as much as I could at 1 AM and without buying anything. I need to get Christmas gifts done and rearrange my terribly messy craft room before I start customizing, but just a start.

So, this is Barbie in all her plastic, 1990s/early 2000s glory:

I took her face off with acetone nail polish remover. I plan on redoing her eyes and eyebrows in a less creepy Barbie-ish way, and giving her lighter lipstick. I also cut the majority of her hair off because it was gross, and to see how it was rooted into her scalp. I can't decide if I want to give her a yarn reroot, or get a cheap wig and use the acrylic from that. But here she is in her horrific state:

Yeah, she looks completely different and completely terrifying. I really need to hurry up and start work on her, because she's just so damn scary! But Christmas gifts come first.

Also, I'm looking for a Licca body for Zooey, so if you see a cheap one, do let me know! Nice tutorial, buy the way. I saw one for fixing a Kenner body, I believe, and they used a screw for the neck. A little unnerving, but apparently it worked fine.

♥ Jillie

P.S. Happy birthday!!

Dear Sarah,

Wow, Lillith looks great! What a dramatic before and after. How different are CCEs and Blybes? Out of all the clones they seem to be the two that most resemble Blythes. (And on the Blythe Database page, there's a new section for Clones.)

Last Friday Lola and some Domos went out on an adventure at the playground behind my house and had a photo shoot with the autumn leaves. Here's some of the best:

 

Also, I tried to make a crocheted dress today and did the bodice. It didn't turn out as I had planned:

I'm not sure why it's so boxy. Maybe less stitches after the sleeves? I'll frog and redo, frog and redo.

Also, a handy glossary: Do you speak Blythe?

♥ Jillie

P.S. Photos of new dresses soon. I had quite a productive weekend!

Introducing Lilith

Dear Jill,

I'm so glad Lola arrived at yours safely and that you love her! It's great that she has found such a wonderful home, she's a lucky girl! And Zooey and Corals eyes look fab! What a pretty bunch of girls you have!

I had a new member join our little family last week, here's my custom CCE, Lilith!








She's a CCE on a Licca Chan body, with BrainWorm eyechips. The body didn't quit fit the head socket, so I needed to improvise (tute coming soon). But apart from that she was quite easy going, I would definitely take on a CCE again. On many levels she was alot simpler than the Basaak. The only thing I wasn't keen on was the scalp, which is still to this day very floppy and big. But she has so much hair you can't really tell!

Here's a before and after:


I still have some tutes to post, plus them patterns for Blythe hats that I promised ages ago. Hopefully all this will be done in November :)

Sarah
-x-

Eyes!

Dear Sarah,

I finally finished Zooey's eyes, and got around to putting her back together. (I also snapped Coral's head pieces back together so now she has proper eyelids and doesn't look like she's giving everyone the stink eye.)

Coral's New Eyes:
Top: Floral from milkywayblythe; Yellow Actionoid from CoolCat
Bottom: Green 20 line; Yellow and pink Plum Blossom, both from CoolCat

Zooey's New Eyes (I wanted her to have more natural/normal looking eyes, whereas Coral could have kooky and crazy ones that went with her personality.)

Top: Pale gray Plum Blossom; Dark pink Actinoid

Bottom: Dark green 20 Line; Brown Plum Blossom, all from CoolCat

~

I'm so thrilled with the tutorial, as I have a custom Blybe in mind (post forthcoming!)

When you say Vince's Mirror Ball suit from The Mighty Boosh, I just think of this one:

Teehee, naughty naughty!

~

Just a few housekeeping items to note:

• we have a Christmas countdown on the right hand side!
• we have a new page for EssHippo original patterns and links, which also includes our Ravelry page. (OnePinkHippo apologizes for the delay in knitting patterns, but they will get there soon enough.)
• keep an eye out on the Blythe Database, and it does get updated regularly
• HERE is a quick pattern for an embroidered felt skirt! I'll definitely be whipping a few of these up, as well one of Lola who's begging me to do something with this skull fabric she found

Happy Blything and Crafting!

♥ Jillie

Introducing Lola

Dear Readers,

As you may or may not know, Sarah has caught the customizing bug, more so than I have. (I've just changed chippies and done sleep eyes.) After I saw the amazing Umi I asked her to make me a girl, and she had already planned one for me as a combination birthday and Christmas gift! She sent her over early, and here is the amazingly beautiful result, my Lola!

The last picture is Sarah's before and after. What a difference!!

Thank you so much Sarah! I don't have the words to tell you how much I love her and how beautiful she is and just how damn happy I am! 

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!

♥ Jillie

New Coral

Baby, I was made to break your heart., a photo by OnePinkHippo on Flickr.

Popping in real quick to show you Coral's newly deshined face, sleep eyes and pullrings!

She also got 4 sets of new eyechips:

I finished her two weekends ago, but have been swamped with schoolwork. Poor Zooey's still in pieces! Hopefully I'll get a chance to put her back together and get better pictures over the weekend!

♥ Jillie

 P.S. Olive looks fab!