Welcome to our blog! Years ago, I was scrolling down Pinterest, probably looking for a recipe of some sort, when I randomly came across this pin, below, of a beautiful Blythe Doll. I would love to give credit where credit is due for this incredible customization, but unfortunately I haven’t the slightest idea who the photograph came from. But needless to say, I fell in love.
It’s not that I have ever been drawn to dolls in general before, but she grabbed my attention fast, and I needed to know all about her! So I turned to trusty Google and did all sorts of research, learning all about the history of Blythe Dolls. Turns out these girls originated in the early 1970’s, when designer Allison Katzman created Blythe to be produced by Kenner toy company. They had the same big eyes, and pull strings that changed their eyes to 4 different colors. The dolls were quickly discontinued as they were apparently too scary for little kids with those big eyes of their’s. If you ever come across an original Kenner Blythe doll, snatch that girlie up because they now sell for thousands of dollars- especially if they are in good shape! In 2001, Cross World Connections (CWC) designed the first modern Blythe dolls, fashioned after the originals, and Takara produced them.
There is an entire community of people in the world that collect and customize these dolls. I got lost in the world of Pinterest, looking through all of the different face carvings and personalities that these amazing artists have created. I needed to be involved! So I very quickly ordered my first doll. I bought a Basaak doll, which is basically a knock off, because of the smaller price tag. That way I could try out customizing her without risking a heart attack. And…. we got to work!
My daughter Story was 5 at the time. She loved my new doll, and wanted to help out with the customization as much as I was willing to let her. With how young she was, I was a little worried about her using the sharp tools. But she still had a lot of fun- we had a lot of fun doing it together! As you will see in the blog, we purchased a couple of dolls and did some minor work on them. But, she was just a tad young at the time.
But. Time has passed. Story is now about to turn 13 and her passion for Blythe has been reignited. She is old enough now to have her own dolls, and work right along side of me doing all of her own work!
We are loving this time together. It is a wonderful feeling to be creating something great with her, and to be creating so many memories together! And we love the community across the world that surrounds these dolls. Just today we had a great conversation with a woman in Thailand, followed by another one with a customizer in Taiwan!
We started this blog to document our progress and share our journey with all of you! I will be doing the majority of the writing, but she plans to do some writing as well. I am hoping I will be able to talk her into doing some you tube instructional videos in the future as well!
Visit the “Blog” page to see our progress post by post. Or you can go to the “Our Dolls!” page to see a list of our dolls and their posts. Don’t forget to subscribe for updates, and click on the links to visit our Facebook page, Instagram, and Pinterest account. Thanks for visiting!
Together we Blythe 