Customization is Key
Customizing Blythe dolls is a hobby that excited me even when I had absolutely no idea what it entailed. Ever since I was a little girl dolls have been my favorite toys, I now collect BeGoth dolls and Living Dead Dolls. Both are gorgeously ghouly kinds of dolls but collecting them could never compare to the excitement of being able to touch, feel and even create with a doll out of the box. The idea of combining my love for Gothic dolls and my childhood Barbie obsession in one adorable Japanese package is fantastic!
First of all I had to think about exactly what I want to do to her, I'm thinking re-rooting the scalp, face-up job and maybe later even new eyes. Re-rooting is easy enough, find a method, pick a medium for the hair and then put those plans into practice. There's two methods I know of, one being the "knotting" method and the other one is the loop method. My method of choice is loop and my medium is human hair. Human hair is a great medium to use because it can be dyed and styled just as if it was your own hair, keeping in mind it doesn't regenerate natural oils and there's a plastic scalp to think about. Also getting human hair is as easy as a haircut! Or, if you're like me and you are rather attached to your hair, human hair extensions are easy to get, dye and re-root into your Blythe's scalp.
I personally share hair with my Blythe, meaning I shop for our hair at the same place. I've been buying from this eBay seller for almost five years and I refuse to go anywhere else. The price I pay for the quality of hair I get is insane! Qualification wise I'm a hairdresser so hair quality is important to me. I can have gorgeous style-able hair on myself and my Blythe for less than the cost of my lunch!
Okay moving on from hair the next thing I wanted to talk about was face-ups. I don't know a whole lot about them but I know I want to try it. I found out the basic tools I need to create me vision! I'll start by showing you what I want to do to my Blythe, using some rather unattractive Photoshopping skills.
Like I said, terrible but you get the idea. Basically I want to re-shape her eyes, nose and lips and add fresh cat eye make up with nude lips. According to the internet the main things I need to achieve this look are as follows!
- Mister Super Clear UV cut Flat spray
- Very fine grit sandpaper or sand sponge
- Scalpel or hobby knife
- Chalk pastels or oil free make up
Basically the idea is to dismantle the doll so you can work on the face plate without damaging her hair or eye mechanisms. After doing that you have two choices, either you can spray the Mr. Super Clear straight on the face plate, when this dries it makes the current make-up paler and gives the doll a matte finish. Or you can use the very fine sandpaper to gently remove all previous make up and get a smooth matte surface with generally holds chalk better because of the rougher surface. Before applying any new make-up though, even after sanding, you must apply around 3-6 coats of Mr. Super Clear to seal the face plate so it doesn't discolour of stain. According to people who've done this the spray itself smells disgusting so it's suggested that it's used outside or near an open window. Also if you're planning on doing any re-shaping of the face or eye sockets it's best to do before applying any of the Mr. Super Clear spray else you'll just be scraping it off again. Just to clarify I haven't tried any of this yet! I will be shortly though so if any of these methods don't go as planned I'll be sure to change my instructions.
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