Behold! A Bevy of Blythe Manor Beauties

There was a lot of commotion this week at Blythe Manor. Actually it started a little over a week ago, with the arrival of a blank Cool Cat scalp and three ounces of loose purple and blue mohair from Phillaine. I knew I wanted to give it a try, because I had been decidedly underwhelmed by the arrival of my lavender-haired Factory Girl, Polly.

I think Polly was a Takara Lilac Blythe anyway, but her thin hair and weirdly-colored eye chips just weren't cutting it around all the pretty girlz here. I thought sanding some of the shine off her face would help. Then I decided to add some pastel chalk and oil pastel blush. Then her lips needed to be a different color. So after many rounds of sanding and painting, touching, messing up, sanding, re-painting, using gel pens, acrylic paint, nail polish and more, I was finally able to leave a plump set of pink lips alone, long enough for them to dry.

I knew I wanted her to have a beauty mark, and I got lucky that my wildness with a marker actually worked. But she still wasn't looking that exciting. Then two things happened: I saw the leftover mohair from Phillaine's new girl for sale on Plastic Paradise, and I saw the results of a first re-root by ellabellasmommy on Flickr. She did a great job, and it looked so cool! I decided after Googling (or should I say ogling?) a few tutorials that I could do this.

After about four solid days of threading strands of mohair through a tapestry needle, and using a thimble to help me poke them through a thick plastic scalp (maybe that's what's wrong with men- they have thick plastic scalps. Oops, I digress....), voila! Polly's scalp had a full head of mohair. Well, almost. In all honesty, out of respect for my first-ever mohair job, I have to admit I started the mohair a little too thick, holes too close together, so while that looked great, I sorta ran low on mohair at the end. I came up with a working solution that satisfies me, and if I ever decide to find more of the exact mohair, her scalp will easily come off for me to add more. Meanwhile, I don't think I will spill how I solved the problem.

Then there was the matter of figuring out how to get her stock scalp off; never had done that before either. Was not in the mood to break her face after all this work! Also, I wanted to create four sets of unique eye chips, using the flat clear and colored chips I ordered from Cool Cat as well as the foil stickers, designs, nail stickers and other paraphernalia I had gathered. So I made some pink skully chips, purple and green with cross-eyed tiny pupils, dark purple size gaze chips with a white fleck and no-pupil grey, white and blue flower chips. Can't believe I did that either!

I had no patience for changing one set per day as I had done in the past, to avoid other new chips coming loose inside the head, and since her head was already off and open, I changed all the chips at once, which was so much easier! What was not so easy was painting her eyelids. I decided I wasn't about to remove the eye mechanism, since I didn't know for sure how to route the pull-string when putting it back in. So, word to the wise, painting eyelids when the eye mech is in the face is not easy. It is messy; the eye shadow gets messed up, and if you mess up the lids, you run the risk of getting them too thick when you re-paint, causing the paint to be scraped off every time you change her eyes.

After several hours of this nonsense-I must have painted, sanded and re-painted 10 times- I finally was able to leave well enough alone and again get satisfaction long enough for them to dry. I nearly messed it all up again when I tried to add white dots-which had to be re-done several times also. Add stabbing in extra eyelashes with an Exacto knife is also apparently an aquired skill that I hadn't acquired. And just to add to my "never-done" work ethic, I started messing around by painting the tips of her eyelashes white for sparkle. Sheesh!

During all this action with Polly, you'd never know that Miss Bridgette Hansen, the beautiful pink mohair, had arrived Saturday from PP and all points north. I gasped when I saw her and her beautifully-detailed outfit by Devout Dolls--the same outfit featured in the December 2009 issue of Haute Doll magazine. But, I wouldn't let myself touch, photograph, change or enjoy Miss Brigette until I had cleaned up my days-old Polly mess, and I was determined to have her done before I went to bed on Sunday night. Success. And then I found myself trying to photograph Brigette at midnight! Note to self: there is NO photo lighting that is good at midnight.

I have no plans to mess with anything about Brigette, from her name to her chips, even though she has two sets of pink and two sets of gray, they are gorgeous! And her name....she was named Brigette by her previous owner, Blythe friend, Deb Hansen, and since I used to have a nice next-door neighbor Bridget Hanson, well, it all works. I think Bridgette and Polly will be fighting for the spotlight as my glorious, candy-colored mohair sisters. And perhaps Joey (remember this Joey?) will be Brigette's little sister.

Meanwhile, on Thursday of this same exciting mail week (that's yesterday as I write this), Wednesday the Mondrian arrived from Down Under. I had had a Mondrian once before, that I had gotten from Ebay from a person who as it turns out lived one county over from me. I quickly sold her, I think not only because I was shocked about what I had spent then (cheap compared to now), and because I didn't know her floppy body could be fixed with rubber bands or that her stringy hair could get help at the Blythe spas or that her gaudy eyeshadow could be tamed. Live and learn. But, as it turns out, that Mondrian, Tuesday, went to a great home with Blythe friend Carmen in Spain, who named her Elaia Tuesday and who has since swapped her with a different Mondrian with a bob haircut, from Vainilladolly. That Mondrian remains E. Tuesday.

My "new(er)" Mondrian would be named Wednesday; I decided right away, after spotting her marked FA on Flickr by a user name I did not know. However, I quickly found out that gal was the same Justine, under a former user name, who had customized my Abby. So it was all good, and not only did I buy the Mondrian from her, but we exchanged friendship gifts across continents, too. Did you know the USPS no longer sends ships to Australia? Postage has gotten quite salty when the only way you can go is by plane!

I am grateful to have received Wednesday this week, as well as the lovely and cool Frankie magazine, and some great Blythe clothes and shoes. I sent fabric, sewing notions and Dr. Pepper, by request! Gotta love Blythe friendships. And speaking of those, can't wait to see everyone at the Annapolis Blythe Meet June 20, 2010. That's tomorrow as I write this. Have been making a pile of goodies to take for gifts, swap and sell, girlz to show off, and of course my camera. So you know a post is forthcoming.