Petite Blythe Dolls - there are now 14 !

 A little Dolly Story post today ... because this parcel arrived ...

"Eeeps - do be careful up there Bird!"

Julia: "Yep, red hair just like mine - let's get you outta there."

The first out of the big cardboard box was a red-head ... Zucchini Flower, Julia and Petal rushed to meet her.


A few things to note during the de-boxing - 
her feet were tied with ribbon!  so much nicer than wire.








And in the bag with her stand was a Blythe Coin? 

Eventually I figured out that this wasn't a bribe or special prize - but a weight for the stand - this little petite has a rather heavy costume.

Because - she is a squirrel.
Takara released "Squiggly Squirrel" in February 2008 - already 8 years old

I'm calling her  
Cecilia 'Squiggle' Ècureuil

Cecilia because it is the most sibilant name I can think of, Squiggle after the Wendy Boston squirrel I have had since I was a bub and Ècureuil because that is French for squirrel and a word I find completely unpronounceable.




Love Cecilia's dark eyes & red hair and that outfit is hilariously cute - I even love the tail which reminds me of a prickly pear - only non-prickly!

Julia: "Now you are being silly Zucci - Cecilia's tail is not a beard!"

Meanwhile: little Margaret was talking to someone through the plastic window of her packaging ...

"Don't hurt yourself breaking that plastic - we'll get Bird to help you."

"See, Bird is really good at this sort of thing."  

And I'll interrupt the little 'uns here - This doll is a 'Totally Tartan' released by Takara in September 2003, PBL-22, quite an early petite. 
And despite plastic wrapped tight about her arms (it was difficult to remove) the black trim on her dress has stained her shoulders.  These things happen - even when NFRB these dolls can deteriorate - plastic is never completely stable.

 Personally I don't mind, in fact, those stained shoulders helped me find her name ... Fenella MacTavish.  Fenella means 'white shoulders' - and MacTavish because it sounds like swirling tartan & bagpipes with haggis.

Back to the Little 'uns now -

Fenella: "Hello but I'm sorrry you'rre all a blurrr to me - I'm rrreally short sighted ..."

Bird: "Do you need these?"


 Fenella: "Och aye, that's much betterrr."

Bird: "Here, you had best have your handbag too ...   Now, let me introduce you to Margaret and Vivien ... "




And we'll leave the girls to their introductions while I show you some of her stock outfit.  She came with a petticoat, dress, red jacket, handbag and glasses - the boots are painted on.
I love the way the dress is cut-away at the back to reveal the red lace frills of the petticoat - it also has red bead 'buttons' at the back. 

And here is a portrait of little Fenella MacTavish

Meanwhile:  Hilda could hear faint meowing ...

"Bird, Look!  there is another box in here!"

 De-boxing ensued and Wilhelmina was delighted to see a girl with 'fantasy hair' ...

Interrupting again - she is a 'Feline Fancy' another Takara release from 2003 - this time from December.  And these petites are notorious for staining from their black outfit ... again there was a lot of hard-to-remove plastic but there is still staining, mostly on her shoulders and some stripes to her pretty green hair. 
 

 

Again I'm not worried about it - was expecting this staining - and again, it has inspired her name.  

Because she is a tabby cat I'm calling her Tabitha d'Khat.  Khat is the name of the very clever Siamese cat in a favourite childrens' book - 'Midnite' by Randolf Stow.  

 

Although it caused staining I rather like her outfit - the little dress and helmet are black velvet - decorated with silver stars on chains and the dress has petite embroidered across the front - the boots are painted on.  I also really love her pursed up little smile - just like my daughter's when she was very little - I called it her 'triangular smile'. 

Now for some group photos - the 3 new girls:

Tabitha d'Khat, Fenella MacTavish & Cecilia 'Squiggle' Ècureuil

The Red-Heads

Petal d'Fleur (Lily Wild), Zucchini Flower (Muchuahua Zukin), Cecilia 'Squiggle' Ècureuil & Julia (LPS Lemons 'n' Honey)

The Fantasy Hair Girls:

Tabitha was worried: "Is she ill?"
Chloe: "Nah! Viccy is just a baby, she is always needing a nap."
Wil to Viccy: "Would you like a glass of milk?"

They are - Victoria Amelia (Pajama Party keychain version), Tabitha d'Khat, Chloe (Clionetti) and Wilhelmina Blue (a customised 'Spirit & Spice).

Perhaps I have a 'thing' for petites with green eyes & red lippy?

Vivien Lee is a Rosie Red keychain version - so not sleepy eyes and as you can see, her eyelashes are quite different, her lips are also slightly larger, Tabitha's lips are darker and look a bit smaller even than Fenella's ... giving her that 'triangular smile'. 

 And to end this post - a group photo with all 14 of the little 'uns - 12 Takara Petites, 2 LPS and 1 LPS on an Obitsu 11cm body.  I like the number 14 - perhaps this is now my complete collection of petites or perhaps this is just ...

The Class of 2016? 

A Big Mail Day for Dollies

Yesterday was a very big mail day ....
First some Takara stock clothes arrived - I've been buying some of the older stock outfits for my girls as the quality was really good back then!   (and I must apologise for the low quality of these photos, my digital camera died and I'm using the phone camera now.)

My girls got a very nearly complete set of the stock for "I Love You It's True" (yep, Takara does do some odd names!)  Lots of pretty items in shades of blue plus sandals, funny pink socks and pretty undies (we like pretty undies!).  Also, most of the red evening outfit from "Love Mission" - evening dress, bustier, shawl and red shoes.

While Audrey and Imogen were trying on the new outfits another parcel arrived!

Audrey: "Can you do my dress up Imi?  I can't reach."

Audrey adores red shoes!!

Audrey: "Uh, now I can't bend, quick Imi, do up my shoe then we'll help Meerkat with the new parcel."

Meerkat: "I don't think this is yet more clothes ... it looks like a box here."

Imogen: "What, another sister!  Nah, that's quite small."





Imogen: "Ooooo nice cheese."
Audrey: "Hmmm, a shopping trolley, I guess that'll be useful for grocery shopping!  Nice red apple though."
Meerkat: "Bread - and it smells so good."

From inside the box, very muffled: "Hello there - can anyone hear me ... Hello ..."

 Some time later ...

Zucchini Flower: "Hi there, we can hear you, we'll get you out of there.  (quieter) She's another proper petite - I won't be the only Takara little one now."
Julia: "I guess this is why our Mummy Giant bought the extra crochet dress, wondered why she bought 4 sets when there were 3 of us."
Hilda: "Yes - there are matching bloomers too ..."
Meerkat - very quietly: "Lah dee dah - this baguette is going to be yummy with my new tapenade ..."




Zucchini Flower: "She has a nice dress already - but I think she likes pink things."






Julia (in the middle): "Looks like she's been in that box for Ages and Ages."
Annabella, still in the box: "A whole 9 years girls - I'm a 2005 release. And I really want to be released ... please hurry!"

Zucchini: "Annabella, you are like me - you've 2tone hair too and pretty coloured eyes like me."

Meanwhile, Julia and Hilda have found Annabella's pet / backpack ...
Julia: "Is it a rabbit or a kangaroo?"
Hilda: "hmmm, very confusing, the ears could be either and she has a pouch ... but no tail at all!!   We'll have to ask Auntie Bunny, she'll know."
(ed: Bunny is a Neo Blythe "Welcome Winter" and very knowledgeable about all the different breeds of rabbits)

 And we'll leave this post with a portrait of Annabella.  She is a Takara Petite "Tatianna Black" released in November 2005, so she has been exactly 9yrs in her packaging.

Her stock dress and bonnet are really pretty, as is her pet / backpack BunnyRoo.

She has lovely violet coloured eyes and 2tone blond hair that curls.

 

Christmas Teaser - the answer ...

The teasers from the previous post - are all finished and listed on my BlytheStar Etsy shop.

 Yes, cute Christmas outfits - dresses & hats in Bright Red and Emerald Green

I think they are gossiping about Santa here!

The felt fabric makes the circle+ skirts sit out really cutely and the organza ribbon trim has a nice little twinkle ... my girls had heaps of fun modelling these outfits

3 Little Girls from Santa's Workshop?

 Following the success of last year's Christmas Gnome hat (it sold within a few days!) I thought I might start a tradition and knit one every year ... here is the 2013 edition

 A darker red this year and a little mohair at the head band for that cozy softness - the fair-isle or jacquard patterns include my favourite snowflakes, some delicate daisy flowers and sweet love-hearts.

My Gnome hats are really long and can be worn flopping over or standing straight up in the air!

And I'll leave you with another photo of my darling dollies in those Christmas costumes ...

The count-down to Christmas has started !!!

Adventures in Restoring Dolls' Hair

There are many really wonderful customisers of Blythe dolls & I'm never going to be one of them - I'm far too scared of 'hurting' a doll and doing something terrible that can never be fixed!  But recently I have done some hair restoring for my dollies and this post will hopefully encourage and help others who might be as diffident about these things as I was / am.

A few months ago this cutie came to live with me - a Rosie Red BL Blythe.  Ruby is perfect in every way except that a previous owner had chopped into her hair and given her a rather wonky fringe (bangs).  She was still very cute but ...

so I researched all the Blythe Forums and thought that I could probably manage a partial re-root to restore Ruby's hairstyle.

But I was too scared to do the scalp removal myself especially as the BLs have a reputation of being difficult to scalp.  So I sent Ruby to the wonderfully knowledgeable Natalie to have day-surgery.

Meanwhile I bought some Saran doll hair - in the end from this on-line shop because the photos gave a decent idea of the colours.

I had decided to practice on my Dawn dolls ...

Glori & Dawn - Topper dolls from the 70s & 6" tall

 Glori's hair was terrible - Dawn probably never had much hair and was missing plugs.

Dawn's severe under-cut

For Dawn, I bought some "Honey Blonde" because I thought it looked pretty - it doesn't match her original hair but compliments it rather nicely (I think).  I don't really like Dawn's original hair colour - it looks almost green in some light!
Following some guidance from the web I started to "sew" hair into dawn's (now decapitated) head.

Thread up the needle with as much hair as you can get into the needle, stab into her head taking the needle out thru the neck, turn needle about and stab from the inside this time.  Pull tightish, and cut (leave it longer than you want it to be when trimmed properly).

Stabbing from the inside is more difficult to get accurate so when accuracy is required (i.e. the hairline at the front) do that with the 1st stab. 

Showing hair half-way through pulling thru after 2nd stab

• It is like sewing as you go in and out of the head
• It does feel rather ghoulish   
• It isn't difficult 
• But it is time consuming
• Things can get messy.  Try to keep your hank of new hair neat & tidy!

You will need these tools:

• A sharp needle - not too thick as you don't want to rip the plastic - you can buy special needles for doll's hair 
• A thimble to push that needle through the plastic
• Small scissors
• Tweezers if you are removing old hair.

Here is Dawn almost done - a bit more hair needed on the left.  The Saran hair is stiff and wants to sit out - perhaps nylon would be better for these tiny dolls?

However, it does respond to hot water - the "boil perm" (more on that later)

Dawn with her new full head of hair & Honey Blonde "high-lights"

So, I could manage an easy partial re-root but Glori needed a whole new head of hair.

Glori showing the original plugs

First for the radical cut - and I found that putting her head on the end of a pencil was better than holding her face and potentially damaging her further.

Then I had to pull out the remaining hair without ripping big holes in the scalp - this is when you need the tweezers.  I must admit to leaving some in situ and it all fell out during the process of giving Glori new hair. 

Glori needed to stay a red-head but a nice red rather than the brassy carrot colour she was originally - I bought a lovely red called "Ruby Tuesday".

Through the re-rooting process Glori was quite a Wild Woman!!

 

 So much hair took me quite a while - she has a lot more hair in many more plugs than she did originally.

Her hair wasn't Glori's only problem, she had a lot of staining, including these biro? tattoos on her legs.

Glori's legs then ...

 Definitely Spa-Time for the little dolls ...

Bird (my LPS Blythe on an Obitsu body) has joined the Topper girls - They all have head-bands of soft (underwear) elastic to keep the hair in the correct place.

With head-bands on they've been dipped in nearly boiling water - just the tops of their heads.  You don't want to damage makeup or loosen the glue holding in LPS eyes or those wonderful Topper dawn eyelashes.

Dawn & Glori also have lots of stain-removing cream on.  It is acne cream from the chemist, the stuff with 10% hydrogen peroxide in it.  Not cheap but it works!

Glori's legs now - Wow!

Well Glori will need some more boil perms before her fringe sits flat - but she is looking a whole lot better than when she came to me.

So now it was time to pluck up my courage and work on Ruby's hair  ...

Natalie had done a great job of the scalpectomy, even retaining the flanges at the front :-)

Here you can see the inside of the scalp - the machining creates a chain stitch on the inside and you can see some of the glue, she had lots!

The chain stitch made it easy to remove the chopped hair - would be easy to go too far.  Reminded me of mending 1920's beaded dresses - the tambour work has that same chain on the wrong side and if you pull the thread it can all come undone!

Inside the scalp

Here is the scalp from the outside - the holes were very close along the part and there was a tiny amount of ripping.

Outside

"Deep Cherry"

When looking for hair for Ruby I got really confused by all the different shades of brunette - I bought some "Mahogany" and some "Deep Cherry".  The Mahogany didn't work with Ruby's original hair but the Deep Cherry was lovely - it is a blend and I thought this would give Ruby's hair some 'life'.


I used the same 'sewing' technique as I had for the little dolls - taking the hair from the outside in and then stitching through back to the outside.  Easier on a scalp than with the tiny head.  Most web sites talk of knotting the hair and things like that but ...

• I'm lazy
• I figured that this does get glued, and
• Knots are bulky.

Here is the scalp - you can see where I've put lots of hair at the front - along the parting and I've been filling in a little.  This is about 90% finished - I used about 1.5 hanks of saran.


The Finished Scalp - untrimmed.  The blend of colours is certainly working in this photo!













 Now to glue it all back - firstly to get some of that old glue off Ruby's dome.  Used rough sandpaper and I think poor Ruby got quite a head-ache!

from the left - sandpaper, 1 side of dome sanded, the other side not!

I couldn't find the glue that Natalie suggested - had to go for the 2nd best "E6000" - it didn't smell too bad (or perhaps I'm just used to working with smelly products!)   I did a light smear of glue all over the inside of the scalp (thinking to keep all the hair nice and firm) and a smear on the dome, some in that grove where the flanges go - but not too much as I didn't want it oozing out there and getting on her hair!   Keeping her hair well away I lined up scalp & dome and put the 2 together and then the part that really looks scary!
To keep the scalp firmly in place while the glue dries most folk use thick rubber-bands but I have lots of elastic and safety pins ...

 Ruby decided to go to bed!

Wake me up when it is over!

Ruby now has plenty of stories to scare the other girls with -

Hey cat!  Wake up and admire my new hair!

Even before a trim and perm Ruby's hair looked great ...
She looks like a Rosie Red again and the join where scalp meets face-plate is almost unnoticeable - disappears in photos :-)
This join is probably the reason why so many Blythe dolls are made with fringes (bangs).
I'm very happy I went with the blended colour.

Lillian joined Ruby at the hair-dressers' - Lillian is getting her kiss-curls re-set, Ruby has an elastic head-band to hold her new hairs in place.  They've had their hair dipped in hot, almost boiling water with some nice smelling hair-conditioner in it and are waiting for it to dry.

And here are Lillian & Ruby about to go to the Halloween party together (I still haven't finished trimming Ruby's hair, the ends are not even and I'm still not brave!)

 One last bit of Ruby Spam :-)