I just got Good Neighbor Cafe on facebook marketplace yesterday from the sweetest woman who bought her at a Blythe popup event here in Chicago in 2006, and I know every time I talk about my dolls I say I have too many blondes but I couldn’t resist her. When my boyfriend saw her stock, he said “I’m sorry Mondrian, this is your best doll yet.”
I’ve been on a bit of a doll buying spree lately, so I was just wondering how often do you all tend to buy new dolls, how long have you been collecting, and how many dolls do you have?
I’m a more recent Blythe adopter, I started with customizing fakes in early 2022 and bought my first real doll a couple years ago, I usually gift out my customs, so I have 1 custom, 5 neo blythes, a petite blythe, a Kenner, and two neo blythes on the way. I’ve tended toward adding a doll closer to seasonally, but lately it’s been closer to every paycheck, which is entirely excessive lol.
After+Before. Acrylic paint on lips, chalk pastels on cheeks and eyes. No sealant or prep, so it won’t last forever, but I’ve been considering it for a while and it gave me a reason to put off painting my kitchen cabinets for another hour lol.
I had to cut up poor Fighting Milk Sarangae’s body to steal her pelvis and legs, so she got a new Obitsu 22cm body with an articulated Blythe neck joint mod. (cut up body + old Kenner legs in slide 3, slide 4 is Fighting Milk with her new body)
I’ve been too busy to do much doll work, so huge accomplishment to finally fix my Kenner girl. Now I just need to work on her hair some more, maybe repaint her lips, and maybe see if I can figure out why her eye mech sticks closed on her orange eye chips, but I can easily just manually open her eyes so I may avoid worrying about that so I don’t have to open her head.
If anyone else wants to swap their Kenner legs/pelvis, I had to cut the Takara Good Smile body to release the pelvis, hot water and pulling did nothing, and then I had to shave down the peg on the pelvis slightly, I tapered it so it’s slightly smaller on the top and larger on the bottom so it pops into the Kenner body a bit easier.
edit: I just realized I kept calling Fighting Milk Takara and she’s Good Smile Company, it had just entirely slipped my mind because I was thinking about the Kenner repair article I’d read about how to replace Kenner legs and pelvises with Takara. I don’t know if GSC and Takara have any differences with the body sculpt but the process was the same as I saw described for Takara dolls.
Background info: My cat, Pony, is a neutered boy, 4 years old, domestic long hair with a very large bone structure (could be maine coon mix, the shelter said nebelung, but he’s just a big guy). A year ago he weighed in at the vet at 17 pounds, I was concerned primarily about loose stool which he’s had since I got him, but the vet said that cats should be around 10 pounds and he was probably just eating too fast to digest his food. Pony was so stressed after the vet that he refused to eat normally for two days, so I didn’t want to stress him out further by taking him back without dieting him.
Since the vet visit, I got all 5 household cats RFID chip automatic feeders (they only open for the correct cat and close when they leave) so none can steal each other’s food and all can be on calorie monitored diets. Pony is on a food that is 352cals/cup, and he gets 1/2 cup of food per day dispensed in 4 meals (I’ve checked the weight). He did previously drop down to 15 pounds in December, but on today’s weigh in he’s 16.6. We have a smart litter box and he’s been weighing in consistently around 16lbs on that. He’s currently eating IAMS sensitive skin and stomach, I’ve tried Tiki Cat, Science Diet Adult, Science Diet Sensitive Skin and Stomach, Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach, Purina One, and various prescription canned foods from the vet. The only food to give him semi solid stool has been IAMS.
Currently Pony’s stomach always looks a bit large, but his hips, spine, and ribs are all easy to feel. His stomach feels more like bloating than fat. His activity level increased after switching to IAMS, his coat is shinier, he doesn’t throw up anymore, and his ears are cleaner.
Main questions:
Should I try switching him to hydrolyzed protein or another prescription food?
How should I approach this at the vet if the vet again dismisses him as just being fat?
Are there any specific tests or screenings I should push for at his next vet visit?
Should I be concerned that the vet said cats should be “closer to 10 pounds”? I want to make it work at this vet because it’s only a 5 minute walk but I’m not sure if I should take that as a red flag to change vets. We’re in a major U.S. city so we do have access to other vets.
I don’t know if any other information would be helpful. I plan to take him to the vet soon, I just want to make sure I have everything possible to avoid stressing him out with more visits than necessary.
She works!!! Her ebay description included almost nothing about her, but she’s here and her pull sting works and she chirps when her eyes change. She’s so beautiful. Her knees don’t work, and her feet have been lovingly chewed on by a child, but I was so prepared for her to be in much worse shape instead of just once loved a bit too much lol.
I’ve hated Fighting Milk’s hair since I got her so I finally took her into the salon I work at so I could give her a more substantial cut, she still needs a boil wash and style, but I lent my coworker my camera for the day so she could take photos for social media and she got some cute photos of Fighting Milk’s cut.
I sent a bunch of offers for kenner dolls last night, and I don’t want to jinx it by saying too much, but someone accepted my offer for a blonde Kenner. I don’t know much about the state of her, her lip paint is a bit damaged but her eyeshadow is in tact, no visible hair loss, cracks, or excessive yellowing, she has her pull string and original outfit.
So if anyone is looking for a Kenner, send some offers. I checked sold listings and sent offers within the actual sell value I saw for similar dolls. I received some counter offers that were far more reasonable than the listed cost (like $900 original price, counter offered for $500).
I’m so excited to hopefully meet her soon and try to bring her back to her former glory.
No one ever warns you that when you make a doll of yourself you have to change her hair and add tattoos. I finally removed her septum piercing and then put mine back in a month later, I got her brown hair and now I want to be pink. She’ll probably never get the syringe of lip filler, she’s still waiting on tattoos I got two years ago.
I was inspired to post because today I was telling my client at the salon about Blythe dolls, so when I had my assistant pull up photos of Kenner Blythes for her to see, she realized she recognized them because she was born in 1964, and she was in love. My assistant then started talking about how she wanted to save up money for a custom of herself and I started thinking about my doll and how she’s always at least 10% wrong.
Hazel the Hedgehog and UR 4 Me at the Sheboygan Shipwreck, Bronze Fonz, and Art Preserve of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center
Sheboygan shipwreck, Bronze Fonz, Art Preserve of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center
Still trying to learn to not feel embarrassed doing silly things like taking photos of dolls in public, but nothing bad happened!!!! Also really should name Ur 4 Me because calling her that feels so ridiculous. (what do i name her????)
A few months back, I made my boyfriend a doll of himself for his birthday and then took our dolls on a little photoshoot around Chicago to make him framed photos. Both DBL base dolls, his body is the standard AliE body but the chest and hips are hand carved to make it more masculine, mine is an Azone XS with hand drawn tattoos.
Photos are at the Yoko Ono exhibit, the Chicago River, and Montrose Beach where we once fed raccoons peanut butter pretzels. I was nervous taking the dolls out in public to take photos so I hope in the future I can take better more confident photos.