#factory Blythe

[alittlebitbethany]

When you have minor surgery and your parents buy you a new doll. This is Alice ❤️. Image Description : a photo of an AliExpress Blythe doll wearing a pastel outfit. Alice’s outfit was made by ByRungGoods on Etsy.

[clown-egg]

I've always wanted to customize Blythe, ever since I was about 18 and This is Blythe was a legitimate site. It was just never an accessible hobby for me - the price was out of my range and the thought of carving into something like that with no experience? No way.

Enter the "factory" fake. The TBL. The aliexpress girls. The perfect vehicle to practice on. I don't think I did half bad. She's got carved lips and nose, a custom set of eye chips (that I bought, I didn't make them), a gaze correction and sleep eyes and, obviously, a repainted face. I plan to do more, but she's a project I sink a little into at a time.

[science70]

Candy Factory Court, Philadelphia, 1979.

Architects: Baker, Rothschild, Horn and Blyth

[queenofsquids]

Ahh found one of those fakie? clone? factory? Blythes at the thrift store for $7.99. I'm so happy. I have always wanted to find a real Blythe in the wild but this is the next best thing 'cause I've never seen the head/face in person and I was really wanting to.

Couldn't wait to get her in the car to have a proper look over.

She even has short green hair! Couldn't have picked better myself.

Wonder how she came to be here? Did someone get her for a kid who outgrew dolls? Or did someone get interested in the doll community and then lose interest?? A million scenarios.

Her body's a little grubby and wobbly but I'm shocked her face and hair are really great for being thrown around the thrift store process.

Well yay! I'm so happy I came out today!

[stargirlsuicide]

i do think its a little funny when guys r absolutely distraught over girls whose whole personality is like calling themselves girl bloggers or human blythe dolls. they print those at the factory buy a new one idgaf

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

Soooooooooooo I'm afraid your friend in doll collecting may have gone a tiny bit off the rails today. IN MY DEFENSE--I just got a refund from Aliexpress for an order that failed to arrive within their 'Delivery in 30 days or it's free!' window. So technically the money had already been spent. I just...stretched it a bit further ;p

The cloth doll in the middle is from HarperIman, another Black women-owned toy company. Their main business focuses on made-to-order, customizable, handmade linen dolls in the 18"-20" range, but they also have a line of 'petite' 14" handmade dolls that can be found at Target, FAO, and a few other retailers. The one I purchased, Sadie, is of the latter variety. I've seen this brand around for awhile, but this is the first time I've felt compelled to add one of their creations to my collection. I have a soft spot (LOL) for cloth dolls, but I'm also rather particular about them, so I don't have very many. This one spoke to me, she just feels like a good fit. I'm already having thoughts about embroidering flowers on her overalls ^_^

(Screenshots of some of the more bespoke dolls available directly from the HarperIman site)

I swear I made a genuine effort to choose between the two HBC girls and only get one for now...but I just couldn't. I made the mistake of browsing their Instagram, and the hair on these dolls is SO GOOD I am powerless to resist. I cannot wait to start designing outfits and accessories for them!

*sigh* so yes...I probably should have saved that money, but I'm also not exactly sorry it's gone...BUT REALLY THIS TIME, no more dolls. For a good minute. Between these latest shenanigans and Isabela and Moana and the factory Blythe from AE that hypothetically is still on the way, albeit extremely late...I have six dolls in transit. I need to slow the hell down and focus on making clothes for all these girls. I will make an honest effort to not go on ebay or Mercari or anywhere else I might be tempted by a deal at least until the end of the month. After that we'll see XD

[6boolett]

my first blythe doll ever 💕 I love her so much!! I bought her thinking I was gonna repaint her face cause I didn’t think I’d like factory makeup that much but… she’s already sooo pretty!! Anyways I will have to wait for a moment before painting her because ms clear is impossible to find where I live. I already modified her eye string with beads and she’s wearing a full outfit so I’m glad. I’m not sure what her name will be, I was thinking of Alice but we’ll see 🧸

[the-bjd-community-confess]

T33nyTink3ers : "I've stopped recast, now I'm pro-artist !"

Also T33nyTink3ers: *proceed to make a video of customizing a factory blythe*

~Anonymous

[girlygirltournament]

(32 bracket base here by @mad-scientist-showdown)

This is the full 128 bracket!! Full list of matches under cut!!

Preliminary Polls

Round 1 Statistics

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6 (the finals!)

Directory

Bracket 1 - Side A

Mizuki Akiyama (Project SEKAI) Vs. Maria Campbell (My Next Life as a Villainess)

Flora (Winx Club) vs. Abby Sciuto (NCIS)

Mitsuba Sousuke (Toilet-bound Hanako-kun) vs. Forrest (Fire Emblem)

Enid Sinclair (Wednesday) vs. Pearl Houzuki (Splatoon)

Haley (Stardew Valley) vs. Sakura Kinomoto (Cardcaptor Sakura)

Veruca Salt (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory / Willy Wonka) vs. Sonoko Suzuki (Detective Conan)

Cinderella (Cinderella) vs. Silena Beauregard (Percy Jackson and the Olympians)

Kim Possible (Kim Possible) vs. Amy Rose (Sonic)

Bracket 1 - Side B

Sakura Chiyo (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun) vs. Lydia Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)

Caroline Forbes (The Vampire Diaries) vs. Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter (Sailor Moon)

Rosie Mayfield (Style Savvy) vs. London Tipton (Suite Life of Zack and Cody)

Momoi Satsuki (Kuroko's Basketball) vs. Tuesday Simmons (Carole and Tuesday)

Effie Trinket (The Hunger Games) vs. Stella (Winx Club)

Honey-Senpai (Ouran High School Host Club) vs. Victorique de Blois (Gosick)

Sakura Minamoto (Zombieland Saga) vs Madoka Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Cure Sparkle/Hiramitsu Hinata (Precure Pretty Cure) vs Lindsay (Total Drama)

Bracket 2 - Side A

Lola (Shark Tale) vs. Colette "Coco" (Thea Sisters)

Therese Wolf (Fable Comics) Vs. Orca/Dex @labor9 (Tumblr User)

Princess Ozma (Wizard of Oz) vs. Aelita Schaeffer (Code Lyoko)

Webby Vanderquack (Ducktales) vs. Hiyoko Tosaka (Hatoful Boyfriend)

Fernet (100% Orange Juice) vs. Donko (Taiko no Tatsujin)

Blythe Baxter (Littlest Pet Shop) vs. Shezow/ Guy Hamdon (Shezow)

Numbah 3 / Kuki Sanban (Codename: Kids Next Door) Vs. Ami Onuki (Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi)

Jessica Day (New Girl) vs. Caitlin Cooke (6Teen)

Bracket 2 - Side B

Shirou Fuji (Mizutama Honey Boy) vs. Kitty (BBC Ghosts)

Rainbow Brite (Rainbow Brite) vs. Zari (Duolingo)

Momoko Ryugasaki (Kamikaze Girls) vs. Peaches (Ice Age)

Barbie (Sandman) vs. Tilly (Rent a Bridesmaid by Jacqueline Wilson)

Sally (Ninjago) vs. Rainbow Dash (My Little Pony Generation 3)

Princess Pea (Super Why!) vs. Mai Oota / P-Chan (Gokinjo Monogatari/Neighborhood Story)

The Cat (Red Dwarf) Vs. Queen Red Riding Hood (The Land of Stories)

Arcee (Transformers Generation 1) vs. Gaby Solis (Desperate Housewives)

Bracket 3 - Side A

Cher Horowitz (Clueless) vs. Cornelia Hale (W.I.T.C.H)

Marianne Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility) vs. Clover (Totally Spies)

Perfuma (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) vs. Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls)

Lilligant (Pokémon) vs. Biscuit Krueger (Hunter x Hunter)

Allison Reynolds (The Foxhole Court: All For the Game) art by @detrinity vs. Isabella Garcia Shapiro (Phineas and Ferb)

Hello Kitty (Sanrio) Vs. Barbie (Mattel)

Mari Tsutsui (Rainbow Days/Nijiiro Days) vs. Ella (Total Drama)

Tahani Al Jamil (The Good Place) vs. Rosalina (Mario)

Bracket 3 - Side B

Elle Woods (Legally Blonde) Vs Daphne Blake (Scooby-Doo)

Ty Lee (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. Amulet Heart (Shugo Chara!)

Holly Munro (Lockwood and Co) art by @lucy-j-carlyle vs. Nikki (UP2U: World Traveller, Love Nikki, Shining Nikki)

Birdo (Mario) vs Lambdadelta (Umineko: When They Cry)

Smurfette (The Smurfs) vs. Regina George (Mean Girls)

Tsukimi Kurashita (Princess Jellyfish) vs. Todomatsu Matsuno (Osomatsu-san)

Blossom (The Powerpuff Girls) vs. Rarity (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

My Melody (Sanrio) vs. Nui Harime (Kill La Kill)

Bracket 4 - Side A

Emily (Stardew Valley) vs. Mitsuri Kanroji (Demon Slayer)

Nana Komatsu (Nana) vs. Lucia Nanami (Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch)

Bugs Bunny (Looney Tunes) vs. Minako Aino/Sailor Venus (Sailor Moon)

Rose Lavillant (Miraculous Ladybug) vs. Marie (The Aristocats)

Glinda (The Wizard Of Oz) vs. Hilda Valentine Gonreil (Fire Emblem)

Ichigo Momomiya/Mew Ichigo (Tokyo Mew Mew) vs. Coco (Bluey)

Princess Peach (Mario) vs. Starfire (Teen Titans)

Draculaura (Monster High) vs. Charlotte La Bouff (Princess and the Frog)

Bracket 4 - Side B

Bee (Bee and Puppycat) vs. Natsuki (Doki Doki Literature Club)

Bubbles (The Powerpuff Girls) vs. Strawberry Shortcake (Strawberry Shortcake)

James (Pokémon) vs. Kurako/Kuranosuke Koibuchi (Princess Jellyfish)

Platinum the Trinity (BlazBlue) vs. Aoi Hyōdō (Maid-sama/Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama!)

Mad Mew Mew (Undertale) vs. Minnie Mouse (Disney)

Tsunoda (Aggretsuko) vs. Cure Coral/Sango Suzumura (Tropical Rouge Precure)

Daisy Duck (Disney) vs. Cure Flora/Haruka Haruno (Go Princess Precure)

Yukiko Kanzaki (Assassination Classroom) vs. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

[alittlebitbethany]

Look who I found hiding amongst the presents 🎁 This is my photo for Day 23 of A Very Dolly Christmas Countdown 2023 I hope that you like it. Image Description: a photo of a factory Blythe doll hiding in a pile of Christmas presents.

[neonkewpie]

Oh no now I'm going down the factory/fakie blythe rabbit hole and

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Scottish actor Alex Norton, born January 27th 1950 in Glasgow.

As a youngster Alex spent part of his childhood in Moffat Street in the Gorbals before moving to Pollokshaws. He was educated at Shawlands Academy

Alex discovered acting at the age of 13 through an after-school drama group, which led to a part in the BBC television series Dr Finlay's Casebook. Because of his background and his father's lack of approval of his chosen career, Norton decided to avoid the traditional route into acting and instead worked from part-to-part.

After leaving school he initially worked in a paint factory before deciding to take up acting full time. He moved to Manchester where he performed in folk clubs, and later returned to Glasgow to join the Citizens Theatre, where he appeared in over 600 performances.

In 1973, he became one of the founder members of the 7:84 theatre company, which toured and performed in schools across Scotland. Alex wrote, directed and appeared in numerous pantomimes, and appeared in numerous films, including Gregory's Girl, Local Hero, Patriot Games and Braveheart. In 2002, he was cast as DCI Matt Burke in the ITV detective drama series Taggart, a role which made him a household name.

Since 2013, Norton has played Eric in the sitcom Two Doors Down series 7 hit the small screen last November and while another season hasn't been commissioned as yet I am sure it will be.

Alex was also in the online Fantasy Adventure game Diablo IV, as well as turning up in couple of episodes of the excellent Good Omens, which a lot of was filmed in Scotland. He was last on our screens over the bells on STV with Blyth Duff

[tyoonc]

bought my first (factory) blythe doll secondhand from someone !! she comes w extra face plates and some tools for customising!! im sooo excited for her to arriveee T_T

[georgefairbrother]

This is the third in our occasional series featuring luminaries of stage and screen with a strong personal or professional connection with Northeast England, inspired by @robbielewis. Previous profiles were of John Nightingale and Edward Wilson. This time, Jean Heywood.

She was born Jean Murray, in Blyth, Northumberland, to a coalmining family, in 1921. She worked initially as a librarian, married mechanical engineer Roland Heywood in 1945 (they remained married until his death in 1996), and became involved in amateur theatre, finally turning professional only after her children had grown up.

Following work in repertory theatre, she made her television debut in 1968, but her breakout role was as family matriarch Bella Seaton in 39 episodes of the Tyneside Depression-era drama, When the Boat Comes In (1976-77).

In 1978, she had a leading role in the acclaimed BBC Play for Today, Our Day Out, written by Willy Russell and directed by Pedr James, in which she played a dedicated teacher at a tough, inner city Liverpool Comprehensive school, determined that her struggling students, resigned to the fate of becoming 'factory fodder' according to The Guardian, should at least have a nice time on a coach excursion to Wales. Our Day Out became one of the BBC’s most successful European exports, leading to a memorable headline in The Liverpool Echo.

In a 2015 interview with television historian and author, Oliver Crocker, Jean Heywood talked about the similarities between Bella Seaton and Mrs Alton, her character in the final season of the original All Creatures Great and Small (1990);

"...It’s sort of the character of the women in my early life… I never had any money when I was young and had to make do and mend and manage…So I didn’t have to search how to play that kind of character. People loved my character in (When the Boat Comes In), a working class, good woman, quiet but very strong and I think Mrs Alton was a similar character…"

"…Rehearsing is like playing a ball game, you throw a ball off the idea of your character that you’ve formed in your head, you keep throwing it in the air and nobody has received it back, until you go into the rehearsal studio where you throw the idea from inside your head to the other person, it comes back differently from how you’d imagined, so the character develops and works much more excitingly than what you had in your head..."

With James Bolam as Jack Ford, in When the Boat Comes In

Her television career spanned over 40 years and included appearances in War and Peace, Emmerdale Farm, Coronation Street, Family Affairs, Kavanagh QC, Boys from the Blackstuff, The Bill, Our Friends in the North, Heartbeat, Casualty and on the big screen in Billy Elliot.

Her final screen credit was in 2010, and she passed away in 2019, aged 98.

Sources include The Guardian, IMDb, and All Memories Great and Small by Oliver Crocker (Published by Devonfire Books)

[dollsahoy]

So. Fixing Creata Flower Princess hair.

Creata Flower Princess dolls have absolutely atrocious hair fiber--I had a few of these dolls when I was a kid and I ended up giving them very short hair cuts because the hair got so scruffy so fast.

I thrifted a ballerina Lisette in 2015 whose hair looked like this

I did the best I could with the metal tine slicker brush I have for doll hair, then set it back in curls to try to hide the still-scruffy ends

Over the years, the curls drooped, and the ends, of course, remained scruffy.

I recently finally bought a metal tooth flea comb and combed out the hair completely. It was better, but still scruffy.

From Tiffy's experimentation, I know that a variable temperature hair iron, set as low as possible, is useful for getting a lot of the scruff off of the ends of doll hair. Well, most doll hair--Creata hair still melts at even the low temperature that saves other dolls' hair.

...but I don't have a hair iron, anyway. However, I do have a mini iron for sewing/craft use. I tried that! Even at its lowest temperature, it still melted the Creata hair!

Over in the branch of doll customizing that works with Blythe dolls, people did not want to expose the mechanism behind the eye change to water, so they developed a technique of flattening hair/bangs/fringe by placing a damp washcloth on the doll hair, then literally applying a heated clothes iron on top of the washcloth. That delivered enough heat to shape the hair into a new style, but the washcloth protected the hair fiber from melting.

So.

I laid down some parchment paper (nonstick silicone-coated baking paper), separated out a small section of doll hair, laid a damp washcloth over that, pressed the mini iron over where I thought the hair was, then slowly pulled the doll head away, to slide the hair under the iron end.

The process looked kinda like this (with a hand on the doll to move it, instead of to hold the camera)

and the first pass made this much of a difference

After I ironed all of the hair, I combed through it with the flea comb dipped in boiled hot water (did this make a difference? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), then combed hair conditioner through the ends and ironed it through the damp washcloth again

Again, I'm not sure if it made a difference, so I stopped there. The ends were still noticeably scruffy, but better.

If I didn't also have a Lisette head with the original factory curls, I would have re-curled this Lisette's hair, but, since I do have that other Lisette, I decided to keep this doll's hair straight. I trimmed the uneven lengths, which got rid of some of the scruff

This hair is far from perfect, but it's definitely much better than it was.

[unicorndollwitch]

Doll Diary ~ Meredith the Witch

Meredith the lovely red head is no ordinary doll. Not only does she have the best hair of my factory dolls…but Meredith is a witch 😌

She sits on a shelf (a rather cramped shelf) with Purdy Blue and Ava. I’m hoping to get a better shelving unit soon to display the Blythe dolls better. I just also struggle with buying practical things because I end up buying dolls instead 😅

Meredith likes to occasionally cook up a little something in the cauldron. I’m not really sure what she’s brewing up but I might leave someone else try it if it’s edible.

I’m sure there’ll be strange words uttered over the cauldron as its contents brews through the day.

As above, so below…as many witches like to say. Meredith is no different. She offers you blessings on this fine Tuesday!

I’m waiting for some more dolls off AliExpress and some outfits. In particular a shirt and silver shoes for Dorothy. I also ordered some fabric so I can make Dorothy a dress. I’m considering future purchases though they’re not Blythe related (apart from outfits of course 😅). Summer sales and stock clearances will be happening soon ready for autumn 🍂

Happy Tuesday doll enthusiasts 🩵