2:22 am

Moving my blog to 222am.org

2012-02-18T08:53:00.000+11:00

Hello everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I am moving my blog over to http://www.222am.org.
Please follow my twitter account for updates: http://www.twitter.com/noituudenaika

xx

2:22am Designs for sale

2012-02-01T17:44:00.000+11:00

Finally got around to listing a few items. If you see something you like but don't want to buy it through etsy please let me know.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/222am

Postage within Australia: $1.20
Outside Australia: $3.20
Email: kuolemantuoja@gmail.com

ALL PRICES ARE IN AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS.

New dress for sale visit my store to purchase: http://www.etsy.com/listing/91949416/retro-low-waisted-pink-blythe-dress-with

Retro Low Waisted Pink Blythe Dress with Pleated Skirt "Day Trip" $19.50

Green Ruffled Cousin Olivia Inspired Blythe Skirt & Necklace - Coccinellidae Ladybirds$11.50

Blue Ruffled Cousin Olivia Inspired Blythe Skirt & Necklace - Japanese Cranes$11.50

Red Ruffled Cousin Olivia Inspired Blythe Skirt & Necklace - Japanese Cranes$11.50

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200704531543
$22 AU - free postage within Australia!

Little Miss No Name - Dresses for sale

2012-02-01T12:16:00.000+11:00

http://www.etsy.com/shop/222am

Postage within Australia: $1.20
Outside Australia: $3.20
Prices are in Australian dollars (so a little bit cheaper when changed to US)
Email: kuolemantuoja@gmail.com

Little Miss No Name Pink and Green Starry Sun Dress with Belt

$25.00 AU + postage

Little Miss No Name Green Starry Sun Dress with Belt

$25.00 Free postage within Australia if bought on Ebay!

Blythe Designers That I Love

2012-01-18T12:51:00.002+11:00

Buying designer Blythe clothing for me isn't about the name on the clothing, it is about buying items that I know will be well made, fit properly and have the exquisite levels of detail I have grown to love in miniature items. I don't look down on other people because they don't dress their dolls in expensive Blythe clothing, this is a selfish hobby and I appreciate Blything in many forms. I myself can't bring myself to pay hundreds of dollars for an item. Not having been into Blythe for as long as some of my friends, I often look to them for inspiration and education, seeing an amazing dress or shoe I will always have to find out where it came from. I do sew my own clothing but my skills aren't at the level of some of the amazing designers that I admire. Here is a list of Blythe designers that I love right now.
Inomi - Japan
Inomi on Flickr
Inomi designs are original and reasonably priced for the work that goes into them. The fabric chosen is cute, if you are into school girl style or mod outfits check out Inomi. It's always nice to find a designer that has clothing in stock as opposed to having to beg on forums to buy things. Here is Monika in an Inomi dress I received as part of a secret santa swap.

Pommecopine- Thailand
Pommecopine on Flickr
I am currently waiting on my first Pommecopine dress, having been admiring them for awhile on Etsy. One again I look for the detail in the dresses and the selection of fabric, along with patterns that will suit my dolls. Look at this gorgeous design in lime green, a colour that I am rather into at the moment. Love the lacey detail down the front.

Mabelcakes- USA
Mabelcakes on Flickr
I found out about Mabelcakes Creations when she joined a forum that I post on. She creates a limited number of items that can be hard to get hold of but are worth looking around for. I bought one of her smock dresses awhile ago and would love to get some more. Quirky fabric matches with a simple design that is well executed make me love her stuff. Check out Monika in one of her smocks.

Petit BonBon- Canada
I am yet to purchase anything from Petit BonBon but being payday tomorrow, I think that is about to change. The tiny tiny prints on the fabric used to make these items is adorable. She uses classic colour combinations like red, white and pink the sets and original/unusual trimmings. They're a little bit more costly than the other designers I have posted but I believe such attention to detail and craftsmanship is worth it.They also come as sets, not just one item.

Plonsjeroze- Netherlands
Plonsjeroze on Flickr
I like to dress my Blythe dolls in clothing I could never/would never wear. I think this is why I love Plonsjeroze Creations. The clothing are all so bright and colourful and I usually only wear black. Stunning bright fabrics are mixed together to create explosions of colour. I have two outfits on their way to me after having admired this designer for awhile. Check out the intense blasts of brightness below. Picture linked from Flickr, click it to go to the original poster.

House of Pinku- USA
House of Pinku on Flickr
I am still in love with House of Pinku.Having just received my first smock dress created by the lovely Julie, I am in love. Once again, reasonable prices, dresses are often sold out but she uploads new ones every couple of days. Very well made dresses with a gorgeous range of fabrics. Check out Monika in her new smock <3

Plastic Fashion- USA
Plastic Fashion on Flickr
Guh what can I say other than, I want it I want it I want it! Some of the dresses make my eyeballs fall out of my head in adoration. The really brightly coloured dresses with original designs made using tiny detailed fabric just kill me! So much so that I've had to created a wanted listing on several Blythe forums. I've already bought one dress that was offered to me, a couple of them not being quite what I was looking for. I adore this one and a couple of other super bright ones with small print fabrics. Need, need.

Chu Things- Australia
Chu Things on Flickr
I almost killed myself when I missed out on the latest "Colourful Party" Chu Things dresses that were available twice due to demand. (if you want to sell yours please email me!) Maria creates dresses using her own patterns that are carefully hand crafted with such a high degree of detail that you almost need a magnifying glass to truely appreciate them. I own two Chu Things sets, one strawberry print set and a pink and brown schoolgirl dress and shirt.

Leshan - Spain
Leshan on Flickr
I went crazy for awhile looking for delicate crochet dresses for Blythe. My mother is an amazing crocheter but she hasn't had time to teach me to crochet yet. Leshan creates really intricate designs for Blythe for a really reasonable price. She will do custom work and create items to your specifications too. I have a pink and a brown Leshan dress and adore them.

Others worth mentioning mainly a list for myself of more amazing designers that I haven't managed to buy from yet.
Tomate Cerise - EU
La Boutique de Lupi - EU
Eurotrash- Finland
Poupee mechanique - EU

Some people balk at the idea of paying $25+ for a tiny tiny dress but when you take into account the fabric used, the fact that one dress could take two hours to make, the postage, paypal fees, trimmings and years of honing their skills, this isn't much at all. I know from my own experience, when I've made a dress with a lot of detail it takes me a few hours. I only hope that one day I am confident enough to sell my clothes like these talented people.

Little Miss No Name

2012-01-16T09:33:00.000+11:00

I first saw this doll in a stop motion animation that was made for the Babes in Toyland video He's My Thing video. It was only last year when I joined an Australian doll forum that I actually found out which doll she is. After posting the video, a few of the knowledgeable folk were able to tell me her name.

“Little Miss No Name” the doll with the tear and was released for just one year by Hasbro in the 1965. She was designed by Deet D’Andrade, whom I have just discovered also designed Blythe. She is 15 inches tall and came barefoot wearing a burlap sack-type dress with stitched on patches. Her hand was molded so that when extended, she appeared to be begging. Her very large, sad eyes held lots of emotion as she shed a large plastic teardrop under her left eye.

I am a doll freak, so naturally I was intrigued by the doll when I first saw her, I am happy to say that I have one on the way to me from the US.

The picture on the right is from the auction I won. I can't wait until she arrives! Here is a post I made about the doll on my Kat Bjelland fansite:
http://www.katbjelland.com/post/15788065419/i-am-a-doll-freak-so-naturally-i-was-intrigued-by

An amusing horror video starring this doll:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaMbBTmbS20

Here is a cute fan website:
http://www.missnoname.com/

I've just been informed that she was also in some of Lydia Lunch's video clips too!
At around 1:43

Blythe customisers?

2012-01-03T17:30:00.001+11:00

I have decided that the time has come for me to send off one of my dolls to be customised by an expert. When I got into Blythe I thought I'd customise them myself. I've sand matted a few girls, opened heads, changed eye chips, tried to fix a botched lip carving, re-rooted dolls and re-painted lips, however I just can't get it to look perfect like some professional customisers.

Not being a fan of unnatural and extreme looking custom dolls (no offence to anyone that has/makes them) I am after a customiser whose work is subtle. On top of my list is Maria from Chuthings.com. She's just let me know that she may have space for me in March (yay!) and that her sister who is super talented but lives in Canada is looking for customers. It would be ideal to find someone in Australia however if I have to send a doll overseas I will just deal with that. I am about to email her, in the meantime check out their work:

Chuthings: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuthings/6352348074/

May Yeo BJD custom paint job:

Next on my list is another Aussie girl, China Lilly. I was very excited the other day when I saw a post on Blythe Kingdom stating that she'd had a cancellation, but after messaging her it turned out to be out of date. Her lip carving is exquisite and the detail is beautiful. One day!

A friend of mine has a gorgeous Melly Kay custom, I think her doll made me appreciate customs and really want one. Here is my friends doll that opened my eyes to the awesomeness of customs.

Moofala, is also on my list:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1315047@N22/

In other news I FINALLY found a reasonably priced, rainbow House of Pinku smock dress. Joy joy joy, I was so pleased I was talking about it last night in my sleep apparently!

For Florentina, my newly traded Sunshine Holiday I was after some dark brown eye chips, then I noticed Ixtee was having a sale on some old and previously sold out stock on Ebay so I got a bunch of them for $2 each! Diamond and Shiny Sun in chocolate. I also bought a Barbie Vespa and have attempted to spray it white for her.

Small Blythe Sale: Jan 2012

2012-01-03T14:16:00.005+11:00

Having a small clean out, prices do not include postage. Please contact me for postage costs. I accept paypal or bank transfer. Australia/NZ only (for now) gotta offer things to my local Blythers first :luv

Please email me: kuolemantuoja@gmail.com
No holds for more than 24 hours please. All prices in AUSTRALIAN dollars not US.

Got your own little grunge girl?

Sekiguchi Burgundy Doc Marten Boots (fits Blythe) brand new, never opened
$25 SOLD

Dark Blue Takara Cons from Positively Blue Step in Time set
$35
Nostalgic Pop platform shoes
$8

Mary Jane platform shoes
$5 each (Pink, red and aqua sold)

Barbie boots
$3 each or $10 for the lot

Helmet $7
Pink hearts dress $12
Or $15 for both of them

Tights
$1 each (red and silver stripes sold)

Black cherry dress $10
Pink fairy dress $10
Pink hearts dress $12

Chu things dress $35
Red cherry dress $10
Pink and black dress $10

Cute jumpsuits $4 each or all three for $10

Hats - $4 each or all three for $10

100th Post! Blythe Christmas Angel

2011-12-21T21:51:00.000+11:00

This is my 100th post! I never thought I'd stick with a blog as I have done with this one. Just goes to show if you are passionate about something you keep with it. Today my boyfriend bought me a lovely real Christmas tree. I love the smell of the tree more than anything else about Christmas really. As I am on such a strict diet I can't really partake in Christmas feasting or drinking anymore but I can enjoy a nice tree.

Went rushing around for an hour and a half trying to find some Christmas lights, luckily Target was still open and I got some colourful ones. Didn't have an angel for the top of the tree however so I had to make do. It made perfect sense that Blythe should be on top of my tree. Freya is perfect as a Christmas angel in this long Barbie dress and tiara.

Last day of work tomorrow until the 9th of January. Yay!

Merry Christmas to Me

2011-12-21T09:05:00.007+11:00

This year, I decided to buy myself a few Christmas presents and other random tidbits I have bought.

Marabelle Melody

I ordered her from Japan, took a quick peek inside through the plastic to make sure she was OK and then wrapped her up for Christmas. 8 weeks ago, this has been pure torture but with moving house I have been a bit more distracted.

Three more House of Pinku dresses

Three pairs of sparkly Jem shoes from Jemgirl.com

Very Vicky shoes

I found these amazing Jeanean Morrison fabrics that I desperately need, so not only did I order all the stock from one site in the UK, I went to another site in the US and ordered theirs and then on Ebay too. It's called Fireworks.

RODE NT1A Cardioid Condenser Microphone for when I set up my studio yay!

More disturbing toys: Not so Sweet Talkin' Ken & Barbie Consumer Whore Set

2011-12-19T14:54:00.006+11:00

Teach your daughter to be a good little consumer whore with this jewellery, cash register and scanner set. You scan the item, and the "shop assistant" tells you what a good deal you got.

Sweet talkin' Ken - I am not sure I would say the things I immediately recorded into Ken and played back to myself were sweet. I then proceeded to do this to all of the Sweet Talkin' Ken dolls in Toys R Us before giggling to myself and leaving. If only I could be witness to the look on the poor parents faces when their puzzled child on Christmas morning asks them what a blowjob.

I DID however leave the store with a rather fancy baking set for Barbie, which fits perfectly with my Deluxe Barbie Kitchen set. Sireena's already cooking up a storm.

I also wanted to point out that while searching for an amazing boyfriend for Monika, I found this one of a kind, Ken doll re-paint/re-root of Peter Steele. *dies inside* I need him.

Creepy Toy Shop Finds

2011-12-03T08:41:00.005+11:00

I was in Toys R Us the other day looking for some Ken clothing and I noticed a couple of disturbing toys.

Princess Catherine drag queen Barbie. She seriously looks like a man, or just really distorted and freaky.

Justin Bieber doll, a must have for all pedos.

New born baby jockey. Not sure why this one freaks me out so much. The mini new born babies already scare me a bit because they look like those tiny fetus dolls that anti abortion lobbyists use to guilt women. Horse rider baby though? With tiny carriage? It's just so bizarre, who even thought of that.

Blythe Scammers - So What Do We Think?

2011-11-23T20:20:00.004+11:00

More photos from today, I asked for some clearer shots. Comparing these to my Mango, the grommit is definitely not the same.

Read the rest of the posts here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Blythe Scammers Part 7 - an ongoing investigation

2011-11-22T11:18:00.005+11:00

Ms Kary seems to be growing frustrated with my questions today. I asked her how much it would cost to buy a sample doll and she said to buy one of these dolls it would be $193US. She also said that because they are a wholesaler she can sell them wholesale for $120US. This price is pretty steep even for a real, new Mango or Guava. Considering I suspect they are fakes it is even more ridiculous.

So I won't be getting one to check out for close to $200. She was kind enough to send me some more photos of the dolls, unfortunately they are so blurry that they don't really clear up any of the questions I had. It looks a though the colour of their scalp under the hair is correct but the hair on the picture below of Mango appears to be all different oranges. My real Mango does not have hair like this, please let me know if yours does.

If you look at Guava's ear closely you can see a vague outline through the blurry photo of the square shape around her ear that has been seen previously on other suspected fakes.

The picture above of Guava appears to have a really pink scalp, just like the ones posted on Fake Takara Blythe Galore. It is really hard to tell if the grommit on the string hole is gold or silver but to me it looks gold.

I don't think I will bother replying to Ms Kary, I am convinced that these sub standard dolls are not a product of dodgy quality checking at the factory, but real counterfeiters, copying Blythe and selling them as the real thing.

Having seen all the other "naked Blythe dolls" being sold that are obviously not meant to be copies of any particular doll I am convinced. Having been shown this pictures of what looks like a real Mango and Guava in a box, made and sold by the same people that are selling the naked dolls, I am convinced. Seeing a doll on the naked Blythe doll list that is an exact copy of a 10th Anniversary Blythe has me convinced that they are making inferior copies and selling them at full price. Whether they are using old moulds from previous contracts to make official dolls or just creating their own, these dolls are not the real thing and should not be sold as such.

Blythe Scammers Part 6 - an ongoing investigation

2011-11-20T11:01:00.005+11:00

I kind of feel bad for letting Ms Kary think I am going to buy her dolls. She is the nicest fake Blythe seller I have dealt with so far. When I asked her whether or not she accepted credit card payment as a test to see whether she was trying to steal my money, she sent me HER credit card number as the account. *facepalm*

The other day I asked Ms Kary to email me some specific photos of her dolls, as I had encountered people trying to rip me off in the past. She sent me some very interesting photos that appear to be her own. I have to check google though.

I asked her to send me details such as a photo of the scalp, the colour of the metal part where the string goes in, a photo of the doll up close, a photo of the shoes. She did send me a few of the pics, but not the scalp one or the metal part. I will ask her to send these to me also.

I am going to post some more photos from Fake Takara Blythe Galore to compare with.
Here is a picture of a Mango and Guava that when opened by the owner showed the tell tale signs of being fakes. There has been a lot of discussion around this subject but after seeing what Ms Kary has emailed me, I am convinced they are fakes, not factory defects.

Photo post on Flickr

Here are the dolls in boxes that Ms Kary has sent me, after stating that they were naked Blythe dolls. So far have not located any similar images on google, and they're the same as all her other pics in the background so I think these are really her photos.

From Flickr - Guava doll with issues

The owner of this fake Guava said that she thought the hair might be a little bit longer than the real Guava. Here is the naked fake Guava that Ms Kary sent me. The eye chip colours are always a little bit off, too light.

Next is Mango.

Her eye chips don't look the right colour, her face appears a little flatter.
The eye shapes are odd. The sides of her head are chubbier.

The differences are most obvious on the clothing of Mango. Here are few Mango's from Fake Takara Blythe Galore that have the issues mentioned previously. Both of them show the same flaws as the photo from Ms Kary. I have also been told that the cardboard the box was made from, was flimsy and thin compared to the usual.

- pants cut differently
- belt is different
- buttons are in the wrong spot
- feet turn out to the sides instead of pointing forwards

Left - fake
Right - real

Real pic taken from: http://shidasblythe.blogspot.com/

Without seeing one of them in person to compare to my real Mango it is hard to say what the differences are on the actual doll. Maybe if I can get pics of the scalp of the naked one we can be sure.

Blythe Scammers Part 5 - an ongoing investigation

2011-11-15T22:32:00.007+11:00

So I was shocked to get an email from the lovely Ms Kary today.

Dear Ms.Katie,

Have a nice day ! How are you those days?I have not heard from you for a long time . Hope your everything goes well . Please kind find the picture of naked blythe doll as attachment . This is our new style naked blythe doll . Are you interested in them ? Please inform . Thanks & Best regards

Kary

Note. the first one says Ten Anniversary Nude Blythe Doll
I am wondering if any 10th Anniversary fakes have been floating around the place because of this? She does look remarkably like this doll, even the front facing pinkish eye chips look similar:

She does have forward facing pink chips.

-------------------

Hey Kary, Thanks for contacting me. I really like the new dolls. Number 427 looks just like a real Blythe doll. Number 423, is she meant to be the same as the picture I have attached? http://www.blythedoll.com/eng/news/2011/05/cwc_limited_edition_10th_anniv_1.html Do you know of any naked Blythe that are similar to this one? http://www.blythedoll.com/eng/news/2010/03/final_design_for_the_new_neo_b.html The red haired one is very nice, can I see more pics of her? What kind of payments do you accept?

-------------------

Still trying to find a source for the weird fake Mango and Guava's that people have been sold I of course had to ask her about Mango. I was completely shocked when she actually replied with pics of Mango and Guava. These of course could have been taken from google which I am yet to check. There is a chance that they are real, but there is also a big chance that these are fakes too.
The other thing I am guessing is that she got the pics from google and wants to rip me off some cash.

-------------------

Dear Ms.Katie , Many thanks for your reply . 1.Yes ,the No 423 is the same as the picture your attached . 2.Please kindly find the pictures as attachment . This blythe doll is similar with the picture of your link . The price for this doll is USD 129.03/pcs . 3.Our payment terms is T/T.

Thanks & Best regards Kary

Waiting for more information on payment, if she only accepts Western Union I will know she is just trying to steal my money. If she accepts credit card then it will be a lot more curious. I will try to get photos of an actual doll scalp. I really like the naked red head one, she is pretty awesome.

Dolls for Sale

2011-11-14T10:34:00.021+11:00

Decided to keep Miku for awhile longer.

=====================================================

SOLD
Doronjo scalp - shipped within Australia
CCC head - shipped to the UK
Cassiopeia Spice bait girl - shipped to the UK
Rainbow re-root on StellaSavannah body - shipped to Brazil
Simply Peppermint - shipped to the UK

Takara Carry Case - The Ins & Outs

2011-11-07T21:49:00.003+11:00

I found this case for sale, brand new on one of my favourite Japanese sites last week. For some reason I've decided that since I am really unwell, I can spend all my money. Not the best idea but fuck it. I bought the case, it arrived today. Wasn't able to find any pictures of the inside of the case so here it is in all of it's amazing glory:

The little strap holds the doll in perfectly and I love the tiny coathanger and hook for it. There's also another little box to put shoes etc in. This will really make dolly meet ups a lot more simple as I have been carrying my dolls around in pillowcases inside big green shopping bags, you know the ones from Woolworths. As you can see that gorgeous House of Pinku dress also arrived, on top of the new guitar amp I bought and a puppy, today has been a pretty good day for mail!

Kenner Restoration Video

2011-11-04T12:13:00.000+11:00

K-K-K-Kenner F-F-F-Fever - Restoration Diary 3

2011-11-02T19:06:00.003+11:00

My girl is finished! After spending about 8 hours straightening her hair using a straightening iron set on low heat and a bit of water, she has cleaned up quite nicely. Somehow I seem to have damaged the nerves in my thumb from pressing down on the straightener and I can't feel it! There are about 4 plugs missing from the front of her scalp so I have ordered some original brunette hair from Restoredoll.com and hope to fill them back in a little as there's a small gap I am not happy with right at the front. I photoshopped it out of these pics cause it was annoying me. She isn't perfect, but that is the beauty of restoring your own Kenner Blythe, they are all unique.

Monika has guest starred in her first acting role as the evil Monika Kenner in Be My Valentine. A web based comic booked starring Valentine, the geeky Nicky Lad Blythe.

Now I want to put together a video of the process.

Takara Shoe Sets - Complete List

2011-11-01T08:48:00.008+11:00

This is how obsessed with Takara shoes I am right now! If you know of any other sets that are not on the list please let me know, couldn't seem to find a full listing anywhere. It is great to see where some of the random shoes I have bought, have come from.

June 2004

Step In Time - Positively Blue

Step In Time - Juicy Red

Step in Time - Purely Natural

February 2005

Step in Time 2 - Monochrome Magic

Step in Time 2 - Vivid Value

Step in Time 2 - Basically Beige

July 2007

Foot Fab - Jazzy

Foot Fab - Groovy

Foot Fab - Snazzy

September 2008

Knees and Toes - Shine

Knees and Toes - Serene

Knees and Toes - Sweet

December 2010

Cruise Night

Cruise Day

Paying as a Gift on Paypal?

2011-11-01T08:00:00.005+11:00

Got a question for you Blythers, are you willing to send Paypal payments as a gift? The reason I ask is that I have a strict policy for myself that if I've never traded with the person before or it is a large amount of money, I will not send payment as a gift. This is for my own protection as I know how upset I will be if I get ripped off this way, so I don't want to put myself in the situation. This has nothing to do with me not trusting that particular person at all. Payments sent as gifts cannot be disputed in Paypal, it is as simple as that. Payments for goods however can be.

I've noticed lately that most sellers are actually asking me to send money as gift payment rather than for goods. If I refuse, they want me to pay extra to cover their paypal fees. To me, this is quite unreasonable. I've even had one friend be told that she wouldn't be sold an item unless she paid as a gift, which really sets off alarm bells in my mind. We aren't talking about a lot of money here at all, and I usually agree to it and pay the extra, but come on, you're selling the stuff on a forum so you are not being charged any seller fees at all, why should I pay your paypal fees too? If an item is cheap (under $20) and the person has Ebay/Etsy feedback I am happy to pay as a gift, anything over that, and they shouldn't even request it.

Reading Bad Dolly Deals, you will see countless numbers of people that have been ripped off after paying for items as a gift. You do not have a leg to stand on if the item isn't sent. So Blythers, am I a paranoid arsehole or is it perfectly OK to refuse to send payments to strangers as gifts or be made to pay their fees?

Tiny Spending Spree

2011-10-31T11:52:00.004+11:00

More items on the way. Takara Step In Time shoe set, Pink re-ment boots that I've wanted for awhile and a cherry patterned Eurotrash dress. I will be selling the blue cons, the polkadot platforms and the slip ons. Let me know if you are interested.

K-K-K-Kenner F-F-F-Fever - Restoration Diary 2

2011-10-24T11:55:00.004+11:00

The shock and horror, and slight glee I felt when I opened my Kenner's head for the first time cannot be described. I had been picking away at the glue on the bottom of her head for a few days. When I say a few days I mean obsessively, I couldn't sleep, I just wanted to work on her all the time!

Opening her head and discovering this mess was somewhat satisfying. I am one of those freaks that enjoys hearing about weird medical issues or popping a blister.

It looks as though there was some kind of insects nest inside her head or someone has shoved wood in there which has deteriorated and spread. That dark brown stuff had the consistency of mud though, like a wasps nest so I think it may be a bit of both.

The other side of her head was even freakier. More brown mud and a weird straw has been inserted in an attempt to re-attach the neck. When I opened her head the little neck piece that had snapped off, fell out as I expected. Immediately I got to work cleaning out that mess inside her head. Had to soak it in more water and then use a screw driver to scrape away the remaining glue/mud.

I cleaned up the broken neck part and got it ready to re-attach. With my father's help, we drilled a hole into the neck part of the body and used a screw which went about 1 inch down into the body to stick the snapped piece back on. As this part of the neck is hidden inside the head, it didn't really matter that the glue used to double strengthen it, was slightly visible.

It fit neatly back into the now clean head and I was able to put the head back on by re-attaching her spring, closing her head up and putting the screws back in. Her neck is now super sturdy but still turns easily.

There are a couple of stubborn yellow stains on her forehead, I have tried to buff them a bit with a nail buffer and it worked quite well but I do not want to change the colour of her forehead by buffing it more. Cotton balls have been used on the rest of her face and body. There is a large amount of glue residue still firmly on the back of her head which I haven't been able to remove yet too. Any tips?

Next up - I haven't finished fixing up her hair yet so when I've done that I will post pics.

K-K-K-Kenner F-F-F-Fever - Restoration Diary 1

2011-10-24T10:05:00.007+11:00

Finally after months and months of pining, I got myself a beautiful wispy brunette Kenner Blythe. After being outbid a few times on Ebay and other auctions I put in a winning bid and landed myself a bit of a banged up girl. It's really been a case of trial and error trying to restore her to a nice condition, having never owned one before but the Blythe community has been super helpful. A lot of people send their dolls away to professional Kenner restorers but I couldn't bring myself to do that I think part of buying a dirty old broken Kenner is watching her transform as you clean and fix her into a uniquely beautiful lady.

Initial condition report:
- Broken neck
- Glue on neck, body and face
- Dislocated knee
- Dirty body and face
- Frizzy knotty hair
- Yellowed eyes
- No body cracks
- Pull string still works, changes to all four colours
- Crude wire fix on neck
- Small lip scuff re-painted or original factory flaw
- Three yellow stains on forehead
- 4 missing hair plugs from back of head

The first thing I did was pull her head off, it was only hanging on with a piece of wire that had been jammed into her body. Knowing that noone else would be more excited, I went and saw Tara (Duchess_Tara) at work and showed her my lovely new Kenner. She squealed in excitement when I unwrapped her, and even made me give her a kiss! At her advice, I rushed out to the supermarket and bought some baby shampoo to wash her in. I washed her body, hair and head, after leaving her soaking in warm water for a few hours and removed quite a lot of the dirt. Her body and face still have a few stains on them that I need to work on further.

The scariest part was next, I knew that in order to fix her broken neck I would need to open her head. Her scalp was rather easy to remove, it was a shame I had to remove it as it was glued on so nicely. I just pulled it softly around the edges and it started to come out from underneath the cap that holds it on. Once I had it off it looked like this:

The cap underneath was in poor condition with several cracks starting and a few pieces missing. I found the missing pieces in her scalp so they'd obviously broken off over the years. Ruth of Eurotrash has recommended I stick them back together using mouldable putty resin as it will make putting the scalp back on easier.

In order to remove the cap from the top of a Kenner's head, you need to squeeze the two stems at the top very very tightly and slide if over the top of them. They kind of stick out over the cap like a letter T. As the cap was in such poor condition I decided to file back these stems a bit so I could remove it without breaking it completely. Using a flat file, I brought them back about 2mm and was able to slide the cap off easily, without causing further damages. Factoring in that the scalp will be glued back down, I believe filing the stems will have less of a detrimental effect than having a broken cap.

The next step to opening her head after you have removed the 4 screws holding it together (two below the ears like on a Neo and two in the scalp) is to open the glue. Once again, a real shame to have to break this open.

What I saw inside her head when I opened it was quite shocking... Stay tuned!

Blythey Spending Spree October 2011

2011-10-24T09:36:00.007+11:00

Stuff I've bought this week after a fit of anxiety about my health. I also got a few super cute things for my Blythe Secret Santa so I won't post them here. Hope they arrive soon though. As you can see my Takara shoe fetish is still in full swing and a spare pair of red mary janes is always good to have around.

Blythe Scammers Part 4 - an ongoing investigation

2011-10-21T09:15:00.007+11:00

An interesting email exchange with an online scammer that highlights the dodginess of some sellers on Alibaba.com. If it sounds too good to be true, and the seller won't accept credit card payment, don't buy it. They are aware of the fact that you can report them and get the money back through a credit card merchant. I am pretty sure that I have been black listed by sellers on Alibaba.com now. I emailed Mr. Lee requesting a price list and list of his stock in response to the advert he had up. The pictures were all official Takara promotional shots, about 12 dolls in total.

http://www.alibaba.com/member/hk112610411.html

Mr. Lee of gd gifts & toys - June 15th, 2011
Like Bb to me hi, i have attach the price list to you min order - 5 pcs ( can mix model ) shipping cost - 35usd for 5 pcs shipping delivery time - 14 days ( by EMS ) payment - bank transfer thank you

Me
Thank you very much for sending this through, I just want to double check that these are the official blythes from Takara. Could you show me a picture of one of the dolls in the box for Princess A la Mode. I am very interested to make an order of several of these items from you. Kind Regards, Katie

Mr. Lee of gd gifts & toys
hi i have attach the photo of the doll and box to you thank you

This is the photograph that Mr. Lee attached:

If you were going to send a photo to someone and you were honest, why would it be that blurry?

Me
Thank you very much I am sorry to bother you, is it possible to take a more clear photograph? Thank you

Mr. Lee of gd gifts & toys
hi i have reattach the pic to you sorry cos my cam not so good thank you

Of course your cam isn't good you lying sack of shit, because you are photoshopping other people's photos from Flickr to make them look 'different' and failing. So I go to google and type in Princess A La Mode. Funnily enough the pics Mr. Lee is sending me of "his stock" show up on a random Flickr account.

Hoping that he will delve deeper into his pit of lies I email him again.

Me
I just checked the pictures but are you able to send me the pictures you took yourself of the actual items you hold? I will need a clear picture of the box and some pictures of the dolls up close.

These ones you sent me are from flickr. It is a lot of money to invest so I need to check the products before I would purchase them. Thanks

Mr. Lee never responded. Clearly this guy has nothing to do with fake Blythe dolls, he is just another scammer who has no product and is trying to steal your money. He only accepts Western Union transfer, which should be a red flag to anyone buying online. I have reported and submitted evidence of suspicious behaviour to Alibaba.com for all of these dodgy sellers, yet they are still open as stores. I wouldn't buy anything at all from this website, clearly they don't care if you get scammed.

Blythe Scammers Part 3 - an ongoing investigation

2011-10-21T08:29:00.013+11:00

Fake Blythe dolls or really bad Takara quality checking? A consensus has not yet been reached within the Blythe community with one side arguing that they are fakes and the other side arguing that they are Takara dolls having suffered poor quality checking standards at the factory. There are a lot of dolls up on Ebay that are made using what looks like Blythe parts, but they are not official releases.

People often refer to these as factory dolls, Frankenstein dolls made of different left over parts in the factory and then sold, sometimes for more than official releases. I have my own factory girl, a Stella Savannah body/face with a Doronjo scalp. Not having seen any of these "factory girls" on Ebay in person it is hard to say if they are real Takara parts or not.

This one is the most concerning, a Simply Mango look-a-like including the dog from Guava being sold for more than I paid for an official one. This is the closest I have come to actually finding an obviously fake Mango doll like the ones posted on Fake Takara Blythe Galore. Her hair looks too light she has the wrong eye chips/make up but the clothes look very similar. If this fake Mango has official looking clothing and the dog from Guava, who is to say that there aren't dolls around that look real in fake boxes? Are these parts left overs from the creation of official dolls, or merely tossed aside while perfecting the counterfeit manufacture of Blythe dolls?

Apparently Takara has used several different factories for the manufacture of Blythe. An interesting point brought up in this discussion is that perhaps the factories are continuing to make Blythe after their contract has finished, using inferior plastics. This is a very valid point, and I would consider these Blythe dolls, made using the same moulds, to be fakes. This article was also posted, highlighting the practice.

I believe that counterfeiters in China have/are creating fake Blythe dolls. There is a huge market for them and people will pay good money for dolls that are clearly fake, so why wouldn't they? Whether it bothers you or not is another question. The thing that bothers me is that people are paying full price for fakes that are being sold as official dolls, not so much the actual dolls, they are pretty cute.

Blythe Scammers Part 1
Blythe Scammers Part 2

R-R-R-Rock Me Amadeus - Visiting Falco's Grave in Vienna

2011-09-28T13:38:00.007+10:00

Not many people know that I am an absolute Falco worshipper. After I first heard Jeanny, I knew my life had changed. Most people know him for Vienna Calling or Rock me Amadeus but I think his best work is by far the Jeanny series. Something about Falco's music really gets to me, it is cheesy pop music but I think it's really well written and has a melancholy feel to it. I love the authentic sounding synths too. He is still the only artist to have had a number 1 hit in the US with a song in German. I think had he been born a few hundred years earlier, we'd be listening to orchestras performing "Hölzel" pieces. I've spent many a Friday night at home being miserable, drinking wine on my own and listening to Falco. A film was released about Falco but I so far have not been able to find the English subtitles for it. I've watched it in German but I have no idea what is going on.

On my recent trip to Europe I visited Bratislava for a few days. We took a boat over to Vienna for the day and after wandering around the city, we made the trek out to the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetary) by tram. There was no way I could visit Vienna without stopping by the cemetary to worship at the grave of Falco. It was a really really hot day and we both got quite sunburnt after wandering around the cemetary for a long time trying to find his grave. What you don't realise about this cemetary is that it is absolutely huge. We saw a lot of graves of well known composers which was kind of surreal. Finally we found his grave and as my friend Stelli would say, his grave was fierce. It was the most outlandish and extravagant grave that I saw in the cemetary. We sat on the grass beside his grave and listened to the entire Jeanny series. I put fresh flowers down and lit the candles. This may seem like an odd thing to do on holiday but it meant a lot to me.

Here is me putting flowers on his grave.

Here is me loving his grave:

I heard Falco on the radio about 5 times when I was in Europe, and the other day I turned on the radio for the first time myself in 10 years and Rock Me Amadeus came on. The most memorable was sitting at the top of the Altenburg Fortress in Bamberg, Germany, drinking a nice cold beer when "Where are you Now?" came on. Guess I am not the only one that adores him.

What Doll Is This?

2011-09-28T11:50:00.004+10:00

Mum gave me this doll the other day. It is so fucking weird looking, I kind of like it but it is also really freaky. Does anyone know what she is? I am thinking some character from an animated movie? Why else would they make a doll that looks like this.

*edit* and she has been identified by q_D_paToOtieS as a Diva Starz Bratz doll.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diva_Starz

What were they thinking?

90210: 4 Seasons of Apologies

2011-09-26T15:28:00.003+10:00

Has anyone else ever noticed that the plotline for every episode of the new 90210 is this:

- People start a relationship, be it friends or partners
- Someone does something dumb like lying, snooping, killing, stalking, cheating, taking drugs etc
- They are outcasts for a few days/weeks
- They apologise profusely
- Apology is accepted (not always right away Adrianna wasn't forgiven by Naomi and Navid for a long time)
- Everything goes back to normal, no one holds a grudge
- Next person makes a mistake and the story continues

You can have several running mistake/apology plots running at once, intertwining with each other. I guess after watching an entire season (2) in a row yesterday it becomes more obvious.

I was feeling pretty damn smug whilst thinking to myself halfway through season 2 "Oh thank god they got rid of that awful Jenn Clarke character". Then she appeared on my screen, almost exactly after I was congratulating the producers in my mind for a great decision to get rid of her. The actress playing her is by far the worst on the show, her fake half British accent and constant pouting is really irritating and feels fake. It is how I would act if I were in a show. Shenae Grimes (Annie) isn't a great actress but she is a lot younger so she has time to learn. She wasn't bad in Degrassi either. It is nice that the actors look a lot younger than the original cast of 90210. I mean these people do not look highschool aged unless it's a special class for mature students, uni at the very earliest:

I find the girls in 90210 are incredibly skinny, their arms are all the same width at the top as they are at the bottom. Sometimes I wonder what I'd look like that skinny.

Rinkya 3rd Party Auction Service - Utter Rip Off!

2011-09-20T12:05:00.005+10:00

I signed up for Rinkya so that I would be able to buy things from Yahoo Japan. Finally I located an item that I had been searching for so I did my first transaction. I have to say that I am really disappointed with the service, and that I think they are running a complete scam.

Firstly, when you sign up to Rinkya you have to give them a $20 deposit in order to be able to place a bid up to $100. So I did this. The item I won in auction sold for 1100 yen = $14 AU

They have this on their website:

Same seller, same day Handling fee combination.
$7 COMMISSION up to 10,000yen, $1 per 1000yen after!(FOR CELS ONLY)
FREE FOR ALL ITEMS 1,000 YEN AND UNDER!
$40 FLAT FEE ON ALL ITEMS BETWEEN 40,000 to 100,000 YEN!
$60 DISCOUNT ON ALL ITEMS OVER 100,000 YEN!

Commission

(*based on each individual auction).
$15 base fee plus
$1 per 1000yen up to closing price.
The actual commission is the greater of the above or $20

Fee Calculator

Handling Fee $15
*This fee includes any tax, shipping within Japan, bank fees, charges from the seller to us, etc. You will be charged the excess if they equal more than $15.

I was then charge $20.00 commission although the website states it should be less. I also paid $15.00 postage within Japan to have the item sent to Rinkya. This item is TINY, I don't see how it costs $15.00 to post it when I have dolls sent to me for $20.00 by EMS to Australia.
A few weeks later I received an email saying that the item had arrived at Rinkya, nothing more. So I assumed the $15.00 covered the postage within Japan and then to Australia of this tiny tiny item. No it didn't, when the item had not arrived more than a month later I emailed them to check if it was shipped. They said that I was meant to request an invoice for shipping and fill in a shipping request before they would send the item.

So after weeks and weeks of waiting, I have done this and the shipping quote to Australia ends up being another $20.00, for a tiny tiny item. As I stated earlier, I have dolls sent to me from Japan for $20.00 using EMS. I will be checking the package when it arrives and if it was less than $20.00, I will be requesting a refund, as I have already paid a $20.00 commission fee, and now $35.00 in postage costs for something that would fit in a small envelope.

Now I am waiting for them to refund my $20.00 deposit, which they claim is refunded when you no longer wish to use their service. Let's see if they concoct some administration fee or something. I might just have to get the bank to take it back. The real point of my post is, does anyone have a third party mailer service for Yahoo Japan that won't charge me over $70.00 to receive a $14.00 item?

Rainbow Re-root - Meet Astra

2011-09-19T21:12:00.006+10:00

Finally finished my rainbow re-root last week, so to celebrate I made Astra a new dress and bow. Here she is, with her scalp glued on. I found the cool cat scalp to be slightly too big so there's a bit of a gap at the back but you can't see it.

Dress made at a Crafty Bitches meet up. I did a bit more sewing tonight.

Blythe Wishlist September 2011

2011-09-19T10:26:00.009+10:00

Miss Sally Rice and Nostalgic Pop, both can be nude, I already have their stock

I need Marabelle Melody's stock and would love a Rosie Red, Bl or Encore

Nightflower is also really cute brunette as is Very Cherry Berry.

I Want To Lighten My Hair

2011-09-17T22:22:00.006+10:00

I know this isn't really my regular blog theme but fuck it. For about 10 years I have dyed my hair dark red, using the same red dye that I buy from the supermarket. People seems to love the red, and get really upset whenever I mention that I want it closer to my natural colour.

People have even told me that I wouldn't suit being blonde, how can you not suit your own hair colour? Anyway, I've asked a few hairdressers in the past and none of them will go near lightening my hair to blonde. So I was thinking that as an interim maybe they would lighten it to a more orangey red? I really like these three hair colours so something similar.

Sure they would only need to lighten it one or two steps and then dye the orange over the top? I mean the main issue with lightening hair is that it goes orange or it damages it trying to go lighter, but what if I want it orange?

My current hair colour, I like it but I am sick of it and want it gone. GONE I TELLS YA.

My Dream House - Silver Pines Cabin in Fable 3

2011-09-14T17:54:00.004+10:00

I just saw this on Tumblr, it is my dream house. I know this is incredibly geeky but when I am playing Fable 3 I often wish that some of the places were real, because I want to live there. Like the forests around Silverpines in the game. Reminds me of places I saw in Germany. Ahh maybe I just need to live in Germany.

Long Distance Relationship, Cross Dimensional Conception and Online Merger - I Can Help You With My Female Character - Fable 3

2011-09-12T18:49:00.007+10:00

I've noticed a lot of people posting on forums needing help to get the Long Distance Relationship, Online Merger and Cross Dimensional Conception achievements on Xbox 360. I have a female character in Fable 3 so if you need help just message me.

My gamertag is: noituudenaika

Wow I am a video game whore! You can always send me gold on my new game if you want to make it really whorey. Now here's a pic of my dog stuck in a tree on another game save.

Anyone sending me lewd, flirty or gross messages will be blocked and reported.

Cute & Easy Mango & Guava Stock Make-Over

2011-09-11T21:23:00.008+10:00

While updating my sale thread today on We Play With Dolls I had an idea that has kept me occupied for the last hour. Instead of trying to sell the forever unpopular Mango and Guava stock overalls, I decided to try and give them a make-over and make them less daggy.

At the moment I am utterly obsessed with Takara stock, and in particular short overalls like Nostalgic Pop's. Why it never occured to me before to cut both pairs of overalls into shorts is a mystery. I would have liked to use different buttons/cotton but this is all I had at home, lots of my stuff is packed up for when I move.

All you need to do a really cute make-over on these overalls is 3x4mm sized buttons, a 6-8mm plastic belt buckle, some ribbon and a needle/thread.

1 - put the overalls on your Blythe and decide how short you want them to be, take them off and cut them. I find folding them in to the length you want to sew them at and pressing them with an iron makes it a lot easier to sew. I did one line of stitching by hand to create a hem, though you could always unpick the seams and use a sewing machine.

2 - remove the old buttons and sew on new ones

3 - remove the belt and put a ribbon through the eyelets with a little belt buckle on it. I stitched the ribbon closed at the back after melting the ends with a match. Voila you are done!

Team with some cute tights and a matching shirt and you have a brand new outfit that is almost Takara stock.

Mango overalls with Miss Sally Rice shirt, MilkyWaySugar tights and Takara granny boots.

Guava overalls with Chu Things shirt, MilkyWaySugar tights and Thisisblythe shoes.

I've decided not to sell them now.

Toltoys Blythe Doll TV Advertisement 1971 from Australia

2011-09-08T11:56:00.005+10:00

Working at a film archive, I am exposed to a variety of collection materials on a daily basis. Most of the are interesting in one way or another but until today not many had really peaked my interest on a personal level. My workmate discovered that we hold a Blythe advert in the collection, I am not sure why she was searching for Blythe on our collection search, let's just say we are both obsessed. Utterly.

Unfortunately it is held on 16mm film which has not yet been preserved so we cannot look at it. I am desperate to know if this is a specifically Australian made advert or it is the same as the ones on youtube. I may just see if the curator will let me take a peak on a bench. It is particularly interesting as it was made in 1971 and the adverts I have seen are all from 1972. Unless they made the advert a year before it was released, it is possible that this is another version.

Title: [TOLTOYS BLYTHE DOLL TV ADVERTISEMENT]
Alternative Title: [THE FILM HOUSE COMMERCIALS COLLECTION. F1363]
Production Date: c. 1971
Produced as: Advertisements/Commercials/Promotional
Media: Television
Country of Origin: Australia

Activating Your Share Buttons on Blogspot

2011-09-07T12:43:00.004+10:00

Activating your share buttons on blogspot:

- From dashboard go to Design
- Click edit on the "Blog Posts" box in the page arranger
- Make sure the checkbox beside "Show Share Buttons" is ticked
- Hit save

Now you and your friends will be able to more easily share your blog posts on several social networking sites.

De-activating Facebook and Moving to Google+

2011-09-07T12:16:00.010+10:00

Recently I decided to de-activate my facebook account. It wasn't for any particular reason, there was no one thing that triggered me to do this. I just felt like it. I find that having a pretty addictive personality, I was spending a lot of time just sitting there reading status updates from friends and looking at photos instead of doing anything productive. I am also quite a sensitive person and reading negative stuff all day really affects me. I guess I won't know about any parties or concerts that are happening anymore.

I considered deleting the account but there is the chance I will want to re-open it again later so I just de-activated it. Facebook makes it very hard for you to find the link to delete your account, only offering the de-activation option. Well here is the link you need to delete your account:
http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

Here is a post with detailed instructions:
http://www.groovypost.com/howto/security/permanently-delete-your-facebook-profile-account/

Be aware that photos kept on facebook, even when deleted from your albums, will still be stored on the facebook servers for sometimes months before they are removed. This is why you should NEVER link to your facebook photos on internet forums if you want to remove the photos later. Even if you delete them, they will still be visible from the direct link. There are about a million other reasons that facebook is dodgy that I won't bother going into:
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-to-delete-your-facebook-account-2010-5
http://mashable.com/2010/05/24/evil-facebook/

Here is an awesome post on wikiHOW that explains how to delete yourself entirely from the internet: http://www.wikihow.com/Delete-Yourself-from-the-Internet

It may seem like the lesser of two evils but I am still very interested in using Google+. As there are fewer people using it at the moment, and the ones that do tend to be net savvy or even a bit nerdy, I find the quality of posting is far greater. Maybe they are just more aware of netiquette and the burden of reading posts from a friend that chronically overshares, or they're just more aware of their privacy online. I have to say that I am pretty impressed with my friends G+ing (as it shall now be referred to).

I like if that I can group people in circles and only share things with people that I know are interested in particular topics, such as my obsession with Blythe dolls. Now when I post a cute Blythe pic I share it with the users in my Blythe circle, content knowing that my other friends don't have to stare at pictures of my freaky arse dolls.

One thing I really dislike about G+ is that it automatically added photos from my blogspot account and anything else linked to my gmail account, into a photo album. It is set as private but I still found this invasive.

I recommend that all bloggers that are hosted on blogspot should make sure they have the share buttons activated on their posts, so they can be shared on G+. Read here to find out how to active Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Gmail buttons on your blog posts.

Predictions for True Blood Season 4 Finale spoilers

2011-09-06T12:44:00.003+10:00

After a crappy season 2 and 3, season 4 has come back with a vengeance, pun intended. So now we are left with the last episode, these are my predictions/wishes:

Tara finds out she is also a medium and has to allow Antonia to possess her so she can save Lafayette from Marnie.

Andy fathers a fairy child like Sookie

Jason and Jessica get it on

Alcide has to choose between Debbie and Sookie when Debbie goes insane on V and tries to kill Sookie

Sookie choose Bill over Eric

Pam dies

Pammy's Soap - Luxsoap

2011-09-05T09:18:00.009+10:00

I just wanted to give a shout out to my friend Pamela who sells hand made, cold pressed soap. After using Lush for about a year I decided to try her soap out and it is divine. Even with postage from the US it is still cheaper than buying from Lush. If you want beautifully, hand made soaps visit: http://www.etsy.com/people/luxsoap

Currently I am waiting on an order that contains:
Orange charcoal detox, fresh peach, orange spice, vanilla lavender and blood orange and ginger soaps. I'm just down to the end of my last bar so I hope they arrive soon!

I am looking into making some of my own soaps and Pammy has even been kind enough to give me some advice.

Look what was there when I arrived home today! Think I might have to take my evening shower a bit early.

A Little Blythey Spending Spree

2011-08-29T20:58:00.007+10:00

In the past two weeks, I have bought not 1.. not 2.. not 3 but 4 Blythe dolls! Am I mental? All of them were good prices but this is insanity. I have got to put a ban on buying anything for awhile. I guess right now I have all my money going into savings and it's boring. I saved up money to try and buy a Kenner but after being outbid 3 times in a row, past my limit, I have given up for now. All the dolls that go for a reasonable price seem to be US only. Very frustrating. A lovely friend has offered to bid and buy a doll for me but it's a bit of messing around I guess.

Two of my dolls have arrived and are ready to be picked up from the post office tomorrow, which my lovely boyfriend is going to do for me as I am STILL SICK. So which lucky gals are coming to join my family, making it 14?

Cousin Olivia with full stock
I am just inlove with this doll, I love her bright blush and yellow hair, her stock is to die for.

Enchanted Petal with full stock
She is necessary for my green hair Blythe collection. I have heard that her hair is attrocious so I am curious how it will be. She might stay in the box until I get bored of all my other new girls.

Kiss Me True naked in box
I have wanted a silver haired Blythe for awhile now and KMT came up for sale from a friend in Perth. I love her bitchy facial expression.

Can Can Cat's head heavily modified
This is a purchase for a friend. I have a licca body for her but somehow I think I'd rather her be on a takara body so if anyone has a spare, let me know! I will re-paint her lips in a paler pink, remove the lid shadow and maybe change her eye chips. Her hair has been cut but I think it still looks nice. I will be her 4th owner, and when I send her on to my friend, she will be the 5th! She was overboggled by a previous owner.

So I don't have much of my Kenner fund left anymore, but for even half the money I was spending on a Kenner I have 4 new girls. They're just not the same though....

Sexual Tension in the Brady Home

2011-08-27T09:34:00.005+10:00

I was very excited when I turned on the tv this morning, still bleary eyed, to see that the Brady Bunch was on. The episode was "Out of this World" in which Bobby and Peter think they see and photograph a UFO. Meanwhile, it is actually Greg playing a trick on them using a plastic sheet and a red torch. My boyfriend was angry that I had put on the Brady Bunch so early in the morning, but being forced to watch it he gave in and during one scene he exclaimed "Did he just touch his sisters arse!?".

After reading Maureen McCormick's book; Here's the Story, I was curious about the scenes showing sexual tension between her and the older brother Greg that she mentions in her book. In this scene, Greg is using a torch out the window to create the effect of a UFO to scare Peter and Bobby. Marcia comes in to loan him a flask and asks to have a turn with the torch. While Greg is showing her how to do it, it appears that he accidentally puts his hand on Marcia and slides it down her body, then realises what he's doing and tries to cover it up by moving his hand away. This looks a like a bit more than "brotherly love" to me.

Here we have the scene in .gif form, just incase you wanted to see it, over and over again:

Here is the entire episode, I apologise that you have to click 2 ads before it plays but I couldn't find it uploaded anywhere else.

The Brady Bunch - Out of this World

Telling Everybody? Really?

2011-08-23T14:54:00.005+10:00

I just have to say, this song has always irked me and today I am sick, and agitated and it is stuck in my head. The lyrics of the song, suggest that this guy has finally fucked his girlfriend for the first time, and now he's blatantly "telling everybody". It appears this is meant to be a fun, romantic song. Why was this even considered to be a lyrical idea? I just.. can't.

Ain't no doubt about it
Girl you drive me wild
Seems you're wasting over
My punishment befits your crime
I can't stop thinkin' about it
The thing you've done to me
Baby you know you've got it
You bring a man right to his knees

I never been an angel
But you can show me how
I wanna be your baby
Na-na-na-na-now

So I'm tellin' everybody
Tellin' everybody what we did last night
Tellin' everybody
I never had a girl who felt so right
Tellin' everybody
Tellin' everybody what we did last night
Tellin' everybody
You're the reason why I had a good time

*thinks happy Blythin' thoughts*

Dear Lionhead Studios - Fable 3: An Endless Tale of Glitches and a Lack of Testing

2011-08-23T13:55:00.005+10:00

Dear Lionhead Studios,

I am writing to you to express my disappointment with Fable 3 and the serious glitches contained within the game. I know a lot of people were upset at the shortness of the game and the lack of great storylines when they excitedly played through Fable 3 after a year of waiting, in one day, but for me this wasn't a big issue.

My main issue is the lack of thorough testing of the game and it's subsequent downloadable content. Are you aware that there are hundreds of people that have had their save games ruined after they paid money to download the Traitors Keep quest? Are you aware that the same has happened with the Underground quest? Do you care that people who have paid close to $120 AU for a brand new game, were faced with endless and countless errors, leaving parts of the game unplayable? I then paid another $15 to download the extras, before I had realised that they were in fact going to break my save game.

Hundreds of hours of gaming were wasted, which many would say in itself is a waste of time, but as far as I gather, it pays your wages and staff, being a game development company. A complete lack of consideration from your company has left many people with unfinishable games, unable to obtain the achievements or just purely having to start over. We don't like this, we take this seriously. A lot of us have nothing better to do than immerse ourselves in a false world, where we can become a powerful ruler, with minions and swords, because our own lives are for whatever reason, require an escape. Some people get drunk on the weekend, some people take drugs, others have endless, meaningless sex, I like to play console games.

I am aware that to patch a game, you would need to start over, have you considered at least making this available so that when people do inevitably have to start again due to a glitch they can at least play with a clean and tested version?

I absolutely adored Fable 2 (and 3 even with the glitches) however I did experienced similar, game ending errors that required me to start over from scratch when particular quests were ruined. It annoyed me a lot less as I knew the new, bigger, better, more awesome Fable 3 was on the way and I figured that you'd have sorted out your testing issues after some of the disasters encountered in Fable 2. Clearly I was mistaken.

There are always going to be complainers. I myself being an advocate for a database at work that everybody hates with a passion realise this, however I believe my complaints are in fact justified. You know there are big issues with a product you have released, but as far as I can tell, have done absolutely nothing about it. Maybe you are working on your next big project but perhaps people will be less supportive after experiencing such a high level of angst with this one, having paid hard earned $$$ for it.

If you require any specific examples of any of the errors I am referring to, please check the countless threads on your forum in which desperate gamers cries for help are falling upon your seemingly deaf ears.

Perhaps you should consider adding multiple game saves if you do ever release a patch for this game, so that we can at least save two games concurrently without having to dodgy it up using a USB stick. I will certainly not be rushing out to buy your next release, I might go slowly, after months of built up resentment, built up to extreme levels have subsided and the urge to play, outweights my bitterness.

Yours Sincerely
Katie (tag: noituudenaika)
222am

P.S Bring back Ronald the Shadow Worshipper, he was a pretty good shag and had a great sense of humour.

Blythe Scammers Part 2 - an ongoing investigation

2011-08-19T09:10:00.011+10:00

Blythe Scammers Part 1 - an ongoing investigation

The first website I visited in my quest to find the source of the fake Blythe dolls was alibaba.com.
Alibaba.com is a website that allows you to contact distributors and manufacturers directly to buy or have products created. You generally have to buy items in bulk but they are meant to be a lot cheaper. This website has a bit of a bad reputation due to dodgy Chinese sellers running scams and ripping people off so I thought it was a perfect place to start.

I searched for Blythe and found a lot of dolls for sale that was obvious fakes, they weren't even pretending to sell actual Blythe dolls, just dolls with giant heads and changable eyes like this one.

I then noticed quite a few sellers that had pictures of dolls that looked very similar to Takara Blythe dolls, with the offer to have them customised to your liking. It is most likely that the photos they are using were stolen from another website or even flickr and that the dolls they actually produce look nothing like this. Either way they are still obvious fakes.

Then when I delved further, I found quite a few sellers using official Blythe images (usually the marketing photos) of quite a few official Blythe dolls so thinking I may be on the trail of some fakes, I messaged a few of the sellers. There are a couple of things that raised alarm bells in my mind, one being that they preferred you to email them directly and the other being that they only accept payment by western union and not credit card. These two things should make anyone buying from any website suspicious. If they remove the correspondence from the site and have it take place in private emails, they can't be properly investigated by the site if complaints are made. If they won't accept credit cards, you can't claim back the money if they rip you off. Here is my email exchange with one seller that had (and still has) official Takara Blythe images on her webshop, marketed as "Takaratomy Blythe Dolls". They have a picture of an attractive lady as their "shop owner" which is also probably stolen from somewhere else.

I emailed asking whether they sold official Blythe dolls in their packaging and whether they could send me any photos of the actual stock. I was hoping to check the boxes to see if they matched the ones posted on Fake Takara Blythe Galore and they responded with this:

"Dear Sir ,

Thanks for your email and interested in our Blythe doll . Sorry ,the blythe dolls with packing are sold out. And now we just have naked blythe doll . Please kindly find the picture of blythe doll as attached file for your ref. The doll of picture No.01---06 is the new style ,the price is USD 50/pcs. The others is USD 45/pcs . By the way , the MOQ of doll is 10 pcs.

Waiting for your reply. Best regards Kary"

MOQ = Minimum order quantity, so for $45 US each, I could buy 10 dolls. She sent me an attachment containing a whole bunch of images of dolls that are clearly not actual Blythe dolls. Some of the are quite cute.

I responded with:

"Hi there, This is clearly not the official Blythe doll you have pictured on the website, will you have any official ones for sale? I do like the pink haired doll even if not a real Blythe. Do you have this one still? Thanks "

She responded with:

"Dear Sir, Have a nice day! Sorry ,we have not official Blythe doll . We just have Blythe doll for sell . By the way ,the picture No.03 is pink hair. Please find the picture as attached file . Is it OK? Thanks Kary"

I never responded to her again as the trail had run cold... and I was starting to find being called Sir offensive.

These are the sellers that currently have official Blythe dolls for sale, whether they actually have them, they are selling fakes that look real, they only sell fakes as they've "sold out" or they are just trying to steal money is yet to be discovered.

Doll5
G & Toys
GD Gift & Toys

Stay tuned to read my exciting exchange with Mr Lee next time.

Doll storage - Follow Up

2011-08-13T20:37:00.004+10:00

Following on from this post: Doll Storage - Preservation vs Display

My father ended up setting up the shelves for me while I was at work which was nice, he even took out one of the middle pieces for me so I could put up the Deluxe Dream Barbie kitchen. It really needs a backing board I think, also it looks really bare right now.

I am waiting to find out if I have won a Kenner in an auction, I will find out tomorrow.

Rainbow Re-root Update

2011-08-13T19:15:00.005+10:00

I've basically finished my rainbow re-root, which was done using red, yellow, orange, green, blue, violet and pink saran hair purchased from My Little Customs and Restore Doll. I also bought some long needles from My Little Customs which helped IMMENSELY with the process. Using a long, sharp needle, I pretty much did all of the hair you see in the pics below in one day when it was quiet and rainy, planted next to the fire place.

I used a cool cat scalp so there were no holes, I might go back and do some more lines of hair as I think I did them a bit far apart, I also haven't finished the last, really close together layer around the very edge but I got impatient and wanted to take pics anyway.

Introducing Astra, she's a very strange hybrid girl, from a far away galaxy. I think she may have studied human behaviour using pop culture before she arrived, just like Kim Basinger in My Step Mother is an Alien.

Ummm..

Canberra Craft & Quilt Fair 2011

2011-08-13T17:32:00.004+10:00

Today was the annual Craft and Quilt Fair in Canberra: http://www.craftfair.com.au/
I went along to see what the fuss was all about, and took along my sister and my niece. Pushing the pram all the way from a distant dirt carpark wasn't a great start to the fair but we got there in the end.

I searched for tiny buttons but didn't find any, I did however get a few fat quarters and some small pom pom trim. Mostly I was looking for browns and pinks. Here are the pieces of fabric I got. I loveee the red and black spots.

Not sure what to make with these, maybe a bunch of party and empire dresses. I completely forgot to look for satin. I have to say I wasn't impressed that it cost $14 to get in and it wasn't easy to get through the crowds to actually see the stuff for sale.

Blythe Wishlist August 2011

2011-08-12T09:31:00.005+10:00

I am somewhat obsessed with Takara shoes and stock right now. Recently I got Phoebe Maybe's stock dress and Miss Sally Rice's full outfit and I love them. Looking through other people's Blythe shoe collections on Flickr is relaxing, maybe I am crazy but check out my favourite collections:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelikescherries/4357955082/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelikescherries/4357280917/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drblythenstein/3100858210/

My wishlist:
Enchanted Petal boots FOUND (I bought the whole doll!)

Dainty Biscuit boots

Foot Fab Groovy - pink and brown boots

Foot Fab Snazzy - pink and black boots

Shoe Cruise Day set

(Edit I got the blue version of these pink boots!)
Phoebe Maybe shoes, socks and shirt *found*

Cousin Olivia stock clothing FOUND (I bought the whole doll)

Can Can cat dress and ears

Re-ment rainy day boots and or umbrella FOUND through Rinkyu.

Re-ment frog boots

Travel Tips: Netherlands

2011-08-08T14:00:00.008+10:00

I find the Netherlands to be one of the most remarkably easy countries to travel in. As the television shows are not dubbed into Dutch, you'd be hard pressed to meet anybody in the country that doesn't speak fluently or understand English.

The Netherlands has a fantastic train service connecting the entire country. You can check timetables and buy tickets online in advance using this website:
http://www.ns.nl

Useful words:

Van: From	Naar: To
Datum: Date	Tijd: Time
Vertrek: Departure	Aankomst: Arrival
Reis: Travel	Prijs: Price
Spoor: Platform	Richting: Direction

- In summer they have a special deal, where you can get first class train tickets for close to the same price as regular ones, sometimes even cheaper.

- You cannot buy a train ticket at many of the smaller stations using cash/and or a credit card, you MUST use a Dutch bank card so I advise you to always get a return ticket or purchase your next ticket from a main train station if you can.

- The airport in Amsterdam is called Schipol and the train station is right at the airport. If you want to go into the city you need to go to Centraal.

- You can catch the train from Schipol to Centraal for around 3 EU, as opposed to paying 15EU each for the "hotel taxi".

- Centraal is still quite far away from the main shopping/tourist areas.

- Amsterdam is not the be all and end all of visiting the Netherlands, if you want to see how the Dutch live, go and stay in some smaller towns and villages. I recommend Maastricht in the South and Leeuwarden or Groningen in the North.

- Bring ear plugs if staying in Amsterdam near the tourist areas, it is very noisy at night with people yelling, music, trams.

I am sure I will think of more things but that's all for now.

Blythe Scammers Part 1 - an ongoing investigation

2011-07-25T11:42:00.007+10:00

I'm naturally a curious person, especially when it comes to the internet. I can spend hours and hours buried deep in a web of links if I am interested in something. Fake Blythe dolls are a bit of a controversial issue in the Blythe community. Some people believe they are just bad factory jobs, some believe they are fake. Takara has not released an official statement about the issue with Hasbro claiming they would investigate "quality control issues". Several dolls that I believe to be fake were sold mainly through Ebay. For pictures and information about these dolls see this group: Fake Takara Blythe Galore.

Pics below from Fake Takara Blythe Galore on flickr.

I wouldn't mind some fake Blythes, if they were advertised as being fakes. I would still customise them and photograph them. I do mind that people are selling these inferior dolls, made from poor quality materials, at the same price you would pay for an official doll. Everything from the hair, body texture, face shape, clothing, shoes and boxes are poor quality.

These are shoes from a fake Takara Simply Guava, I feel angry for the lady that bought this doll at the same price as a real one.

Wrong scalp colouring

Pink eye chips that are odd

More links to fake Blythes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drblythenstein/5291057997/
I have become quite determined to find the source of these strange fakes and have found some interesting rip off artists, scammers and fakers along the way. I have not yet located the source but I think the information I have found is worth posting.

To be continued.....

Doll Storage - Preservation vs Display

2011-07-24T19:30:00.002+10:00

Working in an archive, I have a bit of experience handling archival/museum objects and materials. I am somewhat torn between wanting to store dolls correctly, and wanting to display them. I think there is no point in having them if you can't see them and admire them, but now that I am actually trying to buy some Kenners, I feel like they should be stored out of sunlight, flat with the correct box to support them etc.

Yesterday I went shopping for a shelf to put my dolls on when I moved into my own place (yet to be found but I like to plan head), and after looking at big glass doored cabinets I decided on a much cheaper bookshelf from Office Works. I figure if I really want one of those antique cabinets I can get one later and just use this to store books. The one I got is twice as wide and in chocolate brown. I won't bother setting it up until I move house.

I spoke with the curator of one of Canberra's local historic houses, Calthorpe's House on a class excursion. She said she also struggled with "display vs conserve" but as the house is meant to look exactly as it did in 1927, they tend to display things. So the wardrobe in the bedroom contains their lovely gowns, all hanging up, when proper storage guidelines would dictate that it should be laid flat. They left one room untreated, the maids room and the paint is peeling from the walls. The rest is restored, and looks like it would have when it was new.

It is comparable to the struggle I've noticed at my own work too, as I work in the section that provides access to the collection, there is often tension between the access and preservation areas. Do we spend all our money on preserving the stuff and have none left to make it accessible or do we make it accessible so people can actually see the stuff we have fully preserved? There are a lot of very talented people at work, working on preserving this material and I often think they feel like they are not appreciated. Ahh it breaks my brain. I personally can't see the point in preserving if no one can access but I am biased because I have to argue this point on the behalf of pushing clients. I'd love it if we just had enough money to do everything.

Follow up: Doll Storage - Follow Up

Blything in Europe

2011-07-22T09:49:00.005+10:00

It was extremely difficult deciding which Blythe to bring with me overseas but in the end I decided on Prima Dolly Cassis aka Samantha. Mainly because she is my mini-me and I had imagined some amazing pics of her a top castles and in front of old buildings. At the last minute I decided I need to bring another Blythe in what I call a "Blythe panic" and brought Freya my Simply Vanilla too. Before going away I actually made new outfits for both of the dolls, and one for my friend Kim, a Blyther that I stayed with in Arnhem, NL.

Here is Samantha waiting at the airport with her luggage, loaned to me by Tara for the trip. Our flights were delayed by the Chilean volcanic ash cloud, which just happened to pass over Sydney the day we were leaving. We then missed our connection in Singapore and had to go to Frankfurt on another flight, then fly to Amsterdam.

Finally we arrived in Amsterdam, here is Freya in her travel dress, on the roof of our hotel.

Here is Kim's Guava wearing a very bright little number that I made specially for her. Her orange walls are amazing for Blythe pics.

It was 35 degrees in Aachen, but we still went for a walk. This jumpsuit was made using a Dolly Coordinates pattern. At first I thought it might be Blythe cruelty but now I want to make more.

By the river in Köln wearing Ohsewpretty

This dress was my first attempt at a pattern from a Dolly Coordinate book, it turned out very well except now the satin is starting to fray a bit after having been shoved in my bag. I had the girls packed in their own little suitcase with their clothes but it still got a bit squashed. I plan to make more of these, blue and red.

This is in Bamberg, the site of one of the worst witch hunts in history. I was a little concerned that there was no mention of this anywhere. No memorial, nothing. The trial resulted in the deaths of between 300-600 people, one of the biggest peace time executions ever.

These photos were taken in a forest outside Chateau Hostačov in the Czech Republic. If you are ever visiting Czech I highly recommend it, and booking.com too.

Simply Peppermint is mine, and other assorted spending sprees.

2011-07-22T09:46:00.001+10:00

Ever since I bought my first Blythe, which was Simply Lilac, I have wanted a Simply Peppermint. I tossed up between Peppermint and Lilac before buying Sireena on Ebay. I am pleased to announce that I have just bought Peppermint from We Play With Dolls for what I consider a very reasonable price. She might even arrive today.

I am also selling a Cassiopeia Spice scalp, having replaced Miranda's hair with a Doronjo scalp I got on a factory girl. The bright yellow hair is amazing and I've never really bonded with CS.

$40 AU (plus postage)

After having just been on an overseas trip for a month I had so much Blything to catch up on, I went on a bit of a spending spree on Wednesday night. I bought Phoebe Maybe's stock dress, a new Chuthings outfit, 6 pairs of tights, more shoes. I am also waiting on the cherry boots from the Takara Knees and Toes Sweet shoe set.

I also went and bought new underwear and bras for myself, got a text book for Uni (which sucks because I am deferring for now) and signed up to start Dutch lessons in August. I've got the money saved up now to buy my first Kenner but I feel a bit guilty, knowing that I need some extensive dental work done.

Next up, an update on my rainbow re-root.

What would Tony Soprano do?

2011-06-10T12:02:00.005+10:00

After spending every moment of my spare time over the last two weeks, re-watching the Sopranos, my personal calming mantra has become "What Would Tony Soprano do?".

My previous mantra being "What would Sarah Connor do?" had some obvious failings. What would Sarah do? She'd be in the position to potentially save the world from a machine led apocalypse, but being a female character written by males, she'd break down and cry before shooting Miles Dyson in the head. Everything up until that scene impressed me, well mainly just her outfit and the guns, but this moment of weakness ruined what had previously been built up. Why would someone that has spent years of her life, training her son to fight against the machines, relinquishing her own opportunity to live a normal life, suddenly give up at such a crucial moment.

I've had a really stressful week, from work stress, to a trip to the ER with my partner, to my car being broken into and final assessment at school etc etc. After watching so many episodes of the Sopranos, the show has filtered into my thoughts, randomly popping up through out the day. At some point this week, I started envisioning, what I would do in particularly frustrating situations, if I were Tony Soprano. Let's face it, Tony wouldn't have to deal with the situations I do, but that is beside the point. As a quiet calm fell over my mind and body, I pondered whether or not I was some kind of psycho for the scenes playing out in my mind were not for the faint hearted. While not quite as amusing as my "What would Bill Hicks say?" fantasies, if the mantra method works, I am going to continue to use it.

Now you beckon, What exactly do you think Tony Soprano would do? He'd threaten you, but failing that he'd beat you, kill you or organise for someone else to. Then he'd fuck your wife, better than you ever have, before heading off to eat some particularly tasty and decadent looking meal in a classy restaurant, without having to pay a cent. He'd go home to his luxurious mansion, to sit on his soft leather reclining couch and play some nintendo on his giant television, whilst being served small snacks by his wife, that is an amazing cook. He'd do all this, feeling content that he is perfectly righteous in his actions, and is contributing to the greater good of the family.

I'll see you all in the mental ward xoxox.

Godaddy: Domain Issues Won't Work With WWW

2011-05-23T14:31:00.005+10:00

I've been helping a friend move her blog from blogger to her own hosting of Wordpress. She is hosted with Godaddy and has her domain registered through them too. She did an automatic install of Wordpress but it didn't seem to work. I removed it and re-installed it manually, it still didn't work. After resetting the nameservers to make sure they were correct, then waiting the required 48 hours for Godaddy to propagate the new nameservers I tried logging in to the FTP using www.herdomain.com and it didn't work. Only 2 days later I tried to log in with herdomain.com and it worked. So it looked like her domain was working if you did not include the www. in front of the address. I had never experienced this before as I use Dreamhost hosting and it allows you to select whether you want this to occur when you add the domain to your hosting.

After a lot of fiddling I worked out that I needed to add a CNAME record that would direct www.herdomain.com to herdomain.com. This is how you do it:

Log in to Godaddy
Click on Domains at the top then Domain Manager
Click on the domain you wish to edit
Under DNS manager click Launch
You should now be in Zone File Editor
Under CNAME Alias click the add button
For Host type: www
For Points to type: @
Click save at the top right of the screen

It should look like this. I hope this blog helps someone out there with the same problem as there was no help available through Godaddy help pages.

The Secret Life of an American Teenager - or not?

2011-05-17T16:10:00.001+10:00

I started watching this show a couple of weeks ago with high hopes after reading that it was created by Brenda Hampton, the creator of 7th Heaven and writer for classics such as Fat Actress and Blossum.

What I didn't expect was that it would be yet another vehicle for Brenda to spread her twisted Christian ideals. It is almost as though she is obsessed with teenage sex and christians. Did she get pregnant as a teen and have to adopt out the babies or something? I read that Brenda has 3 adopted children. Maybe she did and is worried she is going to hell and must spread the word? Maybe she wants to warn others about mistakes she made in the past, so they don't repeat them? I don't know. Anyway I shouldn't be so harsh, maybe she can't have babies at all. Honestly, I think I must have severe mental problems for being able to sit through an entire series of this show. Perhaps made worse by doing so.

The whole premise of the show is based upon a 15 year old band geek called Amy Juergens that has unprotected sex with the school lothario, Ricky at band camp, and gets pregnant. Amy tells her friends Madison and Lauren (for a nude pic of Madison see my Broken Angels entry) and they convince her to tell her parents eventually. OH shit, holy shit, I forgot to mention that MOLLY RINGWALD plays Amy's mother, Ann Juergens.

Her parents go through a divorce after the boring and generally annoying father, is busted having an affair with the school tarts mother. Another lesson from Brenda? Behave like a whore and your children will too? Adrien is the stereotype hot Latina whore of the school, she spends most of her time having sex with Ricky or pouting in the corridor beside some lockers. Come to think of it, they were pretty cheap on the sets with this show. You never see them in class as far as I can remember. School consists of the outdoor area, the counsellor's office and the locker room.

Her jail-bait sister Ashley is the most likeable character in the show. She's cute, sassy and sarcastic, yet provides the best advice when it's really needed. You may have to put up with being sassed but she will help you out, even putting herself out completely to do so. She did try to get a job so she could contribute money to raising Amy's baby. How sweet!

Then you are introduced to Ben, a desperate 15 year old, whose father owns a sausage factory (I shit you not) that decides he needs to have sex or he will be the biggest loser in 10th grade. Upon spotting Amy in the corridor, he decides that she seems like she'd be desperate enough to fuck him and he "falls in love". He then goes to the school counsellor and tells him that he wants to join the band so he can try to sleep with Amy, so what does the counsellor do? Changes his classes so he can pursue Amy in the band of course! What a cool guy.

There is this entire sub plot which involves a Christian virgin, who is ironically the hottest cheerleader in school. She is the ship on which the Christian propaganda sails into the show. We know there had to be one but it's so obvious. I guess it isn't a bad thing to teach teenagers that you can be cool and popular, without having sex in highschool. Back to Amy and Ben, eventually Amy agrees to go out with Ben and they fall in love.

He finds out about her pregnancy and they decide to get married and raise the baby. Only it isn't legal because they're all using fake ID. Amy seems to think that this will solve everything, I guess I am giving too much credit to a 16 year old girl. She is quite selfish and whinges a lot about her predicament. Also I hate the way she says "this baby" and "my baby" all the time while clutching her stomach. I'm sounding as whiny as Amy Juergens right now but I suffered through all 22 hours of this show, so fuck off. I managed to get to the end of the first season but this is where I kind of lost interest.

The plot became so ridiculously predictable and daytime televisionesque that I just couldn't keep going. I may get bored enough to start on the second season if I run out of 90210 and video games. I almost feel as though I must finish the show now after watching 22 episodes. It's like we are family now. Familia and all that.

This show had so much potential but I feel that really amateurish story lines ruined it. Just like many episodes of 7th Heaven. I had high hopes for this show, but it didn't deliver. Maybe season 2 will yield more believable storylines and relationships between the characters. I could forgive the crappy acting if the story was great but it isn't. The actors are young (except for Molly Ringwald) so I don't expect them to be amazing but I don't think having to play out such stereotypes really helped their careers at all

Here's a list of the stereotypes I can think of off the top of my head:

- Slutty Latina women

- Holier than thou Christian virgin

- Sexy lothario

- Highschool jock

- Band geek

- Rich Jewish business man

- Sleazy furniture sales man

- Bored housewife

- Black family that gained success after escaping the ghetto

- Neurotic red head

I'd have warned you about spoilers, if I thought this show was even worth watching to the end but it isn't.

More things I am waiting for:

2011-05-17T12:21:00.007+10:00

I have to make these posts, or else I lose track of the things I have ordered.

A gorgeous mint green House of Pinku dress.

*arrived* I will take pics on the weekend.

I bought this pretty crochet Ohsewpretty dress from a friend, I just have to go pick it up.

*picked up* Will be taking photos of this beauty on the weekend.

6 hanks of Saran hair from http://www.mylittlecustoms.com
Ordered today! I am going to do a rainbow re-root.

Intox-c-cation Vitamin C Serum from http://www.ulittlebeauty.com.au
This is the new version of the vitamin C serum I have used for years, I hope it is as good as the old one. It has licorice in it which seems like it would be quite drying.
*arrived* My skin has improved already in 3 days. I can't wait to review this for my beauty blog.

Luxsoaps haven't arrived yet but I am sure this is because they are being held in customs!
*arrived* They are divine and Pammy sent me a free lipbalm. Thank you!

A couple of doll paints and some hair from http://www.restoredoll.com

The Soap Maker's Companion from Fishpond.com.au REALLY SLOW GUYS! You buy from an Aussie website to get things quickly.

I strangely got an email from Fishpond updating me of the expected delivery of this book, which is next week.

These tights still haven't arrived from an Ebay seller in the UK. *arrived* BUT they sent the wrong size, as many people had complained about on their feedback. I left positive anyway cause they left bad feedback for anyone leaving it for them, even if it was valid.

I was never in the band Pagan Heritage - Katie Saarikko

2011-05-11T22:16:00.004+10:00

Something that irks me is when people, especially clients from work google my name. A couple have told me about it before and the reason it irks me is that I come up on a million websites as having been in the band Pagan Heritage. This band was my ex boyfriends band, when I lived with him he was trying to record his first demo. We only had a right handed bass guitar and he was left handed so I played the bass on one song for him. I didn't write, or even like any of the songs, I had nothing to do with this band other than being the "hands" for a bass guitar that happened to be the wrong set up. He played left handed on the right handed bass on the rest of the songs. Some websites even list me as having done session drums, this is insanity. We jammed once in a rehearsal room in Groningen and I may have played the drums then just for fun, and for him to get the structure of the songs sorted.

He put my name on the demo for this one song, I vaguely remember him asking me about it and I just said whatever is fine. So I clearly didn't think through the fact that in the future this would be all over the internet, taken as gospel. Ever since, every single website about my own band lists me as having been in Pagan Heritage. I am sure he isn't pleased with it either, having your ex girlfriend's name show up constantly on your band website. Even the biographies mention that I relocated to Groningen, maybe someone could ask me about my bio instead of just recycling this shit. I mean no disrespect but I neither like nor support this band and do not wish to be associated with it in any way, however this is not to be. A mistake from the past that will continue to haunt me for ever. Maybe this blogpost will show up on google instead of a bunch of misinformed links, though this stuff is never going to go away. Screw you internet!

If you want to hear my own music visit these links:
http://www.myspace.com/lastlastexitexit
http://www.myspace.com/hellmaryhails

At the moment I have no time nor interest in creating any music and haven't had the creative energy to do it for a long time. I am too much of a depressive person, stuck in a constant cycle of moving home and struggling to work to keep my head above water. When I get home from work, I literally just have to lie here to deal with the fact that I feel so drained of energy from working in an office environment (even though the people are great). I feel creative in tiny spurts but when I get into the logistics of recording, my computer is always malfunctioning or some other problem. This and my health problems make it close to impossible to do anything for a long time.

I've decided not to continue the band Hell Mary at all and that if I do decide to do anything, it will be acoustic. More in the style of neo folk which is something I have been interested in creating for a few years which is where Last Exit was born. Or I'd like to do vocals for a band in which I don't have to write all the music. It will be hard to find anyone interested in this kind of project in my city but if you are interested please contact me.
Now for the love of Inanna, please let this link show up first on Google.

Photographing Blythe in Public

2011-05-10T13:25:00.005+10:00

A large number of my photographs of Blythe are actually taken in public. I don't have a very nice yard, and find the lighting in my house inadequate for a good photograph. Sometimes it can be quite daunting to take your Blythe out of your bag to snap a shot, especially when there are a lot of people around. In my head I am usually freaking out, wondering whether they think I am crazy. It is also a lot more difficult when by yourself.

I took this photo outside the Queen Victoria Building when travelling in Sydney for work, and I have to say I did feel very self conscious. It is not really rational though as so many people are just walking past, quickly on their way somewhere. No one really paid attention to me.

I usually only take photos when I am with someone as often I like to place my doll in a setting, instead of just holding her in front of the scene. I also like to have props and clothes available, so I bring a little bag. A brush is usually handy too, and some kitchen forks for standing Blythes up on their own. My deluxe kitchen chairs are also pretty useful for photography, and the colours often match my doll's clothing. Since I have bought a tripod I think that my photographs have improved greatly. It also helps to take away those "public omg am I crazy" nerves that I seem to get. If you have a tripod, you must be doing something important! The stability that the tripod offers, used with the macro lens produces much clearer photographs. My skills when it comes to photography are very limited, being a beginner, but this alone has improved my shots. My first photos were often quite blurry which I was not happy with and I've deleted most of them from my Flickr.

Trying to find a spot that is not in full sunlight can be difficult when you live in Australia. My favourite photos I have taken in public tend to be the ones I have taken in forests or other shaded areas. You don't get the glare and over contrasting that you do when the sun is blaring down on your lovely shiny doll face.

There is also the issue of security, when I have a few things with me I worry that while I am turned to take a photo, someone will nick off with my stuff. I tend to get very involved when taking photos so if I leave my hangbag on the ground behind me it would be very easy to steal it. This is another good reason to bring a long a sympathetic friend (my boyfriend usually helps me out). They can keep an eye on your things, while you get into the nitty gritty creative stuff or even assist you by blocking the sun with their body.

The other day I took two dolls to the pub and snapped a few shots. Some curious pub goers had a bit of a look while I was doing it but no one said anything or even gave me any strange looks. I guess it was a pub that more creative people tend to visit so they probably thought nothing of it.

I've created a group on Flickr called Public Blything, as I just love seeing photographs of Blythe taken in public. I am hoping this will not only inspire me, but other people to take their girls out with them and snap away. We play with dolls and we're not afraid to get them out of our bags!

Public Blything (My group - any photograph taken of Blythe in public)
Sightseeing Blythe (Blythe sightseeing in recognisable, famous locations)
Dolls out of Doors (Photos of any doll, out doors)

Canon Powershot - Battery Issue Fix

2011-05-10T11:09:00.005+10:00

For a long time I have been using my boyfriend's Canon Powershot camera to take my photos. A couple of weeks ago we noticed that it was telling us the battery was flat, even after we had just put new ones in. We tried repeatedly to get it working but it would flash up the flat battery image and then turn itself off. We assumed the camera was broken and decided to buy a new one. Devastated that I could not take any photographs of Blythe I went out to JB Hifi and bought myself a Canon Powershot SX120 which was on sale for $140.

After 2 weeks I was experiencing the same battery issue, so I took it back to the shop and they gave me a new one, the same thing happened again. After Googling I read articles where people mentioned having to put a piece of match stick under the battery component in their camera to help push the battery up. Other people fixed the problem apparently by downloading new firmware to their camera. I wanted to make this post just in case anyone has the same problem. All you need to do to make your camera work properly is buy a slightly longer battery.

If you check, AA batteries actually differ in length by sometimes up to a millimeter. I found that the Eveready lithium batteries were the longest, and after putting these into my camera, it worked fine again. I am still using the same batteries and they have not run out yet. It may be a nuisance to have to buy these all the time but maybe you can find some longer, rechargeable batteries.

So don't go sticking match sticks into your camera, or screwing around with the firm ware when all you need to do is buy a longer battery. Or perhaps Canon can just address the issue and make sure their cameras can take shorter batteries.

Basic Blythe Crochet

2011-05-04T21:46:00.004+10:00

I'm pretty pleased that I was able to create these Blythe hats after reading a beginners crochet book for $5 the other day. I'd love to be able to make dresses but will make a lot more hats before I attempt anything more complicated.

Custom Dress Order - Update

2011-05-03T12:45:00.004+10:00

One good thing about being unwell at home in bed, is that you are home when the postman arrives. I was so excited today when Dad brought in 3 packages. One was the David Thorne book The Internet is a Playground. I will start reading that today. One was a package of shoes that I ordered from the US and the other was my custom dress order from Leshan. I couldn't be happier with them, they are beautiful and exactly as I expected.

Samantha was quite taken with her new dress and shoes too. I think it is time to crack open the Lush products I got for my birthday.

How to Make Your Wife or Husband Move In - Sims 3 Xbox

2011-05-02T17:56:00.007+10:00

I've been bed ridden for a couple of days, so of course this means, Xbox time! I've been playing Sims3, which I got for my birthday and came across a little "bug" that I managed to work out how to get past.

After you marry your husband/wife, sometimes they don't move into your house. I noticed a lot of people posting online "why won't my wife move into my house"? I managed to get my husband to move into my house by doing the following:
Invite him over

- Use all of the friendly options on him
- After repeating this a few times " Invite to Move In" should appear under the "Friendly" list
- Invite your husband to move in and voila, he will move in and hopefully bring some simoleans in!

I tried to google a picture of a Sims 3 wedding on the Xbox and these were the only pics I found.

Looks like more than one person was amused that you could now marry as a gay couple in Sims 3!

Things I am currently waiting for:

2011-04-29T09:57:00.013+10:00

3 different pairs of wet look tights, 2 gold (different shades) and one black. 2 from the UK and one from the US. After reading the feedback on one seller I was a bit worried. A few people said they'd received the wrong colour/size and it was very slow with bad communication. I wish I'd read it before purchasing but it was a late night impulse buy. If they are any good I will probably buy more.

*received the ones on the left, the ones on the right are still not here*

3 bottles of 3 Minute Aussie Miracle are still in the post from the UK. Paid for on the 18/04/11. The weirdest thing about this product is that you cannot buy it in Australia! Procter and Gamble won't stock it here. I guess they had some kind of trouble with the name in Australia perhaps. Anyway I am desperate to try it, my hair is brittle and awful and it gets rave reviews.

*received and used, will write about it on my other blog*

The Internet is a Playground by David Thorne *arrived*
You know the guy that tried to pay a bill with a drawing of a spider? Well he's written a book and I am sure it will be fabulous. It is on sale in stores today I believe so my order should be shipped soon.

*received, hilarious*

Vintage clocks from Ebay in various working order. This is just some of the clocks I am collecting for a large piece of installation art I will be working on. If you have any to get rid of let me know!

*received*

Two crochet Blythe dresses that I ordered from Spain, I have heard that postage from Spain at the moment is awfully slow. I want them! *arrived*

3 pairs of Blythe boots from the US. (black, white and brown) *arrived*

Hangin' Freud CD: Sunken from the UK

*still waiting*

One more Blythe dress within Australia

*received I love it*

3 soaps from Luxsoap on etsy how lovely do they look?
Not sure these will ever arrive due to customs in Australia, I think one of them may contain l

I was surprised yesterday to find my Book Depository order had finally arrived. Why do they send each book in a separate package? Are they all stored in different places? I used Booko to find the best prices for these books. It is a bit annoying but they all arrived on the same day:

Come on Mr Postman, please have delivered at least something when I get home today!

Free Crochet and Knitting Patterns for Blythe

2011-04-28T11:03:00.012+10:00

As I've mentioned few times that I am trying to learn to crochet. I bought a beginners book the other day and have mastered a few stitches now, mainly practiced while watching tv. I'd really love to make something for one of my dolls so I have been searching around for some free Blythe patterns and have come across a couple:

q.D.Patooties

Cloche Hat
Winter Cap
Bee in her Bonnet
Elvis Beret
Oil Can Gnome Hat
Monster Hat

Throwing Kittens

Heart Shaped Sweater
Sun Bathing Triangle Top
Babydoll Top
Amazing instructions! I want to go home and try it now.

Thread Dough

Shawl Collared Sweater
Very in depth instructions for beginners. Lovely!

Knit North

Knitted Mod Dress

Suncatcher Eyes

Cupcake Hat
Mittens

Creative Blythe

Babydoll top
Cardigan
Bobble Hat
Cunning Hat

Knit Chat

Floppy Hat

Crochet Pattern Central
Under Barbie there are loads of different doll related items that you can crochet

OK so a few of these are knitting but it is very cute! I will try my hand at knitting sometime so I wanted to share these too! Mainly to bookmark them for myself. I've found a few patterns referenced but the pages are now offline so I used the way back machine to find them again.
I'd love to knit/crochet in the airport and on my flights to Europe to help pass time, has anyone tried to take a knitting needle/crochet hook on a plane before?

I really want to buy this book sometime:
grrrlie Designs Crochet Pattern Book

I'd like to get my skills up first though so thank you to everyone that has posted free patterns online.

Miranda says Hi! Easter Friday/Birthday

2011-04-24T15:04:00.002+10:00

A couple of pics from the weekend. I gave Miranda a bit of a make over, using this great tutorial she now has sleep eyes: http://stuffbykate.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/playing-with-blythe-sleep-eye-tutorial/ Also sanded her face, gave her new eyelashes and fixed her hair a bit.

Got some pretty awesome birthday presents actually. Most of the pics are on my boyfriend's camera so I will post them later. I went on a picnic in the Tallaganda Forest with Ryka, Christie and Jack.

Freya's Gets New Eye Chips

2011-04-19T18:12:00.001+10:00

My eyechips arrived from Brainworm today! I ordered 7 different pairs; pale blues, greens, pink, purple, wheat and a reddish pink one. Only took about 4 days to arrive from Asia which is pretty good.

Before I even got my Simply Vanilla, Freya I knew I wanted to change her eyechips to pale blue and green ones. I've kept her stock blue eyes in too as they match her Nordic hair. Using the good old gluegun stick method I removed her old eye chips and stuck these babies in.

Walking the Streets of Twin Peaks - my visit to Snoqualmie, WA spoilers

2011-04-18T15:00:00.004+10:00

For a 9 year old girl, the show Twin Peaks was mysterious, confusing and even frightening. The adverts shown as a precursor to the pilot, certainly whipped up Twin Peaks fever at my school. Everyone was talking about the beautiful girl, found dead, wrapped in plastic. I'd creep into the corridor when it came on hoping Mum wouldn't hear me, she inevitably always did. I'd get yelled at to go to bed but after a few minutes I'd commando crawl in the dark to the lounge room doorway, desperate for even a peek at the screen.This would continue until Mum relented and let me watch, although she always refused to say "yes" to my pleas, she'd say "hmph" so not to give in. Back in the days before internet downloading, you either had to record a show on VHS or watch it when it was on. If you missed it, you had to wait until it was released on video which could take years.

This show affected me. I do understand why Mum did not want me to watch it, the themes were definitely adult. Although at the time I really had no idea what was going on, I was still deeply intrigued and excited by the show. The music, the colours, the scenery. All the characters had a certain glow about them, an air of mystique, everyone was hiding something and we'd find out what eventually. When Twin Peaks was finally released on DVD sometime in the early 00's I watched it over and over again. Some of the writing became a little bit, ridiculous in Season 2 when David Lynch left the show, though he did return for the finale.

I've had quite a close connection to this show for some time so when I finally made my way to the US and Canada in 2010, I knew deep in my heart that I had to visit the town where the majority of it it was filmed, Snoqualmie. We made our way from Vancouver to Seattle and hired a car, had I realised Laura's log was in Seattle I would have stopped to see it. We had to pass Lake Sammamish on the way and Ted Bundy chasing a naked girl in a forest, giggling as he hunts her down, flashed into my mind.

Intwinpeaks.com is an amazing website containing photographs, information and maps of the shooting locations. There is no proper map that shows the actual streets though, so I created my own using google maps, a hand drawn tourist map, intwinpeaks.com, a map of Snoqualmie and North Bend plus my GPS, Karen. Still it is inaccurate but when you pinpointed the area it was easy enough to spot the locations.

When we drove into Twin Peaks, I made sure I had the soundtrack playing in the car. I was absolutely amazed by the green-ness of the area and the big trees, just as Agent Cooper had been. We first arrived at the Snoqualmie Falls, a place recognisable to any Twin Peaks Freak from the opening credits of the show. The Great Northern which is now a day spa/hotel overlooks the falls. I think I look happiest in these pictures compared to any others taken on the entire trip. Now for the pic spam!

Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

I can't remember which pics were taken in Snoqualmie and which were in North Bend.

The park where Laura, Donna and James had a picnic and filmed the last footage of Laura alive.We tried desperately to find Ronette's bridge and we found this one, that looked like it but a lot was different.

Train carriages from Fire Walk with Me where Laura is killed.

Sparkwood and 21 where Laura jumps off Jame's bike on the night she is murdered.

Ed's Gas Station and the Roadhouse in the background, we had lunch here and it was pretty tasty.

"The Diamond Motel" in North Bend, we stayed in the motel that Leland Palmer arranged to meet Teresa Banks in before he killed her. When he arrived and saw that the friends she brought along were Laura and Ronette, he ran away. The guy that runs this motel is mighty entertaining too.

The RR Diner - I don't drink coffee but here's the world famous Cherry Pie. I can't say the food there was actually great but I was sick of eating food that I hadn't cooked by that point.

Inside the cafe they have a wall of Twin Peaks memorabilia, including photos taken on set and newspaper clippings. You could also buy a little tourist map of the area, though the streets didn't really correspond with the streets in the town.

We did spend an awful lot of time standing in the service station, astounded that you could buy beer there. We bought quite a few just to try them, they were so cheap it was hard to resist. We also enjoyed the drive through coffee shop the next morning, they make a great hot chocolate. I actually would love to be able to move to this area. The gloomy skies, the green trees and rivers.

Now..... I just need a US Visa. Anyone?

Why Don't You Just Have A Baby?

2011-04-18T10:01:00.003+10:00

Something that bothers me about having a doll hobby is the assumption that I am trying to make up for not having a baby. If a man collects model cars you don't tell him to go and buy an expensive vintage car. It isn't like that at all for me. I am turning 30 this Friday, 22nd of April (yup on Easter) and I can only assume that this sort of judgement is going to become more and more common, the older I get.

For many years, I collected dolls, eventually owning a whole room full of them. I used to make them into sculptures, lamps, artworks. Fixing them up was also fun and re-doing their makeup and hair. When I moved overseas I had to get rid of my doll collection. It was only in 2010 that I decided I needed a hobby that would get me away from the computer/tv. As most of my hobbies do involve looking at some kind of screen, I thought if I got a Blythe I would spend time away, making clothes, photographing. It has worked really well, I will spend hours at night sewing and planning new photos then go out to take them on the weekend. I've been on social outings with friends from the doll community and generally feel happy with my new hobby. A few other friends have taken up "blything" too.

I really have nothing against children, I regularly spend time with my sister and her baby and love it. I'm just not interested in having my own children. The comments have already started over the last couple of years, people asking when my boyfriend and I are going to have babies. I'd rather not discuss the reasons why I don't want children, it is a personal choice. People often question why I don't just have a baby instead of playing with dolls. It happened again on the weekend, a dear friend of mine (that I adore) said she didn't get the doll thing, fair enough it is a bit strange outside the doll community. She then told me I should just have a baby instead. I still feel a bit odd about that, it's not a feeling of oddness due to her being right. It's more that I find it hurtful when people think I am some crazy woman so desperate for a baby that I am playing with dolls. Maybe I'll kill a pregnant lady next to steal her baby, watch out! Or kidnap some children! *creepy eyes*

To me playing with dolls is an aesthetic thing, not a emotional thing. I'm a creative person and I've found a hobby that inspires me to get manual and creative again. 90% of my time spent on what I refer to as "Blything" is not spent anywhere near the dolls. Sure I give them fake names and personalities, it is for fun, however most of my time is spent cutting fabric and looking for patterns. Painting backgrounds and buying little items to put in photographs. I've even gone as far as getting a new camera, tripod and asking for tips from my uncle whom is a photographer. He was very helpful and didn't make any snide comments about my hobby. His suggestions have helped me improve my photography and have made me want to learn more about photography.

This post isn't really about a doll hobby, it's about a society and that places pressure on women to reproduce, meanwhile trying to make us behave as male as possible. It's about other women behaving defensively when you tell them that their path isn't the right one for you. I think having a baby can be compared to something like going to church, you get great enjoyment from, and you want to share it, and you want your friends to experience it too, but they don't all necessarily appreciate the suggestion. I guess I better get used to it.

My First Custom Dress Purchase

2011-04-14T09:41:00.000+10:00

As I've mentioned before, I have been trying to learn to crochet, and failing miserably. My mother is an amazing crochet master yet doesn't have much time at the moment to help me out. I am obsessed right now with getting my girls some pink and brown crochet dresses made using delicate stitching. These dresses were suggested to me on a forum and I had to order them. I ordered them from Leshan on Etsy and they were finished within a couple of days. They should be shipped in the next couple of days. I will update once they have arrived!

The dresses were $16 US each, which if you consider the work put into them, is a really great price.

Edit the Background Colour of your Widgets

2011-04-12T14:30:00.001+10:00

It may have taken me 2 hours, due to my poor knowledge of the Blogger template/dashboard but I have finally worked out how to colour co-ordinate my blog lay out. I was unable to separate the text colours using template designer so my yellow background needed to match the background of the widgets in order for the text to show.

I found quite a few people asking the same question online so I am posting the fix I came up with here. I am using the Waterfall template. To edit the background colour of the column under my gadgets over there on the right I added a line of CSS to my blog.

Go to Dashboard -> Design -> Template Designer ->Advanced -> Add CSS

Enter this code:

.column-right-inner{
background: #fcef95;
border: 6px solid #c0b02c;
}

You can edit the background colour, border and border colour by changing the numbers in this code to match your blog.

Without a border:

.column-right-inner{
background: #fcef95;
}

I suggest backing up your blog template by downloading a copy before editing anything. You can always revert back to it by uploading it if you break something.

Sewing Sunday

2011-04-10T16:21:00.000+10:00

Today I was meant to go on a picnic with my sisters and my niece. The sun was shining yesterday but today it is raining. Plans being ruined meant I had nothing to do today. I've been trying to learn to crochet for weeks to no avail so I went back to sewing. Over the past couple of months I've amassed quite a lot of fabric, most bought, some given to me.

I do get some cute fabrics on Ebay, today I made two dresses from fabric bought on Ebay. Monsters and babushka dolls. I used a McCalls pattern that I modified a little bit. You can buy a whole bunch of patterns from here. There are a lot for free online. I've uploaded the pattern for these dresses: Dress Pattern

I really want to find out how to crochet the edge of sleeves or skirts, I think I may need a tiny crochet hook though mine seems too big. There are a few tutorials online but they are for blankets, I need to do this but in a smaller scale.

Wanted: Steve Austin - Six Million Dollar Man Clothing

2011-04-09T17:03:00.000+10:00

My Dad has a huge glass cabinet full of toys that he has collected and upon closer inspection I noticed this vintage Million Dollar Man doll. After having a look on Ebay, there didn't seem to be anyone in Australia selling his clothes. There were several outfits being sold in various states on Ebay US but no one would ship to Australia! I watched several auctions go unsold, while poor me, sitting there desperately wanting them, could not bid. I've often wondered why Americans are so hesitant to post international when the bidder is paying the shipping? Anyway, if anyone wants to sell his outfit please email me. Alternatively if anyone would let me post the outfit to them in the US let me know.

The girls were unsure what to do with Steve when he arrived. I may just have to sew him some clothes, the girls are getting far too excited with him around in his underpants. Anyone have a pattern for Steve Austin?

*edit* I am bidding on this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemNext&item=290552269893&pt=UK_ToysGames_ActionFigures_ActionFigures_JN&autorefresh=true

Introducing: Freya - Simply Vanilla

2011-04-09T16:54:00.000+10:00

Friday was a really good day, I mean a really good day. Not only did I get to spend the first half of the day at work watching the yet to be released film Snowtown, I went to the doctor and he finally started my thyroid treatment. Then when I got home, my trade had arrived! A lovely lady on Blythe Kingdom responded to my advert and agreed to swap her Simply Vanilla for my Velvet Minuet. It was a very simple transaction, we both posted the dolls to each other in 5kg express post bags so they arrived within a day. I am so happy with my new girl. I've named her Freya because she really looks like a Norsk lady.

I'm thinking that I need to change her eye chips though, I already got rid of the orange ones and replaced them with metallic purple chips I had bought and forgotten about. I've got a whole bag of stock eye chips, perhaps someone needs them?

Today I want to sew a little camouflage outfit to go with the tank and guns I have. Maybe I'll need to take some photos out in the forest.

Flying in Silence at 2:22am - My Owl Tattoo

2011-04-06T22:31:00.002+10:00

A "great grey owl" has haunted my dreams for many years, along my friend the kodiak bear that often menaces me in my sleep. I am never afraid of the owl but it always seems quite eerie with it's great big yellow eyes that project a knowing power, as though it can read your mind while moving slowly in silence.

To me the owl is a majestic being that represents wisdom and perception. They are almost like cats, but with wings. A comment about my tattoo from a friend on the weekend was very insightful "the ultimate insomniac's tattoo". I like that it represents my inner nocturnal being, having had trouble sleeping for many years, hence the name of my blog. I find that I am most awake and creatively inspired after 2am, when most people are still and silent in sleep. This time has been a bit of an obsession for me and I often refer to it as "the witching hour" or "noituudenaika". NO I haven't read or seen Harry Potter, so don't even ask if I was inspired by any pop culture it would have to be Twin Peaks. I shall blog about my trip to the town where Twin Peaks was shot another day.

"The owls are not what they seem" - Twin Peaks

My Tattoo - finished

In many societies, owls have represented death, destruction, evil, sorcery and witches. I had decided on a tattoo of an owl for personal reasons, but did find some interesting information about their symbology in many cultures.

Wikipedia:

Africa
Among the Kikuyu of Kenya it was believed that owls were harbingers of death. If one saw an owl or heard its hoot, someone was going to die. In general, owls are viewed as harbingers of bad luck, ill health, or death. The belief is widespread even today.

The Americas
In the culture of the Uto-Aztec tribe, the Hopi, taboos surround owls, which are associated with sorcery and other evils. The Aztecs and Maya, along with other Natives of Mesoamerica, considered the owl a symbol of death and destruction. In fact, the Aztec god of death, Mictlantecuhtli, was often depicted with owls. There is an old saying in Mexico that is still in use: Cuando el tecolote canta, el indio muere ("When the owl cries/sings, the Indian dies"). The Popol Vuh, a Mayan religious text, describes owls as messengers of Xibalba (the Mayan "Place of Fright"). The belief that owls are messengers and harbingers of the dark powers is also found among the Hočągara (Winnebago) of Wisconsin. When in earlier days the Hočągara committed the sin of killing enemies while they were within the sanctuary of the chief's lodge, an owl appeared and spoke to them in the voice of a human, saying, "From now on the Hočągara will have no luck." This marked the beginning of the decline of their tribe. An owl appeared to Glory of the Morning, the only female chief of the Hočąk nation, and uttered her name. Soon afterwards she died. People often allude to the reputation of owls as bearers of supernatural danger when they tell misbehaving children, "the owls will get you."

Western culture
The modern West generally associates owls with wisdom. This link goes back at least as far as Ancient Greece, where Athens, noted for art and scholarship, and Athena, Athens' patron goddess and the goddess of wisdom, had the owl as a symbol. Marija Gimbutas traces veneration of the owl as a goddess, among other birds, to the culture of Old Europe, long pre-dating Indo-European cultures. Owls were considered funerary birds among the Romans.

Check out this blog full of owl tattoos. http://owltattoos.blogspot.com/ I may have to submit mine, though I am still undecided about having clear pictures of my tattoo available online.

Oh!, I almost forgot, I can relate tattoos to Blythe. I saw a Blythe with a tattoo the other day! You'd think this would turn out looking tacky but it actually looked very realistic and I think it looks great. I've also spotted a few lovely Blythe tattoos online. I do not own these pictures, click them to go to their original pages. If I've posted your pics and you want them removed, please let me know.

More amazing Blythe tattoos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shershe/4980794916/
http://www.thisisblythe.com/news.php?m=1&y=2009

Velvet Minuet Traded!

2011-04-04T08:12:00.001+10:00

As I am going to Europe in June, I am on a strict no doll buying restriction, however I just can't seem to get it out of my head that I need one. My solution is to offer one of my dolls for trade.

I'd like to trade my Velvet Minuet for another Blythe. I really like the SBL mould, her face is beautiful, I just can't get used to her hair. I am looking for a Simply Vanilla and although I could get her from Ebay quite cheap, I am not allowed to! If you have another doll for trade please PM me, I'd consider all offers. Must be in equally good condition, I don't need the box/stock.

More pics on Flickr

I've traded her for a Simply Vanilla and she's settled into her new life nicely as Maddy up in Sydney.

Keskiyö Customisation Diary - Blythe Re-Root

2011-03-29T13:59:00.000+11:00

Am I absolutely insane for considering another Blythe re-root? After having completed a Guava re-root that took me about 3 months due to lack of skills, I think I just may be. I am sure that re-rooting a scalp is like anything, a skill that needs to be built up over time.

It is quite tedious work but was extremely rewarding when it was complete, I am so happy with my blue haired girl. I'm going to post all the mistakes I made in the hopes that other people won't make them if they google re-rooting Blythe. I found it very difficult to find a complete set of instructions that outlined the process from start to finish.

The steps you need to follow to re-root an RBL Blythe scalp using the lock-loop technique should be as follows:

Open the Blythe head
Remove the dome from the top of the head
Remove the soft rubber scalp from the dome
Cut off the Existing Hair and Remove the Remnants
Paint the scalp to match the new hair colour
Prepare the hair into plugs to re-rooting
Start with the part, when completed thatch the hair
Re-root the rest of the scalp
Attach the scalp to the dome
Put the dome and scalp back on the Blythe
Close the head

Opening the Head and Removing the Dome
For the first step, I'd recommend the Pucci Collective tutorial if you want to know how to open your RBL Blythe head. This video is also quite handy. Taking the tiny spring out of the back is the most difficult part, I used a crochet hook. Also actually opening the head requires a bit of "manpower" I was scared I'd break the doll but pushed quite hard on the head without breaking it.

Remove the Soft Rubber Scalp from the Dome
I found this quite part challenging, but I've read it depends on the doll as some have less glue than others. Once again I recommend the Pucci Collective tutorial.

Mistake 1. I didn't realise that the glue was water soluble. I had just received my Mango and Guava and was desperate to start re-rooting so I was a bit impatient. Instead of soaking the scalp in water overnight, I used a little scalpel to try and cut through the glue, which meant I ruined some of the flanges. Figured I would deal with that later. In hindsight, I would recommend soaking the entire top of the blythe head in hot water in order to get the scalp off, you may still need the scalpel but it will be a lot easier.

After I had removed the scalp from the dome, poor Guava looked like an alien.

Cut off the Existing Hair and Remove the Remnants
Once I had removed the dome from the top of the Blythe head, I cut off all of the hair, but still needed to remove the remnants from the inside of the scalp. Pucci Collective's Saran Re-Root tutorial shows you how to do this. I used a scalpel, tweezers and a hook.

It will look like this when you are done. Now it is time to paint the scalp.

Paint the Scalp to Match the New Hair Colour
Once I had all the hair removed from the scalp, I painted it dark blue using acrylic paint. It is important to do this before you start re-rooting any hair as it's close to impossible to do it once the hair is threaded into the scalp.

Mistake 2. I recommend putting masking tape around the edge of the scalp before painting. I didn't consider this when I painted it blue and the edges were not neat, I had to clean off the paint later which could have been avoided. The paint edge should be at the bottom line of holes and go no further down.

Prepare the Hair into Plugs
I had trouble finding out what hair to buy and how much to get so as an indication, I used 4 bags of standard Midnight Blue, 1 bag of Sapphire Blue and a small amount of Silver. I purchased it from My Little Customs a UK based shop that sells some useful customisation supplies. To start with I opened one bag of Sapphire and took out about a 1cm portion. The hair comes in a loop so you need to cut it in half to begin creating your plugs. I recommend having a tea towel spread out, and a bowl of water ready for this process. Wetting the Sarah hair makes it a lot more manageable.

Begin by taking your first plug, which for me was about 12 strands of hair, dip it in the water and make sure it is evenly folded in half before placing it on the tea towel. Repeat this, I did mine in batches of about 30 at a time, lining them up on the tea towel ready to be threaded.

Start Re-rooting the Part
Pucci Collective has a tutorial that demonstrates the locked loop technique for re-rooting that helped me greatly when trying to work this out. My Little Customs demonstrates three different methods of re-rooting. The only problem I found was that I had extreme difficulties getting it to work using a small hook. This may be because I was using hair that was quite long. I switched to a needle with a large eye and it was a lot easier. At times I had to use pliers to pull the needle through if I had threaded a large plug.

Mistake 3. When I first started, due to the length of the hair, it was becoming one huge tangled mess every time I tried to pull tight the plug that I had just threaded through. This will make more sense when you start. I used a bin tie and wrapped it around the hair and after threading through a plug and pulling it tight, I'd tie it up in the ponytail. Once it was quite full I'd plait the threaded hair and tie it back, starting over with the bin tie empty again. This saved me from losing which plug I was working on and dealing with a huge mess.

Thatching the Part
Once again the Pucci Collective tutorial for thatching was very help, or the My Little Customs video below.

Mistake 4. I waited until I had threaded 3-4 lines of hair on the part before I attempted the thatching. I would highly recommend doing it right away after you have done the first two, as per the Pucci tutorial. I simply forgot as I was carried away with threading hair. It was very difficult to thatch the hair when there were several rows of plugs to deal with. I'm still not happy with the thatching, but you can't really tell in photos.

Re-root the Rest of the Scalp
You need to keep the thatching separated so as not to ruin it while you re-root the rest of the scalp. I plaited mine on either side of the head to keep them apart. The hardest part about re-rooting the rest of the scalp is keeping the motivation to keep going I think! Make up a batch of plugs, thread them and repeat. I kept adding the hair that had been threaded into the bin tie ponytails to stop it from getting messed up. I can't even begin to explain the relief I felt when I got to the very last plug.

Attach the Scalp to the Dome and Dome to the Head
After ruining parts of the flanges, I had reached the moment I had been dreading. It was time to put the soft rubber scalp back onto the dome. I didn't have much trouble getting the scalp on the dome, with the remaining flanges back in their slots, however when it came time to put the dome back into the head, I realised that it wasn't sitting down tightly enough.

I ended up using quite a strong hobby glue to stick the scalp down, and had to hold it on for 15 minutes, slowing going around the scalp and pressing it down then holding it until the glue dried. This means that it would be very difficult for me to ever remove the scalp from this doll again. I have no intention of doing so, however should I want to I would probably need to cut the glue with a scalpel. Pucci Collective recommends using a rubber band to hold the scalp on overnight.

Close the Head
Don't you love these people that kindly put up video tutorials on youtube? I know I do.

All that is left to do now is to style your Blythe's hair. If you have bangs you will need to cut them. Once again Pucci Collective comes to the rescue, the wet towel and ironing technique really flattened my dolls hair out and made it look great.

I've since changed the eye chips and given her a hair cut.

So should I attempt another re-root? Having finished one, and made many mistakes, I think I am in a better place to begin another one and have it turn out a lot more successful.

Please feel free to email me or post any questions.

Stock Swap

2011-03-27T19:04:00.000+11:00

Took a couple of photos today in my sister's garden. I swapped the girls into each other's stock outfits for the day. I love Sireena in Velvet Minuet's stock. Ever since I cut her hair off she has become my favourite girl. I'm so glad that my boyfriend bought her when I tried to sell her on Ebay.

View the rest on flickr and join my Stock Swap group.

Live Through This

2011-03-27T11:46:00.000+11:00

It's Sunday morning, I drank a bottle of Finlandia last night and have severe cramps today so I'm sulking at home playing with my dolls. My soundtrack for today is Live Through This by Hole. Much can be said about Courtney Love, much. I am quite sad that she has no support around her and seems to be suffering. All of her crazy behaviour seems to stem back to some kind of twisted form of self preservation fighting self destruction. I still think she is one of the most talented lyricists in the world, even if she's lost her voice now. It would be hard to deny that Live Through This is an album that appeared out of the ripped denim, flannelette and dirty hair and conjured pure magic. Courtney bared her soul for us all to see and that is REAL. The bullshit tornado that seems to follow her around couldn't even penetrate that.

The videos for this album are beautiful works of art. I would love to know more about their making. When I was in Year 7 I first heard Violet at a blue light disco at school and was completely intrigued when I found out it was Kurt Cobain's wife. I had to know more about her, a girl in my class was utterly obsessed with her which was quite helpful. She gave me tapes and we read magazines together. We used her 14 k modem to look up websites about Hole and amassed a huge collection of Courtney related stuff.

This live version of Violet gave me goosebumps. It was fucking amazing. Courtney's performance was attrocious but she's not really a musician, it was raw and emotional.

Unfortunately the official video for Violet does not have sound on youtube due to copyright restrictions.

Hole - Doll Parts

I see reference to the film Babydoll (1956) in this video. The old bed, the outfit, the makeup.

I wanted to also share this alternative version of Jennifer's Body that someone just posted on facebook.

Oh yeah Patty Schemel the ex drummer of Hole has just released a documentary about her life, which includes footage from her collection of movies of Hole on the road. I cannot fucking wait to see this! http://www.pattydoc.com/

Dexter and Debra Sitting in a Tree

2011-03-25T14:34:00.000+11:00

I just made the mistake of googling pictures of Michael Hall and Jennifer Carpenter together. In my reality, they are brother and sister so the fact that the actor who plays Dexter, married the actress playing his sister is just weird. I find myself watching them closely for any sign of their relationship but so far I haven't noticed anything, damn professionals. I also just read that they've separated which is sad but now I will be obsessed with looking for signs of this ugh! You cannot at all that Michael was battling cancer in 2010, he looks as fit and healthy as ever.

Dexter's Debra Morgan swears off against Californication's Marcy Runkle spoilers

2011-03-25T08:44:00.000+11:00

Apart from watching crappy teenage dramas, I am very much into what I refer to as "HBO" style shows. Gritty dramas, very well written, usually focusing on a particular social group, place in time or social phenomena. Showtime also create some damn high quality shows. One of my favourites being Dexter. For those have haven't seen it (what is wrong with you?) this show is about a serial killing, FBI blood splatter analyst that follows a moral code of conduct when selecting and killing his victims after childhood trauma.

Although I initially found her rather irritating (through seasons 1-3), Dexter's kid sister, Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) has become one of my favourite characters in the show. You follow Debra's career from her first assignment in the Miami Metro Police Department's vice unit through to her eventual transfer into homicide. One of the most unique and interesting aspects of the character Debra Morgan is the dialogue that is written for her. Her lucid strings of swearing mixed with the utter filth that spews forth from her mouth at completely inappropriate moments are nothing short of amazing.

Debra spits out her creative yet disturbing lines as though she suffers from Tourette's Syndrome. Like a nervous reaction, some people laugh when uncomfortable but Debra slings a line so dirty that it takes you a few seconds to comprehend it, picture it, then either laugh or cringe. Her talent as an actress has allowed her to do this without it seeming staged, she remains innocent and sweet, the string of swearing an endearing quality of the character. One of my favourite lines from Season 5 was "Shit a brick and fuck me with it" or "A baby!? A motherfucking rolly polly chubby cheeked shitmachine, are you kidding me?!".

The other night I was up late and Californication was on, this forces me to mention the fact that when I was in Year 7, I was utterly obsessed with the X-Files and wanted to marry David Duchovny. It was an episode in which Hank Moody (David Duchovny) had been found guilty of statutory rape for having sex with a teenage girl (whom I will always know as Grace from the Nanny). Hank's manager's ex wife, Marcy Runkle (Pamela Adlon) is pregnant and was having a gyno exam. This is when I realised the similarities between Marcy Runkle and Debra Morgan.

Although a small supporting character in the show, Marcy Runkle is so cringe-worthy that I cannot enjoy this show. Pondering why I love Debra and despise Marcy for several hours has led me to the conclusion that is probably the fault of the writers/director than the actress herself. I imagine they were going for a more natural delivery when they wrote the lines for Marcy, and they probably looked alright on paper but when spoken out loud, they don't seem real enough to make them an acceptable part of her personality. Even if they were, she isn't the kind of person I'd want to listen to. She is incredibly tacky, her wit consists of turning every thing into a sexual joke in which she is either putting down her husband or incredibly flippant about her own vagina.

"You DON'T deny your man the ass, you give it to him, because once he knows he can have that, he never wants it again". What the hell kind of pornified bullshit male written advice is that to be giving someone on their wedding day?

One comment on youtube said: "Marcy is a cool, cool ass bitch.....these type chicks don't exist" EXACTLY MY PROBLEM. These types of chicks don't exist because she has no self respect.

An online search, didn't yield many quotes for Marcy but this one in particular, it looks as though it would have been funny on paper but would a real person in conversation actually say this? I don't feel they would. "I don't want to go where Hank has been. I mean, he probably left booby-traps up there like the Vietcong."

Marcy Runkle: You can have the ass if you want.
Charlie Runkle: You can keep it.

*shivers*

I don't even want to look for more shitty, cheap, classless sexual innuendo from Marcy when I can have creative, entertaining and original quips from Deb. Now can someone please edit a video of them swearing at each other?

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

2011-03-22T10:06:00.000+11:00

How could I resist posting the beautiful bunch of flowers my boyfriend gave me this morning for no reason other than he is lovely.

I think a person's desk tells you a lot about them. My desk is obsessively clean, I actually clean it once a week with spray and wipe. My fish, Shinji keeps me entertained and generally creates a good vibe in the cubicle, I swear he watches me though, look at him, watching me. Zombie man keeps an eye on Shinji for me to make sure he isn't sending me death rays or something. Then there's redneck dudes and predator. Both presents from my friend Geoff. Random concert tickets and flyers, UFC tickets, a signed picture of Forrest Griffin, some postcards from Northern Norway and some movie posters. That bucket that sits on top of my cubicle has been there since I started working here more than 3 years ago, no one can remember why we were collecting the tops of aluminium cans, but we still keep collecting them with a rabbit standing guard over the precious collection.

Dragon Age: Origins

2011-03-22T09:21:00.000+11:00

My Xbox360 has been nothing more than a glorified media player for the last couple of months. I've got it set up so that when I download a TV show on my PC, I can stream it to my TV in my bedroom through the Xbox. This set up is so incredibly convenient but that's another story. Here's my gamertag.

After loving the shit out of Fable 2, and then the disappointment of Fable 3, I hadn't really been able to bring myself to play any games for several months. Last night I suddenly had the urge to give Dragon Age: Origins another go. I started the human story line about 6 months ago but found all the dallying around the castle quite irritating and boring so I gave up without realising that this was just the lead up to the actual game. This time around I've chosen to play as a Dalish Elf and can say that I am finding it a lot more enjoyable. After spending close to an hour trying to make my character look exactly like me I was ready to play.

The fighting style in the game takes a bit of time to get used to, having no block function that I was able to locate or any way to dodge hits. I'm playing with the great sword at the moment using two handed attack so I don't have a shield. The auto-attack is also very strange so I find myself pressing the button even though I am attacking automatically.

I'm quite intrigued after noticing an achievement for "romances" in the list. I tried to chat to Alistair by the camp fire several times and got a "Alistair likes this +4" a couple of times but I wasn't able to work out my relationship status with any of my crew members until I googled it just now. It was easy to find descriptions of potential romances I could have in the Dragon Age wiki but this didn't tell me how to have one though. Here is a full explanation of how to romance each character. I'm not an achievement whore by any means but I do check the list to see if I have completed anything or not.

One last thing about this game that I love so far is that the characters are all so good looking. I mean, I feel like the last girl left in Rivendell, I want to move to Ferelden and start a family, maybe I'll wait until the Archdemon is dead though.

R.I.P King Cailan

Ruthie Camden - adopted?

2011-03-21T08:05:00.000+11:00

Is it just me or did anybody else ever ponder whether Annie Camden had an affair with the milk man? I mean, I know she'd NEVER do that but a basic understanding of genetics would have you believe that Ruthie had to have been conceived by a different set of parents. Her olive skin, curly hair and chocolate brown eyes make me wonder just what casting was thinking?

= ????

Even going back to the grandparents yields no possible explanation.

Mackenzie's Cherokee heritage doesn't seem to fit in with the other children, though Matt has dark hair and eyes his skin is still quite pale, and he does look as though he could be Mary's brother.

I was kind of hoping that there would be an episode later in the series where Ruthie finds out she was adopted by the Camden family and that she was cast for this very reason, though Matt, Lucy and Mary would have remembered and blabbed sooner or later. I have to give it to Ruthie, she seems to be the only Camden capable of keeping a secret re: Matt and Sarah's wedding.

Clearly I spend too much time thinking about the logic behind a fictional family.

Birthday Wishlist

2011-03-16T22:21:00.000+11:00

I'm turning 30 on the 22nd of April so I thought I'd make a wish list for fun (and mainly buy the stuff myself), please note I don't expect anyone to buy me this stuff! Clicky the photos. Strangely enough a 30 year old seems to want dolls and video games. I think this list tells you a lot more about me than any of my posts.

Funky fabric remnants (2nd hand shops) or fat quarters of quilting cotton with small patterns & Lush Products

What's Wrong With Tamara (so rare no website even has an image!)

I'm thinking about having a party but I'd need to spend a lot of time cleaning the yard up and money that I should be saving for Europe. Still undecided about what to actually do, one good thing is that my birthday falls on a long weekend being Easter Friday this year. For some reason I feel like I need to do something awesome for it, I did nothing for my 21st and my 18th was a huge joint party with about 4 other people.