How I got my sbl Blythe's head open, or so I guess I don't have to worry about resale values anymore

I'll just admit it: I have really bad taste in Blythes.

Well, there is my AE, the only Blythe I've ever bought who has actually increased (gasp!) in value since her purchase.  I do think she is quite cute, but honestly, her hair is a god awful nightmare.  Otherwise, the ones I really like are dark haired sbl's who only get cheaper and cheaper with time.  My very first Blythe was an RRe.  I thought she was just the prettiest thing, and I named her Nouvelle.  But I've always wanted to customize the dolls to photograph them, which is why I started collecting in the first place.  Actually, I kind of hate the clutter of playing with dolls - the clothes, the props, the accoutrements... I'm just a tomboy, I guess.

Anyway, sbl's are cheap (and therefore not a bad choice for novice customizers), but have the hardest head molds to open. Often you are required to actually saw their heads right open to even get started.  But I had heard  that you could open an sbl head without a saw by prying the face off.  When I tried this, it did not work  DID! NOT! WORK!  I had read or watched some tutorial that just didn't make it clear enough what to do.  My poor Nouvelle sat headless (I had sort of put her hair atop her head because it was just too creepy to look at a decapitated Blythe with a huge shiny bald dome - the hair really did help me feel less like a total weirdo serial killer type) for months and months.  Then I happened upon this wonderful you tube video that showed the right way to take an sbl face plate off.  Woo-hoo!



And here's Nouvelle!

Eek.  Some plastic broken there!  That piece snapped when I pulled the scalp off.  There was no hope for it.  The rest of it is stuck in place on the back of the face plate.  Hopefully the scalp will go back in alright.

Here you can see the gouges from the failed attempt at opening Nouvelle's head way back when.  I really am usually a very careful and patient person, I swear! ;)

I also got the eye mechanism out thanks to a fantastic (as always) tutorial at Puchi Collective.  Awesome.

So, there you go.   I hope I have more to show you soon!