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!

Customization Elation

I have finally become sufficiently excited about Blythe again to work on my dolls.  I'm not exactly sure what prompted this, but I think it may have something to do with all the lovely new models being released lately.  I figure if I'm actually using the ones I have, why not get another one?  Justify, justify...

Things have been going alternately well and ill, depending on which model I'm working on.  My AE (Syrie) has been the easiest to work with.  I've only done light changes to her, most working on her hair and sand-matting her face.  Her hair is... a challenge.  It looks great in photos, but is still frizzy if touched too much and feels, well, gross.  The sand-matting went really well, as it had for my RRe.  I find it to be one of the easiest and most dramatic customizations you can do.  It completely changes the look of your doll.  I use 800 grit sandpaper to take off the shiny finish, using light pressure while moving in a small circular motion over the entire head.  I prefer paper to the sanding pads recommended by Puchi Collective, but the tutorial on their site is excellent.  After sanding I always buff lightly with a clean cotton rag to get a semi-matte finish. 

Here's some before and after shots of  Syrie to show the difference.

On the other hand, Nouvelle, my RRe, has proven to be much more of a challenge. I wanted to change her eyelashes... which I decided I needed to open up her head to do. The RRe is an SBL model, which means this is a lot of work. The "traditional" method for opening an SBL head requires scalping the doll and then sawing the plastic dome inside to separate the face plate from the rest of the head. I had heard talk online that it's possible to open SBL heads without sawing, and decided to try the "new" method. Scalping was pretty easy. There was no glue to speak of and the flanges all came out completely in tact. However, pulling the flange out did snap one plastic bit of the gutter in the front - yikes. The next step is to release the eye spring (no problem) and remove the body (accomplished with a bit of work) then soak the head in hot water to soften the glue holding it together. Then you are to pry the pieces apart and go on your merry way. This was not how things worked out. After much soaking and even more prying, wiggling, and swearing, I still have a fused head. I am sorry to say that I did become rather impatient and put several gouges into the plastic along the seams prying with a screwdriver (I'm guessing that's frowned upon in dolly circles, ha,ha).   I'm hoping I can sand these out later. I did get all of Nouvelle's eyelashes removed, hooray, and I am still determined to perform the lobotomy. I just need to rest my tired hand muscles and rebuild my patience a little so I don't smash her open with a hammer.
I will call this "a learning experience", rather than "a clusterfuck" and move on. By which I mean buy more dolls.