The Customizers of Round Four

We already had the pleasure to work with Vainilladolly and Sammydoe (round 1), Sabrina Eras, Frankie Darling and G.Baby (round 2), Happibug, Moofala and Kaleidoscope Kustoms (round 3), who volunteered their time and talent to this community project.

With round 4 we want some of the lesser known customizers to have the opportunity of customizing a Traveler; this year once again there will be three Travelers. While one – Kassandra’s Box – already has been chosen, two positions are open and will be decided through a poll.

The applicants are:
♥ Duckie Monster
♥ Valli
♥ Suave Dolls
♥ Kalashniköv
♥ Saience
♥ Avalie
♥ Pixiepoo

Thank you, and good luck to all the entrants!

Applicant: Pixiepoo

Hi, I am Christy/ Pixiepoo! In 2009 I discovered Blythe while browsing photography on flickr. I was so impressed by how much emotion the doll could express through photographs. Even though she was just a doll...she was different- more alive than any other doll I had ever seen. After a few years of obsessing I finally caved and got my first doll in 2011. We have had a love affair ever since. Blythe is my passion! I daydream about future Pixiepoo customs I want to create. I love giving them plastic souls and creating special stories for each one.

Past work



Ideas for the Traveler

I have a few inspiration directions I would like to go if chosen:

* 1950's Rockabilly
* Yellow Daisies
* Purple Panda

Applicant: Avalie

I'm Avalie, Australian but currently staying in Malaysia. I started customising last year in 2012, and have only done about 10 Blythes so far because of my studying and working schedule. I have always liked to draw, paint and sculpt, but somehow I ended up studying something else completely different to Art. While I used to find customising daunting, it has become enjoyable for me. :) I have 7 dolls in my collection. 3 stocks, 3 customs and a Kenner. ^_^

Past work






Ideas for the Traveler

I plan to do a smiley girl. I won't be adding teeth or anything extravagant, because frankly with my skills, I have not reached that level of carving yet. As for clothing style I personally like high school nerdy fashion with pullover sweaters and skirts. Something like Miss Yo's dolls. My ideas aren't anything super, I just want to do a normal girl. ^_^;;; But I may dye her hair a little to make her special.

Applicant: Saience

Hello! I'm Sai / Rebecca from Germany and I've been customizing Blythe for myself and close friends since 2009. You can see my custom work here.

I can't say that I specialize in anything so far, since I haven't done *that* many dolls yet, but I do like natural lip carving, nostrils, natural face ups and Licca arm transplants (I love bendable arms, but I just can't stand Licca's weird chest and feet).

Past work



Ideas for the Traveler

For the next Traveling Blythe project I'd like to create a doll with blue hair, since we didn't have one so far. She'd be inspired by the river Danube and Rainy Day London Dunny. Since there are not that many blue haired Takara Blythe dolls in the market and a reroot would be too costly I'd opt for a TBL doll with a light blue scalp (similar to Neo Blythe Ayanami Rei). Of course I'd switch to an original Takara Blythe body with Licca arms.

I hope you like my work and idea!

Applicant: Kalashniköv

I'm Kalashniköv, I love working with blythes, baits or rescue girls specially. I like to do crazy stuff with epoxy, crazy stuff painting their face, and freckles, if we're talking natural faceup! I also like tattooing them from time to time, and I'm trying my hand at handmade eyechips! It would be so sweet! if one of my girls would travel the world... Anyway! I guess I should tell you something about me? I'm from Spain, this year I'll be 20, I have an evil pet bunny named Macbeth, and a loving boyfriend with a hand for taking eyemechs out. I started customizing blythes roughly a year and a half ago, but these last months my activity has risen a bit, and I feel like I'm starting to find my own style. I also sculpt dolls, own and customize BJDs and MHs, and love alternative fashions and DIY. I love making tutorials on things (though, my webcam was eaten by a certain bunny of doom and I'm still trying to get a new one to make more blythe tutorials!), because I believe that knowledge should be free, or at least, widely avaliable.

If you'd like to see some examples of my latest work, I usually try and update my flickr (here) a lot.

Past work



Ideas for the Traveler

Applicant: Suave Dolls

My name is Myles and I'm from the UK. I have been customizing Blythe for around 5-6 months and have done a number of girls. I've recently just opened up commissions and thought this would be a really fun thing to do!

I'm known as Suave Doll, I have a page on Facebook which is strictly doll customizing and also a Flickr'stream which is a mix of my personal collection and my customized girls too!

My girls can range from sweet to grumpy to even vampires and monsters! I'll happily work on TBLs, genuine or factory! I think they're all Blythe to me.

Past work

Applicant: Valli

I'm Valli, Vallipink on Flickr. I live in Worthing on the south coast of the UK. I'm 56 and play with dolls! I've been a doll collector for 10 years and started customizing them almost immediately. Reborns, then small BJDs, then 1/6 scale fashion dolls where I learned a lot more about customizing especially Obitsu, Volks and tiny Barbie babies, but I kept seeing these big heads, as I called them, with their huge eyes.

Three years ago I took the plunge and bought my first Blythe. She was a bait T42 without scalp. I didn't know anything about customizing Blythes, but I was keen to transform her. I researched everything everywhere I could. I practiced on a couple of Basaaks first. I wasn't as brave with carving then, but I loved everything about customizing. Orchid is still with me and will always be special.

I've been on a mad roll of customizing these last few months getting braver with carving, boggling and gaze correction. I decided to expand my skills and rooted my first full scalp. I have added colours before, but I really wanted a particular look for Liesl who was inspired by Gorjuss. I've just completed #10, Isla with the butterfly lids. I start out with a basic idea, but once I get the doll in front of me then the creativity flows. I love creating a whole theme right down to her charms, including clothes and detailed lids. As a beauty therapist, my make up training helps, but it's the endless possibilities that attract me to Blythes. She can be colourful, fun and quirky, which is how I'd sum up my style.

Past work

Ideas for the Traveler 

If I were chosen to create a travelling doll, I'd like to base her on flowers with fantasy coloured hair in pink or red, but that's not guaranteed. I'm inspired in the moment so might choose another theme. It'll be hard to let her go, I'm sure, as I've never sold any. But it will be wonderful to see pictures of her travels. A little bit of me will definitely go with her. I create for myself and just hope others will enjoy what I do.

Applicant: Duckie Monster

I'm Sara (Duckie Monster on Flickr), I'm tobogganing towards 30 a little faster than I would probably like and I live in a leafy South Wales village with my long-suffering boyfriend, our two cats and a family of two Makies, 9 Blythes* and a cute little Beastlie called Batson. When I'm not faffing around with my rapidly growing Blythe collection, I work as a doctor at a local district hospital.

It's been a bit of a precipitous drop into the Blythe side of things. My first girl arrived on my birthday last year (25th October) and the others have come along with astonishing speed! I've completed five customs now, and only just feel that I'm starting to hit my stride and find my style. I'm most proud of my bait-to-beauty makeovers, where I've taken partially customised rejects which have been abandoned in drawers for years and given them a new lease of life.

I love working with the girls, they let me combine sewing, painting, design and photography and have given me a group of superb friends to share things with. I've also managed to keep a blog running nearly for a year cataloguing my misadventures! It's at http://makiecouture.blogspot.co.uk and it even updates pretty regularly!

Past work

Ideas for the Traveler

I'd love this girl to see as much of the world as possible. She'll be a little hippy-style traveller, with a gorgeous mixed fantasy-colour (possibly braided?) hairdo, some seriously chilled-out clothing, a little backpack covered in travel patches, a camera and (most importantly) a small-sized notebook. In the notebook, I'd like her hosts/hostesses to collect a couple of current local stamps and jot down the country that they're from wherever she goes to stay. As she travels, she'll build up a brilliant stamp collection that she can enjoy for the rest of her life, and her new owner will have a pretty little keepsake to enjoy. Goes without saying that she'll have some funky colourful make-up, 4 sets of hand-painted eyechips and glittery glittery eyelids!

Let the Journey Begin!

Welcome friends, to the new official blogsite for The Traveling Blythe's, It's a Small World project: the adventure of a lifetime!

Now in it's fourth year, this community project connects friends from across the globe in ways very different to other ventures, creating unique memories for all involved. We are very excited to bring you the next instalment and would love to have you join us!

To keep up to date with events as they happen, here are some of the ways you can follow the 2013 adventures:

♥ You can subscribe to this blog via Bloglovin or Feedly...
♥ ...browse the photo pool of each Traveler's adventures past and present in our Flickr and Ipernity groups...
♥ ...follow the latest updates on Twitter
♥ ...and look out for host snaps on Instagram using the hashtag #travelingblythes2013

Let the journey begin!