Notes on Customization of Blythe Dolls: SAND-MATTE

This section / My notes on SAND-MATTE (SANDMATTING):

First, the "Clones":

DUE to the fact that clones are made of EXTREMELY HARD SHINY PLASTIC (picture a board game piece) which does NOT “give” …. Sand matte just does not work with a few swipes of a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.  No.  You have to SAND THE HELL out of this type of surface for it to become anywhere near matte, and see any progress.

vs.  The REAL Blythe Doll 

 Compared to the clones, the Blythe doll that I have was a piece of CAKE.  The TEXTURE that is.  The COLOR is another matter.  But only for the doll I purchased;  an ADG which is KNOWN to have a “green” tint.  First thing I did in my research;  LOOK for examples from others who have solved this problem and how did they do it???  Results of my research:  FOUND NO ONE.  Sure, I have seen a few ADGs that don’t APPEAR to be all that GREEN in their photos … but then, that is not really “telling”, due to photoshop and the other myriad of ways to alter photos these days.

            WHAT DID I DO?  I sanded her face with a VERY COARSE nail file (emery board) I already had.  Yes, I DID.  Just got out my little nail kit that I have had since the days I first began doing my own (acrylic style) nails, waaaay back in the early 80’s, and used the most coarse emory board style file I could find (the kind you get at Sally Beauty, NOT the metal kind of file).  . 

I was NOT AFRAID for one second.  Probably because and due to the fact that I did not pay thousands of dollars for my Blythe.  I got my little Aztec Arrival for about $125., which I think was “reasonable”.  I could have gotten a nude one for less probably, but I wanted my FIRST ONE to have a box and all its original trappings.  And call me crazy, but I wanted to purchase her from a U.S. Seller.  I am obviously not fearful of ordering from overseas, I have gotten my Blybe-type clones there as well as some shoes and stockings.  I just wanted to be able to TRACK my purchase if anything should go wrong in the transit.  (and being an ebay buyer and seller for over 10 years, I KNOW all the things that CAN and DO go wrong in transit!!!)

            Okay, so I sanded the heck out of her face, in the hopes that the GREEN TINT did not go “through and through”.  However, after I did this, and washed off all the dust, I swear, SHE IS STILL GREEN!  ARGH!  I thought perhaps I should just make a Wicked Witch of the West out of her, with a cute little black dress and stripe socks, and of course, the stolen Ruby Slippers … and believe me, I WOULD HAVE, had this not been MY FIRST REAL BLYTHE …

            I ended up just PASTELING THE HELL OUT OF HER FACE  (with chalk).  She looks like she has a “QT” bottle tan (remember that stuff they sold in the early days, which turned everyone ORANGE?) but to me, anything was better than the GREEN!  And with the beautiful red hair, I really did not want to make her face ‘white’ (I don’t know how to do that either!). 

            So, now she is ORANGE, like her hair.

* Disclaimer on ALL of my NOTES:  I am not a true customizer.  I have only done the few girls that I own, 7 Little Big Eyes, 2 Blybe, and one real Blythe.  The caliber and skill and profesionalism that is so evident by the lovely flickr pictures ... well there is no comparison to my extreme amateur attempts.  HOWEVER, ALL I really wanted to do was to change them from the hideousness that I saw, into just a teeny bit more beautiful, for my own pleasure and sense of accomplishment.  I do not now, or ever, plan to offer my own skills at customization ... the reason for these blog entries is to help the few out there who would like to do just a few little steps, without spending ANOTHER huge amount on their already expensive girls.