BPC 42

Blythe's Just Desserts

I have been carrying around various dolls, hoping for some inspiration to strike or at least a pretty display case.

I tried a Thanksgiving theme but I wasn't happy with it.


Last weekend, we were overtaken with a hankering for Cuban food and the closest place is in Downey, so after a 40 mile drive (including a detour to Occupy Los Angeles), we finally got to Habana Cafe.

Detour! Picture from moving car since I was afraid of the overwhelming stink to really walk among it.


Unfortunately, Habana Cafe was having like three parties and the only seating was in the bar or the bakery. I opted for the bakery since I was planning on hitting it pretty hard after I had dinner.

That should have been the tipoff, really. It all went downhill from there. The place had really, really gone downhill, like a complete 180, it was horrifying. My lechon asado was lechon secado and the mango margarita tasted like the mango had gone bad. Super unhappy face. To add to all that, that night they had a singer there, which was probably why there were so many parties, and he was just BLARING as all get out and I couldn't even hear the waitress who was shouting in my ear.

I hold this man responsible.


Don't hide from me Edgar, I see you.


I figured I would try and salvage this with at least a Challenge photo so I tried posing with the dessert cart but I got chased off.

Also, the lighting was bad.

I ended up back at the bakery cases. It's possible these pastries were Cuban but by that point, I wasn't taking any more chances.

Final Photo:


Oh, and the bathrooms were devoid of seat covers and one stall had no SEAT and the other didn't have a lock. Right.

BPC 41

Blythe and the Letter Q

This one doesn't really have an interesting backstory. I had to look up local businesses that had "Q" in there somewhere, even though there's a bar in the area that's actually called "Q's" but I was hoping for something more exotic. I didn't find it. This place is actually called "Big Q Lube" and I had hoped there was some nice big signage that said so near the street, but they didn't have any! I guess they got too many comments and disappointed perverts.

On the day I took this, which was the last day, of course, it was overcast and crummy. This was what the picture actually looked like:


I had to edit it out in the field, but that's why I pay for a premium Picnik account, so it worked out.

Final photo:

BPC 40

I am a member of The Blythe Physical Challenge Group and thus far, I have completed every single durn challenge. Most of the time, I would say about 95% of the time, I do not have an opportunity to complete the challenge until the last possible day and then my big plans go sideways. So I thought I would start keeping track of where things go wrong.

Challenge #40: Blythe is Scared to Death!

I could not think of anything, maybe one doll chasing another in a mask or something. Then I remembered I had a Revoltech Jason Voorhees! Great! I scouted around and in the parking lot of a crappy store, I saw the perfect site. Under a parking lot light, a little puddley from the recent rain, a bunch of abandoned furniture and construction debris piled up, it would be great. I didn't have time until Friday, of course, but Friday morning it was raining pretty heavy. I returned Friday night, only to find the lot light was completely out and the lot was pitch dark. This always happens.

So I packed up all of my gear, doll, Jason, camera, and walked around until I found anything suitable which I finally found at a government mall. Because of the rain and cold, the homeless people and skaters who usually live there were somewhere else which was a little reassuring since I was by myself and it was like 9:00 at night.



Specifically, a strip of landscaping underneath a light on the mall walkway in front of a courthouse.



I shot about 40 frames or so in various poses. No flash, this was all the mall lighting. Obviously, I had to use a Hollywood, duh. She's on a Kaiyodo stand that seemed to work pretty well at holding her up on uneven terrain. Some people walked by but no one stopped.

Final photo:

To benefit the Pasadena Humane Society

The local collectors had a meet for Halloween and held an auction to benefit the Pasadena Humane Society. I made and donated this dress set (dress, necklace and bow) which was won at auction by Ellewoods 2007. There were a lot of other items in the auction and in total, the auction raised $268!

Dress blocking

For maximum poufability, I like to block dresses over the upturned half of a vintage marmalade pot. I don't usually block unless I have to, but these I like to do. And it looks funny, I like that too.

An octopus

Awwww, I wanted to try this for a while. I think he's cute. Despite the pink, he appears to be a boy. I didn't have any buttons small enough for his eyes and the beads I had were too small so he ended up with these freaky pearl ones, poor chap.



I am going to add him to a headband so he will always look like this. Maybe make a second one with wired legs for extra clingy action.

Birdie, Betwixt and Between

I was ever so happy that this sweater came out as it did, it is exactly as I would have liked. It wasn't planned but I liked the earthy color combo with the hat so there you go. I opted not to weave in the ends on Birdie's hat and braided them into the ties instead which I rather like as they remind me of dreads.



Both made of wool so my hands and finger felt like they were on fire but twas totally worth it.

I need to try and update more. One of these days, I will build up an inventory and re-stock my store, maybe after the first of the year.

For Halloween, I used Nxtdrgrrl's hoodie pattern to make a dinosaur costume.


And a few months ago, I bought a pair of Blyh dolls just because they are so ugly, they're cute. At least, I think they are. They look like little monsters. And they're so small, they're easy to make hats and dresses for, a big plus.

Trying not to get rusty

I guess sometimes the mood strikes and sometimes it just won't. I have not made anything in a long while and then while watching Warehouse 13, I decided to keep myself busy. Two weeks later, I had all this mess. I was mainly trying to get through my yarn stash and see how many things I could get out of a standard skein.

I am not a fan of self-striping yarn, in fact, I think most of it works up quite ugly and I never buy any unless it is particularly ugly. I do like the colors in this bright and heinous yarn though. Still ugly. The rest of the hats are wool which I seldom work with because I am allergic to it and I have no idea why I ever bought avocado green yarn but I might have been on an ugly streak.

I am unable to get the lead out, apparently.

Well, that took long enough. This helmet was made for a trade which I agreed to maybe a month ago? My partner is a kind and gorgeous creature and sent her helmet way ahead of me in a timely fashion. As an incentive, I refrained from opening her package until I finished my lazy, good-for-nothing contribution, which took a very long time. It was actually probably more than a month. Sad. Modeled by my new-to-me Kozy, Mousetrap.

Still trying to get the dress thing down

I'll get there one of these days!

Two commissions down

On red, red hat of wonderment in a chunkier weight yarn so it more pooftastic.



And a pink beret with one of my precious flapper lady buttons.

Experimentation

I thought I should expand my repertoire into dresses but so far, nothing seems to be really "it." This is the story so far:




I'll get it down eventually.

Commission

Hey! I managed to finish a commission in under a month! I'm going to reward myself with a peach cobbler.

At last

Done! Just listed this morning and soon to go home to their new owners, hooray.

These were all commissioned clothing and hats and such.


Space helmet in black with a bit of sparkle running through it.


Which went well, I think, with the tunic-length sweater in black and white stripes with overly long flared sleeves.


Up close and personal.


Neon pink hat of wonderment. Super bright in natural light.


Neon green hat of wonderment. Also very bright in natural light.


Neon blue beret with clear star button. This was kinda hard to part with.


And lastly, a sweater for a very slender NECA Coraline doll. The stars are embroidered in DMC glow in the dark thread.


See? Glows.