I Started A Journal For My Blythe Dolls!
As if I couldn't get more Blythe obessed, I started a journal for my dolls
I recently finished The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, it’s a popular book for creatives. I wasn’t creatively blocked when I started reading this book but the more I read this book, the more my creativity bloomed! One of the ideas that came to me was starting a zine for my Blythe dolls. This was all before I found out about the ‘I’m Sorry’ zine by Esoteric Dolls, though I’ve been getting a lot of inspiration from that Blythe booklet.
If you follow me on my main blog and Instagram, then you may know that I’m an avid journaler and have multiple notebooks for my different interests, so beginning a Blythe journal seemed very natural to me. haha
I’m going to use this journal to document my doll's outfits and looks in a cute creative style, think Japanese fashion magazines. I used to be a big fan of the Harajuku fashion scene and would buy Zipper and Popteen magazines on a regular basis (I still have my copies!). I used to get so much inspiration from these magazines! I loved all the ways the models would style their looks. One of my favorite page spreads was when the models would style outfits using a limited set of clothing pieces for a week or even a month! This is a spread I hope to make for my Blythe dolls in this journal.
I posted a flip-through on my TikTok and Blythestagram of what I currently have in my Blythe journal but I also took some photos of the pages so you can take a better look.
The journal cover was inspired by the Blythe doll illustrations that you see reporting on. I drew the doll on colored-paper, I freeballed the base of the doll, hair, and the dress of the doll all seperatly. The dress the Blythe doll is wearing is the first dress I ever crocheted for May! The doll on the cover wasn’t based on any doll, I just picked the color blue for the hair because it was the only colored-paper I had that stuck out on the cover of this strawberry-printed journal. However, I noticed she was giving off “Flowergirl of Happiness” vibes, so maybe my subconscious picked these colors thinkin about her?
The eye and lips were painted on using acrylic paint. I plan to make this a mixed-media journal using various art styles like watercolor, oil pastels, and possibly more acrylic painting. Looking back I probably could’ve just cut-out eyes on white and black paper, this would’ve been easier. lol
As you can see, I chose the name of this journal/zine series to be called “Blythe Bites” after my Blythe Bites series here on Substack. I also wrote “vol 1” as I have this same journal but in blue, so if I ever finish this first issue, I can make a second one right away!
I use my Sprocket photo printer and KODAK Mini Shot 4 ERA to print out the pictures of my dolls. I use the connected apps to print out the pictures I have saved on my phone. All of the photos are from my Blythestagram.
I prefer using the Sprocket photo printer because the photos are printed on sticker paper, which makes it easy to apply inside the journal. The photos on the KODAK printer are printed on regular photo paper so I have to use glue or tape to attach them to my journal.
On the first page of my journal, I made an intro page to get to know my Blythe dolls. Their photos easily flip open as I stuck a piece of washi tape, making it easy to open and close. Underneath, I have written some information about each doll, such as their name, official doll name, face model, birthday, etc.
On the left page, I made a cute spread of my latest Aliexpress haul. I drew, colored, and glued the clothing pieces to represent the clothing items I bought for my dolls. It was really fun to let my little artistic child play!
On the right page, I dedicated a page to my Blythe doll’s hair. I wanted a place to document May’s pink wig as I plan to change her wig out every season and want to keep track of all her hair wigs.
This last page is probably my favorite out of the four! The colors are bright and fun, and I love the pictures I used on this page. Speaking of, this is kind of a self-promo page for my crochet patterns on my Substack. The camera bag and baseball cap crochet patterns are both available on my Substack right now!
Creating this Blythe journal has been so much entertaining! I can’t wait to sit down and make more page spreads! I may even record the process and post it on my YouTube.