Skya’s Complete Make Over In Photographs

The weather has been so temperamental and Skya has been way too eager to wait for the weather to play nice to make her first apparition. She is indeed well pleased with herself and was absolutely thrilled with an indoor photoshoot.

Skya Before

Skya After

I couldn’t resist reposting a photo of Skya before she started the customisation journey with me. We surely have been a long way together. It has been a most delightful experience and one I have been blessed to share with a very dear dolly friend of mine, Marika. I will be for ever thankful for all you have done for us my dear friend. A huge thank you to you from us both.

Skya’s Complete Make Over

Below are the different steps that Skya has gone through during our customisation journey:

-She was taken apart on the 31/05/2016

-Her eye mechanism was taken apart

-Her eyelids, face plate and back plate were sanded

-Her nose, nostrils and surrounding areas were carved

-Her mouth was carved

-Her original four pairs of eye chips were removed

-Four new pairs of eye chips were hand painted and glued into her eye mesh

-Her old eyelashes were removed

-Her new eyelashes were cut and glued into place

-Her eyelids were painted

-She was given sleepy eyes

-She was given boggled eyes

-She was given a gaze lift

-Two pull charms were designed and fitted

-Her scalp was replaced by a second hand Blythe scalp

-The pattern of hole of her scalp was modified to accommodate some bangs

-Saran hair was ordered

-Her new scalp was rerooted with Saran hair

-Her old body was replaced by a new jointed body

-Her new jointed body was corrected

-She was given a new face-up

-A dress was tailored made just for her

-A hat, a pair of boots and a bag were tailored made just for her by my dear friend Marika

-She was put back together on the 12/07/2017

An Important Day In The Life Of Skya

Today has been an important day in the life of my Blythe doll Skya. It is the day when I have found the courage to venture in the unknown territories of a Doll’s makeup. It took several goes and a lot of compromises to get to a somewhat very basic face-up but I am thrilled with the result.

Skya’s Painted Face Plate

Needless to say that Skya has now been put back together. I couldn’t possibly wait any longer for this magical moment. It has now been over a year that Skya and I started this journey together. I couldn’t wait any longer. She will most certainly get a proper photoshoot when the weather agrees with us and when I muster the courage to venture in yet again another territory, that of Blythe doll photography.

A Special Gift From A Special Friend

It has always been Skya’s dream to be an OOAK doll. She has indeed always dreamt to be fully customised and that meant that she has always hoped to get a custom made outfit too. She was hoping I would do that for her and try; I certainly did. I have indeed designed and created Skya’s dress from my very own most favourite dress. But it is while doing so that I had to come to the harsh realisation that fashion wasn’t quite my domain and my poor girl wouldn’t go very far if she had to rely on me for her hat and shoes. So we eventually both had to accept that Skya’s dream of being a full OOAK doll would not be fulfilled in the end.

Well, that was until my dear friend Marika surprised us with the possibility of Skya harbouring some of her magnificent hand made fashion. The very same friend who has witnessed Skya’s birth from the very beginning of her journey and who has supported us in every single step of Skya’s customisation.

Skya’s OOAK Fashion By My Talented Friend Marika

This is certainly the most beautiful gift we could have ever hoped for and not only for its fabulous aesthetics but for its meaning also. With Marika’s hand made fashion, Skya’s dream of being a full custom Blythe doll can once again come true.

Skya will be wearing a hat that has been made especially for her, a OOAK hat. She too will be harbouring OOAK boots made especially for her and a most beautiful OOAK bag. Needless to say that Skya absolutely adores it all. She is in fact already wearing it all very proudly. Only she is still in parts, awaiting for the very final part of the customisation process, her make up. Skya has nonetheless put a request for a special photoshoot as she wishes to further show off this beautifully crafted set made just for her, so do please stay tune for that.

I can’t quite believe this is happening. My beautiful sky lover is about to come to life and she will do so with her head full of dreams.

Skya’s Eyelids

Since I started working on Skya, about a year ago now, I have been having all sorts of ideas for her eyelids. Yet, at the same time, the drive to see Skya come to life together with the realisation that I am a true beginner in the land of Blythe customisation have meant that both Skya and I are happily settling for something that may appear a little simple but yet meaningful to both of us.

Her eyelids were painted using metallic blue acrylic paint. I also painted her lashes in that same shade of blue. It has become obvious that Skya’s fascination isn’t just about the sky. She too has a deeply rooted connection to all that is metallic. She wouldn’t tell me more at this stage but I wouldn’t be surprised that if she had a companion it would be a metallic blue robot.

Skya’s Fashion

I have been for a little while conversing with Skya about the items of clothing she wants to wear. She mentioned about a dress, one made of a very special material, that from my most favourite blue dress. Sadly the effect of time together with the cumulated number of times I worn that dress made it too scruffy for me to wear anymore. I nonetheless couldn’t part with it and kept it in storage for if and when an opportunity might arise. It turned out that several areas of my dress were most impeccable when it comes to making a dress for a tiny Blythe doll.  Skya will essentially be wearing a mini version of my most favourite dress and it will be a most joyful treat to see my girl wearing it as proudly as I used to.

A little while back I noticed a most gorgeous hat on the Blythe girls of my dear friend Marika. I waited for a little while; only until Skya assured me that she loves it and wants it. It happens to work very well with a felt pair of boots I bought several years ago. Skya has most obviously noticed those and instantly claimed them for herself.

These are very exciting times for all that is left for Skya to come to life is her make up. Given my current knowledge of makeup, pretty much nil, Skya and I have decided to settle on a somewhat simple but effective makeup; whatever that exactly means is yet to be discovered.

Skya’s Eye Chips Are Ready

This is quite an important milestone in the life of my star gazer and sky lover. My dearest girl has this fabulous opportunity to have four different perspectives on the world and the freedom to change between these as she pleases.

She loves to see the human world as a deliciously dreamy colourful bokeh and as such the glittery eye chips were a must. There are those times when she truly wants to see the world in a single colour too though and her favourite colour being blue she had to have a metallic blue pair of eye chips. Sometimes Skya simply needs to replenish her energy levels and get closer to the sun which she dearly loves. Last but not least Skya always has a part of her heart lost in the sky and as such her last pair of eye chips had to be a moonlit sky.

SKYA’s EYE CHIPS ARE READY

Skya’s Eye Chips Prior To Being Painted

Skya’s Eye Chips

 

Skya’s Pull Charms Are Awaiting For Her

I have always had in mind Skya’s pull charms, from the very beginning of her customisation and yet these come into play at the final stage of the process when one is ready to put the doll back together. They are the final touch to a Blythe doll’s sleeping eyes. But to me they are much more than an aesthetic final touch, they speak about the doll, they are her very own signature.

I knew from the start that those two glass hearts would be part of Skya’s pull charms. The rest is all Skya’s doing. They are ending up being made of quite a few delicate parts which lead me to think that Skya won’t be so much of a hands on doll. She is more likely to have her very own little throne in my home, in a place where I can never fail to see her. But who knows, she might see it very differently as she truly comes to life.

The more curious can find a little bit more on sleepy eyes in this previous post:

https://bellepansatelier.wordpress.com/2016/06/18/skyas-eye-mechanism-optimisation/

Skya Has Some New Eyelashes

It seems that Skya is no longer fighting the customisation process and I would even dare to say that she is actually embracing it rather swiftly. I can only hope it remains this way. It has indeed been quite a treat to work on her new lashes. I couldn’t resist for Skya to have some extra voluminous ones. I hope she will like those quite some. She shall let me know shortly I hope. I might do some more star gazing and see if she tags along again, I would certainly like that.

SKYA HAS SOME NEW LASHES

Skya’s New Lashes

Skya’s Lashes Cut To Size

Skya’s New Eyelashes

Time For Changes

Skya’s truest and wildest desires have vividly populated my mind since her birth last Spring. I have such a clear picture of Skya in my mind and yet I too have had to accept that I am at the most a budding doll customiser. It has been a bit of a harsh realisation but a very freeing one too. Instead of fine-tuning Skya in my mind for ages I can let her be somewhat more spontaneous. Perhaps it is much more like Skya anyway; perhaps she has been trying to tell me this all this time. I have the feeling that Skya is bursting to come to life now.

It seems that the idea of meticulously detailing every single procedure Skya will be going through has recently somehow put me off my very own blog. I never truly intended for this blog to focus on the DIY aspects of Blythe customisation as they are tons of those out there already but much more on the design of an OOAK character. Back then, when it all started, it somehow felt necessary to carefully detail everything as Skya happened to behave rather differently from all Blythes out there.  But I am very confident that all procedures to come are well documented already and so my blog can get back to its truest self and focus on the design of my stargazer, rooftopper and full-time dreamer: Skya.