Monday, July 27, 2015

Afro Blythe Gets New Body, Finally

Afro Blythe is shown above on her original non-articulated body.

Yet another doll project has been completed of the many I have to do.  This one involved rebodying my Afro Blythe. Her sister, with the fishtail hairdo, was rebodied first, even though she arrived after Afro Blythe.  I chose to rebody the other doll first because the Afro one is my favorite; and if I flubbed up, I did not want it to be on my favorite of the two.

I used the same steps to rebody Afro Blythe that were used on the other doll.  What was done is illustrated in the captioned photos below.

After loosening the screws that hold the back-of-head plate in place, the end of the eye spring (where the red arrow points) was lifted away from the bar on the back-of-head plate using tweezers.
Back-of-head plate has been removed.  The old body has been replaced with new body, with the neck groove positioned onto its compartment in the back-of-head plate.

A hook fashioned with a jumbo paper clip was used to hook the end of the eye spring and pull it through the opening in the back-of-head plate.  The end of the spring was then clamped back onto the bar of that same opening.  The back and front head plates were then clamped into position and the three screws replaced.

Blythe feels like a conqueror, even though I did all the work.  Next, she models a couple of Sparkle Girlz fashions and various shoes.

The new body has more curves than the non-articulated body.  The slimmer body is able to wear 9-1/2-inch Calista fashions.  This is not the case with the new, articulated body.  The feet are larger  than those on the other body as well, but Calista's shoes will fit the articulated body.  Since she can no longer wear Calista's pink hot pants, Afro Blythe tried on the above Sparkle Girlz fashion with Calista's low-top pink, Chuck-style sneakers.

Next she paired the same Sparkle Girlz fashion with pink boots borrowed from Amusement Park Stacie (a thrift store find).  The fit is perfect.  Interestingly, the mint green sneakers worn by the other thrift store doll seen at the previous link were too small for Blythe.

She has pulled her hair away from her face in this photo and wears a pair of pink foam sandals made by Paulette of LimbΓ© Dolls.

The pink lace blouse and floral-print leggings of this Sparkle Girlz fashion look nice with the pink foam sandals.  The leggings are a little long on her, but Blythe decided to continuing wearing this ensemble.  She later joined her sister for the last photo of the day.

Both girls are happy to have the additional movement their new, articulated bodies provide.

Blythe's old, non-articulated body was listed on eBay and sold within a couple of hours in a buy it now, best offer auction.  The same thing happened with her sister's old body.  It sold relatively fast too.
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22 comments:

  1. Hi Debbie,
    Afro Blythe sure feels like a conqueror. I can tell how happy she is now that she can strike as many different poses as she wants.

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    1. Thank you, Arlette. I am happy to have this task behind me and to now have the ability to pose both girls.

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  2. I like the new bodies. Good articulation.

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  3. Hi Debbie,
    I love her new body. She's adorable!
    Lisey

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  4. Your Blythe's are beautiful. Those are the nicest Blythe dolls I've seen. Usually, they're creepy looking.

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    1. Thank you Robotica.

      You're right, some of them can look creepy. I think it all has to do with the clothing and of course the eye combinations. I saw a photo yesterday of about 20 or so Blythe dolls seated at a long dinner table. They were all staring/glaring in the same direction, toward the end of the table, at something, someone. It was a little unsettling.

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  5. Wow Debbie, great job! I am really impressed with your skills in removing the head and rebodying her. The strings would be so intimidating for me. I would be afraid that I wouldn't put things together properly and then have her to end up useless. They both look great!

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    1. Thanks, GG.

      That's exactly how I felt before rebodying the first Blythe. I just knew I would mess something up and render the doll useless, which is why I did a little research on how to do it first. It took me so long to give the second doll her body because I knew I would need something firm with a thin edge at one end to pry open the seams of the head cavity once the screws were removed. I used a regular flat screwdriver to loose the seams of the head cavity of the first Blythe and put a tiny nick in the side of her face because the edge of the screwdriver was too thick.

      Last week when searching through photo boxes for my daughter's elementary classroom photos, I found a small tool set that had just the right size tool. It was then that I knew it was Afro Blythe's time to receive her new body.

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  6. She looks so pleased with her new limbs!

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  7. She does look great! What body did you use for the switch?

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  8. She does look great! What body did you use for the switch?

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    1. Thank you, Nikia. The replacement body I used can be seen at the following URL and/or the link (if the link works this time:
      http://www.aliexpress.com/item/ON-SALE-articulated-body-joint-body-suitable-for-blythe-1-6-doll/32286504337.html
      Replacement body.

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  9. Thank your posting your step-by-step instructions on changing your Afro Blythe's body and the information about using a thin flat tool to separate her face from the back of her head. Tomorrow, I'm going to change my Blythe's current body to the articulated body I bought for her months ago. I let you know how she turns out.

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    1. Good luck with rebodying your Blythe. There are also videos on how to do this on YouTube. I would recommend watching a video first, which is what I did before rebodying my other Blythe. I included a link to the video that I found helpful in the post that details the first Blythe's rebodying. The link to that post is included in thie second paragraph of this post. Click the words: the other doll.

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  10. Check her out! She is loving her new body. She looks great in all her outfits.

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    1. She certainly is loving her new body. We both are. ;-)

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  11. to ciało obezwładnia!!! moje maleństwa LPS chciałyby móc tak się wyginać :)))

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