29 October 2008

Meet Laura

Laura is my fourth redhead, but she is distinct from the other three. She has green eyes like Ruth and Marina, but no freckles like Kyra. She is an earlier doll than the other three, produced in 1996 and 1997. My Laura's pink tag has a style number beginning with "96-", so I believe she was produced in 1996.


She wears a brown corduroy dress with a white pinafore made of a waffle-weave fabric. I have seen several old dolls for sale recently wearing a similar outfit; apparently this is a style worn by some of the Gotz dolls in the 1960's. Here's a full view, once again by my neighbor's driveway.

27 October 2008

Meet Ira

Ira is a limited edition doll from 2001, with an outfit modeled after one of the old studio dolls (shown on page 49 of the book Sasha-Puppen). I don't think pictures do her justice, as she's quite spectacular in person. Her dress is a beautiful ivory-colored silk brocade with pale blue trim, almost the same color blue as her eyes.


Her lace-trimmed pantaloons peek out from beneath the dress. She wears her hair in a thick braid/plait down her back with a pink and white tie and headband, held in place by a shiny black barrette. I love how it all coordinates without being matchy-matchy.


My camillias were blooming (at least I think that's what they are), so I posed her beside them for a little color. As I was taking pictures, a butterfly landed on the flower. This made for a nice photo-op, and I managed to snap a few more shots before the butterfly flew away.


She came with a certificate denoting her limited edition status and number. In addition, she is marked on her torso with her number (168 of 750) and the year 2001.

23 October 2008

Meet Cybil

Cybil came to us still tied into her box, thus I know she is a Sasha Redhead White Dress (108). She's certainly from the 1980's though I'm not positive about the date. The booklet in her box says "Catalogue No 25, Issue 1, November 1983", but it shows Harlequin (1984) with the limited edition dolls, so I'm assuming she'd be considered a 1984 doll, not 1983. Unlike Calla and Cathy, I thought to take a picture before I removed her.


After roughly 25 years in a box, she was a bit unhappy. Her hair took some coaxing, especially the bangs, and there are lines on her clothing at the ankles and shoulders from the rubber bands which held her to the box. Still, she looks pretty stunning here standing in the sunlight by my neighbor's driveway.


I understand why these redheads are sought after, because her hair is the most marvelous color, or should I say colors. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to capture it properly, but you can see it here especially in the bangs.

20 October 2008

Five Amigos is Enough!

Looking at the four amigos standing together in the dining room, it felt like something was missing. Four dolls (a nice even number), two with long hair and two with short (an even split), two with blonde hair and two with dark hair (another even split). Yet I had another name from my searches -- starting with "C", five letters long, and of Greek origin. Cybil was missing. I should emphasize the WAS because she isn't missing anymore. She adds a nice asymmetry to the group, and a bit of pizazz with her copper-colored hair. I'll make her formal introduction later in the week.


The girls are all dolled up in clothing from eBay seller justsew1940. I'm not sure the best way to describe these outfits (Modern? Trendy? Current??), but they look like things my young daughter and her friends would wear. I've switched where they're standing so you can see the trim on the jeans, which were hidden in the first configuration.

19 October 2008

Display Cabinet

I finally purchased a display cabinet from Ikea for housing my Sasha dolls. My plan is to remove the three adjustable shelves, giving me three tall sections to arrange them in. Hopefully there will be enough room, both space-wise and height-wise (it's about 3 feet wide and almost 7 feet tall). Now I need to find time to assemble it, which will probably require my husband's help (both of the boxes are very heavy). It will be nice to have all the dolls out where I can see them together, but I think my husband will be shocked when he realizes just how many dolls I've acquired. I may be shocked too. Here's a picture of the cabinet as shown on Ikea's website:


UPDATE: We assembled it today! Actually, my husband assembled it today while I alternated between keeping the kids occupied and handing him the correct hardware. The middle section is the "shortest" of the three, and plenty tall enough for Sashas to stand in. The top and bottom sections have quite a bit of excess height. I was hoping to partition each of them into two sections -- one tall for Sashas and one short (at the top/bottom) for document/project storage boxes where I could keep tags, booklets, original clothing, etc. Unfortunately the "adjustable" shelves are only minimally adjustable, with all the pre-drilled holes near the midpoints of the sections. Fortunately my husband says he can drill additional holes to give me the configuration I want. He's a pretty handy guy, and so very tolerant of my doll habit. :-)

17 October 2008

Meet Kyra

Kyra is my third redhead, but she has a different look than the other two. Both Ruth and Marina have green eyes and freckles, while Kyra has blue eyes and no freckles. Her eyes coordinate with her pale blue corduroy dress.


That's a look reminiscent of the early Sashas from the 1960's, but there's more to her outfit. Kyra also has a furry coat and hat, plus a white knit scarf and mittens-on-a-string. She looks a bit like a snowman when she's all bundled up.


A glamorous snowman that is, or perhaps a Nordic Princess.

14 October 2008

Meet Sarah

Sarah came to me without her tube, and has more wear than my other Later Gotz dolls. Her hair is tangled near the scalp behind one ear, her hand has a small mark, and her sandals seem stretched out -- all tiny imperfections on a sweet girl from 1998. I plan to give her a bit of TLC when I can find some free time, although she really doesn't need much.


She is the first blue-eyed blonde of my collection, though certainly not the last.

12 October 2008

Meet Annett

Annett is a blue-eyed brunette, who was produced in 1999. I don't know many people with blue eyes and brown hair, but it's a striking combination shared by Anna and Anika (my other "A" girls). Her outfit is similar to Maria's, except her pants are brown and she also has a red felt duffle coat.


Here's a closer look at her face without the jacket covering up her hair.

07 October 2008

Meet Marina

Like Luisa, Marina is styled after an earlier Trendon doll. Sasha Brunette Marina wore a marina/sailor outfit, hence her name. The later Gotz Marina wears a similar outfit, but is a redhead instead. She was produced in both 1999 and 2000. I believe my Marina is from 1999, as the booklet attached to her dress only shows dolls that were produced in 1999. I used some of the lovely flowers in my neighbor's yard as a backdrop for these photos.


Like Ruth, she has green eyes and freckles to go with her red hair. Unfortunately the freckles are a bit hard to see in this picture (I think I need a better camera to take close-up shots, as mine refuses to focus when I try).

06 October 2008

Make That Four Amigos

It is getting a bit cold for here for summer dresses, so I changed the girls into more appropriate clothing for fall. Still lots of green in the trees though, as we haven't had any frost yet. Except for the shoes on Cathy and Calla (the blondes), everything they are wearing was purchased from The Sasha Wardrobe. I think my new sweater girl looks so much sweeter wearing pink than she did in her original beige.

Boo & Calla

Boo says she loves all our Trendon Sasha dolls, but she always seems to gravitate towards Calla. When I asked why, she told me that she likes Calla's hair -- not the way it looks mind you, but the way it smells. Go figure. She asked to hold her while watching TV this afternoon, so I snapped a picture of them together.