♥ 2013 Sasha Festival ♥

The 2013 Sasha Festival is happening July 11-14 in the Cincinnati area. Save the dates and start saving your pennies! Here is the announcement card, which shows the theme and details.



I'll share a link when the website is up and running. Registration is slated to start on December 21, so that should be soon. Eight months and counting down ...

12/2/12: Note that The Drawbridge Hotel is closing so the Festival will be held at a yet-to-be-determined alternate site. New information coming shortly.

12/5/12: The new venue for 2013 Sasha Festival is the Marriott Cincinnati Airport.

4/21/13: I'm not sure if there's going to be a website this year or not. I've uploaded a digital copy of the registration form to my google docs -- click on the link to download. Anyone looking for additional information should contact Heidi directly.

6/1/13: Heidi has announced the themes for the main events, if you want to dress your dolls (or even yourself) to suit the theme.

Thursday Meet and Greet = "A Sasha Sleepover"
Friday Luncheon = "School Days" or "Look What I Found At Grandma's!"
Saturday Dinner = "Happy Birthday, Sasha M!" 120 yrs.
Sunday Breakfast = "Dressed in My Sunday Best!"

Meet Jessica (before)

Mother Nature isn't cooperating with my picture taking efforts. These pictures were taken last weekend when the weather was cloudy due to Hurricane Sandy. I was hoping to retake them this weekend but there's still no sunshine. My biggest complaint is that the colors are off from having to turn on lights, so perhaps it's time to invest in some "natural light" lightbulbs.

This lovely lady is a 1966 np with the developmental eye style. Her brows have silvered, but I think that just adds to her striking appearance. She is in desperate need of a cleaning and restringing (she's leaning against the wall here so she doesn't topple over) which will hopefully happen soon. I figured I'd share a few pictures first, and showcase a new outfit at the same time. Marti Murphy made the dress and coordinating shoes (and undergarments too, which you can't see). It is similar to the ribbon dress that I won in the Childrens' Fund Auction, but the fabric has been dyed.

I probably should have ironed the dress or at least made sure it hung nicely in all the photos, but I was preoccupied with keeping Jessica upright and trying to avoid bad shadows. This was one of the better shots otherwise though, so I decided to include it.

Even with sketchy lighting she's a very pretty doll in a very pretty dress.

Play Dolls

I think one of the things that I love most about Sashas is that they are play dolls. While mine mostly stand on shelves, Boo's can be found in various places and situations around the house. While she treats they with care, she interacts with them rather than just admiring them. This was the scene in her bedroom about a month ago: Rose, Calla, and Madden resting on a makeshift pallet with a stuffed horse and monkey for company. Kitty was sleeping separately due to her "broken arm" - fortunately just imaginary, but wrapped in a handkerchief sling.

I helped Boo dress them in their new togs on her birthday and pose them in the same spot for another group picture. Many days she'd rather play video games, watch tv, ride her bike, or whittle sticks, but it's nice that she has sturdy dolls she can play with when she's in the mood. And such lovely, serene dolls too.

Birthday Girl

Boo's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. One of her gifts was matching tops for her and her Sashas from Jackapotamus/Sashapotamus. I was worried she might declare that nine was too old for dolls, but luckily that didn't happen. Not only did she wear her "pirate bear" shirt to school the next day (with leg bone leggings!), but she brought her babies in their onesies too.

Kitty and Madden traveled to and from school in a basket, then hung out in the kitchen later like the basket was a playpen.

The next week she and Kitty and Calla went to school wearing pink kittens. I custom-ordered the onesie specifically for Kitty, and Boo was thrilled with it.

They also traveled in the basket and hung out in it for several days afterward in Boo's bedroom.

I'm glad that nine still isn't too old to play with (and dress like) dolls.

Early Baby Duo

Unlike squirmy live babies, Erik and Elin were easy to photograph. He did take a bit of coaxing to look at the camera though.

Her hair is a bit longer than his and her face appears wider - subtle differences that I think make than an even more appealing pair than if they were simply clones with different hair color.

They look sweet in white, but I think they're going to look even sweeter in some of the coordinating outfits I've found for them. I'm sure I'll be sharing more pictures of these two at some point in the future.

Meet Erik

As promised in my last post ...
Erik is my most-recent Sasha doll, arriving here from England two weeks ago. He is a (sexed) Baby Woolly, which were only made in 1970. He is wearing his full original outfit as well as his gold wrist tag. He'd been described as "in gently played with condition with plenty of sand falling from his joints", and I was surprised by just how much sand when I took these pictures. I don't think his clothes have ever been changed.

So much to love about this sweet little guy, and his hair has a similar shape to baby Elin. While her eyes are greening slightly and her lips have whitened, his face paint is nice and vibrant.

They make a nice pair, but I'll save showing them together for my next post. Gotta spread out the pictures from last weekend's photo session, since who knows when I'll find time (and cooperative weather - today is rainy and dark) to take more.

Meet Elin

I used some (rare) free time over the weekend to play with my Sasha dolls. I changed clothes on a few of the girls and photographed a couple of the babies. Since I now have pictures, I can make another introduction. This is the second of my Sasha babies, a sexed brunette from the early 1970's who I call Elin. She retains her original nightdress, diaper, and blanket, as well as her large silver wrist tag.

I know I'm biased, but I think she's one of the most adorable Sasha babies I've ever seen. I love her full head of nicely-shaped hair (which is a bit dry/delicate but doesn't seem to be falling) and her wide face.

Up next, her male counterpart ...

Sashapotamus

A new etsy shop opened yesterday called Sashapotamus, selling adorable screen printed t-shirts for Sasha/Gregor and onesies for Sasha Babies. They're eco-friendly too, with low-impact vegetable dyes and solvent free ink. I must confess I've done quite a bit of shopping there already. I've added it to my LINKS section in the left sidebar for future reference.


And if you're interested in t-shirts for babies/children with many of the same screenprints, check out Jackapotamus. You just may see pictures of Boo and her Sashas sporting matching tops in the future. :-)

Birthdays

Today is my Mom's birthday - Happy Birthday GramMarion!

As a birthday gift to her, I thought it would be fun to share the birthday gifts that she's been sending to me. You see, my presents have been mom-made doll clothes. She used to knit and crochet clothes for my Barbie dolls when I was young, but now is creating clothes for my Sasha dolls. I am such a lucky girl!

Three years ago she bought a set of the Golden Hands patterns on eBay and surprised me with several outfits for my birthday. Aren't they marvelous?!

Last year my Mom had been testing knitting patterns for Susanna Lewis, so I received the items that she made - a ribbed sweater and an assortment of socks (these patterns are in the new book Sasha Dolls, Clothing and Patterns). The chest of drawers in this picture was part of Kendal's table hostess gift at the recent Sasha Festival in Stratford. I haven't introduced this girl yet, but you may know her as Shelly's model Addison - now renamed Raven.

This year she created crocheted summer jackets, modeling them after a jacket that my Grandmother made for one of my Mother's dolls when she was a child. I think I have seven different colors of the jacket, plus one made up without sleeves as a little cape. Alas I ran out of photography time today, so here is a picture from Stratford. Alison is wearing the cape, while Calla, Rose, and Kitty have on three of the jackets. I'll post more pictures at some point in the future.

Thanks Mom!

Gotz Brunettes in Farmpants

As promised, here are several pictures of my two Gotz brunettes in farmpants. The inspiration for Annett certainly came from the earlier dolls like my Marlena. They are quite a striking duo with their brown hair and blue eyes. Despite their similar size, Marlena looks like an older child to me because of her angular chin and more pronounced nose.

These are probably their last photos together, as Annett has been sent to Shelly in the UK to find a new home. Then again, it's possible that they may be reunited at some point in the future at a yet-to-be determined place. One never knows ...

Meet Marlena

Guess I need to get back to making introductions, as I have quite a few dolls that haven't been introduced yet. All of my no-navels are on the blog except for one, so I'll start with her. Marlena is a blue-eyed brunette from 1970, wearing her original brown farm pants outfit. My other brunette no-navels, Muriel and Miranda, are also from 1970 but have brown eyes.

She is similar to the Later Gotz Annett, except without a duffle coat. I'll include some comparison photos of Marlena and Annett in my next post.

A July 4th Barbeque

There were three raffle dolls at the recent Sasha Festival in Stratford, including Amelia the American Doll, which was put together by a group of people (mostly) from the US.

Amelia was won by Laura Horner from the UK, and couldn't have gone to a more deserving person. The look on her face when they announced the winner was priceless (see the picture included in a blog post by DollMum). Not only is she a sweet lady, but she takes incredible photographs of scenes with her dolls; Laura contributed a fantastic picture book to the Children's Fund Auction. Rather than privately enjoying her prize, she created a July 4th Barbeque scene utilizing the raffle items and shared pictures with the Sasha_Mart Yahoo group. I asked Laura if I could repost here on my blog, and she kindly agreed. As the English would say, "smashing".

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As a big thank you to all my friends across the pond who made those wonderful things for the American Invasion festival prize, here is the results of what must have been my largest photoshoot to date. 17 dolls in total, as many as possible dressed in the new outfits having a fantastic time on Independence Day - making full use of yes that barbeque! Amelia as you can see is really at home here in Devon and as well as introducing a few customs for the states is learning a few of ours. I tried to get most things in, some were adapted for the occasion, some had a contemporary twist: all were beautiful. Thank you once again for all your hard work and a very happy July 4th 2012 Independence Day.

Laura x

The Whole Party

Saba and Her Dog Scooby

Enjoying the Music

And the Band Played On

Square Dancing

Good Food and Drink For All

Learning to Play Conkers

Flipping Burgers!

That Barbecue!

Amelia Meets Saba's Dog Scooby

London 2012

I recently wrote an article about the 2012 Sasha Festival for the Sasha Friends newsletter and wanted to include a picture of the festival outfit. I'd taken a few quick photos of the entire outfit while I was still at the hotel (so that I wouldn't have to wait to return to the US before posting pictures), but knew I could do a better job than those. I dressed my '68 waif Adeline in the full outfit with the red warmup suit (which is Boo's but I though it would make for nicer contrast than my white warmup), and took her to the outdoor track at my kids' school for a photo session. It seems appropriate to share some of those pictures now, while the Track and Field events are still in full swing at the Olympics.

If you aren't already a Sasha Friends subscriber, consider becoming one. There are currently two issues a year at a cost of $10 in the US (slightly higher elsewhere to cover the additional postage). You can email Shari Sams for payment information. I know the upcoming issue is going to contain lots of information about the recent Sasha Festival, including an article by me and a little something from Boo too.