Meet Nixie

My second birthday girl is also jumping the queue. Two self-presents this year seemed a bit extravagant, but I couldn't resist either one. Nixie joins my growing group of no-navels. Ultimately I'm hoping to have at least one each of the 12 possible hair/eye/year combinations - still four to go. :-)

Nixie is from 1969, with the thicker style of eye paint. She replaces Nola, who moved on to a new home when I was in need of dollie funds. Her hair is gorgeous, as is her eye paint.

The no-navel girls look a bit older to me than the early English girls. And often bashful. Or pensive.

Meet Josephine

I haven't posted much recently so there are several dolls still waiting to be introduced. This girl is jumping the queue -- a birthday present to myself that is too special to wait.  She is a 1966 np with the developmental eye style whose brows have silvered. She makes my heart flutter. I have decided to call her Josephine, Jo for short.

Apologies for the lack of posts the past year or so, but work, kids, and pets are keeping me busy. I don't have much free time, let alone free time when there is good light for taking pictures. These are rushed photographs with overcast skies, but I was too excited to wait to share. More/better pictures will come eventually (please don't hold your breath waiting though), including hopefully some with Jessica.

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.

1968 Blonde Quartet

While I was taking pictures of my fringe girls for the last post, I decided to take a few pictures of ALL my 1968 blondes. Here is Audrey with Allegra and Alison. She also has a wide cord dress, but hers is quite faded.

Audrey's bangs are several rows deep, starting higher up on her head than those of the fringe girls.

And lastly, a picture with my waif Adeline. She seems to have a wider face than the other three. Another wide dress, but not corduroy; this one was made by me last summer from the Migros pattern.

1968 Fringe Girls

I have two 1968 blondes with a single fringe - one is wispy while the other is more even. Both have gorgeous blue eyes. I thought it would be fun to photograph them side by side for comparison.

They are wearing their wide corduroy dresses, Allegra in blue and Alison in brown.

Alison will be coming to the festival with me. This may be out last hurrah together, as I'm contemplating selling her. Never easy to part with a Sasha, but my collection is still a bit unwieldy.

Meet Allegra

The eBay situation with Annabel left me feeling unhappy, but I cheered up when I found a 1968 blonde fringe girl for sale on Shelly's site. Since her descriptions are always accurate, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed again. Allegra is just as described, and oh so much nicer than Annabel. And she's a blue cord, like most of my other early English blondes.

The weather wasn't great for picture taking today and I didn't have time to mess with lighting, but I managed to find a spot of light coming through a south-facing window. It was so bright that I was having problems with shadows, but I like how this picture turned out.

Luckily I also wound up with a decent shot of Allegra's spectacular pale blue eyes. If you're curious, she's standing in front of Boo's doll armoire.

Meet Juliette

I can't believe it's almost time for the 2011 Sasha Festival. My how time flies! Even more unbelievable is that I still haven't formally introduced the doll that I bought at last year's festival. I gave a couple of sneak peeks here and here, but haven't made the time since then to take photos and write up a blog post.

Nancy Miller of Let's Play Dolls wrote this description of her: "Early rare no-philtrum girl, 1966, beautifully hand painted and extremely rare dark navy eyes with dark liner and white eye shadow, pretty pink lips, near flawless complexion, beautiful blonde hair has just a hint of dryness, but this is not obvious, no missing hair plugs, complete original blue cord dress outfit, panty elastic has stretched, clothes are otherwise excellent, navy leather Mary Jane shoes are absolutely mint except for a bit of paint missing from one snap, I don’t remember if I added the vintage hair ribbon or if it is original, doll has been re-strung to the correct tension, original striped elastic is tucked inside, doll is in excellent to near mint condition. She was reluctantly taken from my personal collection; she is gorgeous!"

She is indeed gorgeous. And her eyes are absolutely amazing! She is the Jewel of my collection - often referred to as Jules as a nickname for Juliette. Not the best light for photography today, but it will suffice.

Meet Annabel

Since my last few posts have been about dolls that I don't own anymore, I decided to introduce another doll that is no longer part of my collection. She was purchased in a very negative eBay experience, but enough time has passed that it's not particularly upsetting now. Plus I learned two valuable lessons: early blondes can have major hair problems, and avoid sellers who appear mentally unstable. Since my 1968 blondes all have names starting with A, I thought it would be fitting to call her Annabel.

This poor girl's hair was very stiff and matted, and started falling out and/or breaking off before I was able to shampoo it. My assumption is that the hair was damaged by some sort of hair styling product which was used on it years ago (hence the stiffness). Her eyes were lovely, but it's my opinion that a fringe girl has lost most of her cachet if she's balding. I had to get Customer Support involved, but fortunately I was able to return the doll for a full refund.

These pictures were taken after her hair had been wet, so it looks quite smooth and silky here. But if you look closely it's broken off in places, especially a big chunk of her bangs.

You can see lots of shorter hairs from this angle, and also a ding on her hand.

Her face is quite lovely, though also quite grubby.

The cost was too high (both financially and emotionally) for me to regard her as a waif and fix her up. Alas, I can't save every doll. She was sold again on eBay for a lower price, so hopefully someone else did/will save her.

Meet Gemma

When I stumbled upon my first "no philtrum" on eBay, I figured she would be the only one I owned. But then a blonde np was listed for sale on Shelly's website. And lingered. And had her price reduced. And ... I decided she should come live in NC. I almost named her Caitlyn (for some reason she reminds me of my sister's childhood friend), but decided she should be called Gemma instead.

I grabbed a few minutes here and there this afternoon to take pictures, so my photo session spread over several hours. The light angle changed quite a bit over this time period, taking her from icy to glowing.

As you can see from this close-up, her lips are quite rubbed but her eyes are fabulous.

I'll try to remember to take comparison photos of Gemma with some of my other 1960's Blue Cords. It might not be for a while though, as I have a new job and even less free time for blogging right now.

1969 Dungarees

I just snapped some quick pictures of Hannah with my other 1969 Dungarees. Hayley, Hannah, and Harlow are in the back row, while Hedwig and Hester are in the front row. I had my flash on by mistake when I took this picture, but didn't get as bad a reflection from the eyes as I usually do with a flash.

Here are the three "dark" dungarees together. Hayley's vinyl is so shiny compare to the other two, that it was hard to get a picture without glare on her cheeks. Hannah's hair is still in the original braids, and thus looks quite sleek. Harlow's wider face is very apparent from this angle; she seems a bit aloof to me.

Hannah and Harlow both have nice matte vinyl, so I could get a good close-up of their faces without much glare. As you can hopefully see, they have lovely eyes. Harlow's are a darker brown, the darkest of the five I think.

If you were shopping for a Sasha doll back in 1969 and saw these two dolls on a shelf, which would you choose? I think that would have been a difficult decision.

Meet Paloma

I love how the early English brunettes look, but resisted buying them at first due to concerns about falling hair. I managed to find a few with stable hair, and then added a few more who only lose a hair or two when combed. Paloma is in the latter group, so I pretty much leave her hair alone. It is quite thick, with very deep bangs, and a part way over on her left side. I decided I could handle minor hair issues on such a gorgeous girl. From Susanna's charts, I'm almost certain she's a 1968 Brunette Gingham.

She looks so different in this picture to me, even though they were all taken at the same time. Her face appears wider from this angle, and her hair appears lighter, almost highlighted in the sunlight from the window.

And finally a couple of close-ups, so you can really see her beautiful big brown eyes.

Meet Hannah

I've introduced four 1969 redhead dungarees so far, five if you count my rerooted "sneak" (who started life as a brunette). I wasn't looking for any more, but couldn't resist this girl when she was searching for a new home. Like Miranda, she came from the collection of Audrey Femmer, though I purchased her indirectly. She is unique in that her dungarees have black snaps instead of the more common silver. Her face paint is perfect, as you can see in these pictures.

Hannah is a stunning girl, with her own unique look. I love how different all of my dungarees girls are from one another. Hopefully I'll have time to take more dungarees comparison photos soon.

Sasha Festival 2010 - post 1

I wasn't planning to buy a doll at the festival, but this lovely girl came home with me. I am still so excited about her that words fail me. Other than perhaps yipee, or woo hoo!

The Festival was fantastic! I have about 300 pictures, and lots to talk about ... but it will have to wait until I get some sleep (and deal with some of the more mundane aspects of life).

UPDATE:  After lots of contemplation, she and I have settled on the name Juliette.

Table Hostess

Only three days until I leave for the festival, and I'm still busy working on various projects. Tina Gross and I volunteered to be Table Hostesses together, and I've been pushing the boundaries of my creativity. I'm going to keep the gifts a surprise until after the festival, but will definitely share pictures when I return. For now here's a sneak peak at part of one project, a montage of my 1968 English Sashas.

Meet Lynde

Hard to believe it's been three weeks since my last post. My summer days are anything but lazy, and there just isn't time to get everything done. I took pictures of Lynde a week ago but wasn't satisfied with how they looked, even after editing. I finally found some time to try again today, this time outdoors, and am much happier with the results.

Lynde is my third blonde Gotz no-navel, though they are all slightly different. She is from 1969, and has blue eyes like her younger sister Liesel (both came from the same collector). Their friend Lucinda is also from 1969 but she has brown eyes.

Boo is watching over my shoulder, waiting for me to be off the computer. She says that I should say Lynde is "beautiful". She's right, though I think all of my Sashas are beautiful.

Look for comparison photos of Lynde, Liesel, and Lucinda in my next post.

1969 Brunette Parties

My favorite posts involve comparison photos of my dolls. I love to see (and share) the similarities and differences between the "same" dolls. Here is my new Lorrie with Lilith, another 1969 side-part Party. That's not a ding on Lilith's nose, just a light reflection; her vinyl is far less matte than Lorrie's.

Just for fun, here are Pandora, Lorrie, and Lilith ... pretty maids all in a row. Pandora (who I originally called Layla) is from 1968, and has almost-black brunette hair. She was most likely originally a Gingham, but was dressed in Party attire by her previous owner.

Meet Lorrie

Lorrie is my most recent Sasha purchase, and has jumped to the head of the blog queue. She wasn't an intentional gift as I first inquired about purchasing her almost two months ago, but she arrived on my birthday. What a fun coincidence! She is a 1969 Brunette Side-Part Party with crisp clean face paint and slightly falling hair. She still has her gold tag and original outfit, minus footwear -- I found her a pair of replacement socks and appropriate shoes in my stash.

I discovered how photogenic she is this morning, and adore her sweet expression.

Her face paint is particularly exceptional and looks brand new: no lip rubs, great coloring, and wonderful eyes with the outlined iris and pinprick pupils.

This was a Sasha birthday for me in more ways than one. My friend Tina (AKA dollydetroit) sent pinwheels for my "Five Amigos", and Boo's two dolls as well. I will try to photograph them all in a future post, but for now here's Lorrie checking out one of the pinwheels.

And my Mom surprised me with a box of handmade goodies, including clothing she knitted for my Sashas from the Golden Hands patterns (which I didn't even know she'd purchased). I will share pictures of these in a future post as well.