The Eras of Sasha by Tasha

Well, hello Sasha World! My name is Tasha Rhiannon, and I am an early 80s (1980-1986) Red Pinafore doll, #111. Like Shyvonne, I'm another foster skid here at MamaT's house. My shoes and my blue-checked shirt are missing, but there have been promises at home to search through the doll stuff for them. It took a little longer for MamaT to name me. She thought I'd be getting a different name (not to be divulged now, as it may be used for someone later), but every time she looked at me, she thought “Tasha” instead. Maybe because I have fairer skin (for a Sasha) and dark hair, and I remind her of her sister, Natasha. She tried out a few different middle names too, and finally settled on Rhiannon which has no special significance. It is probably from the Fleetwood Mac song that has a lovely little instrumental piece in it.

Now that my basic introduction is done, I am wondering what I can tell you that hasn't already been told by the others. I wonder if you have been introduced to all the different eras of Sasha dolls there are. First, of course, and most special are the studio dolls made by Sasha Morgenthaler herself with the help of some assistants. Sasha says she is going to write an entry about them some time, so I'm not to go into any more detail for you. Sasha also taught doll-making classes, so there are a number of Sasha “course” dolls out there in the world. Maybe we'll talk more about those in another entry too. The first factory produced dolls were made in Germany by Gotz from 1964-1970. The first time MamaT saw these dolls she didn't like them so well, but over time, they have grown on her a lot. One thing so intriguing about these dolls is that there is such a wide variety of styles. There were several different facial molds and skin tones, hair and eye color and styles. Some interesting variations include the “no-nose” dolls with a flat bridge, and the “yellow-eyed” dolls are unique. Short-haired dolls were often dressed in unisex outfits, so the owner could choose the gender. Later dolls had no navel. Several different artists painted the eyes, and the asymmetry is pronounced, even in the eyebrows. All the Gotz dolls have Sasha Serie in a circle or concentric circles imprinted on the back and neck. Even now, MamaT's least favorite is probably the school boy and girl, and she likes the “Type III” face over the no-nose dolls. We don't have a '60s Gotz doll in the family. We'd have to be prepared to spend at least $500 which would pretty much take care of the Sasha budget for a year. MamaT's first choice would be a redhead, second choice would be brunette, but she'd still be delighted even to get a blonde. She even dreamed she had one once, a very nice dream. These truly are dream dolls.

From 1965-1986 Sasha dolls were manufactured in England by John and Sara Doggart. The company changed names a few times, beginning as Frido Ltd. In 1965, then to Trendon Ltd. In 1970, and finally became Sasha Dolls Ltd. In 1984, but all were made by the same factory, owners, and staff. The earliest dolls through 1967 or 1968 had no philtrum and had more hand painting done on their eyes, which makes them very special. Only one artist at the English factory did the majority of hand-finishing on the eyes for most of the years of production. Some Sasha collectors can tell you the year of production by looking at the face of the doll. Stringing color, clothing style and accessories, and skin tone, which was lighter beginning in 1980, and even height can all give clues to the age of a doll. Rather than give all the details here, if you are really interested in aging your doll, I would recommend Dorisanne Osborn's book, Sasha Dolls Through the Years, as a great resource for any Sasha collector or lover. There were platinum blondes, brunettes, redheads, honey blondes, and black dolls produced. There were boys, girls, and babies, which were subtly anatomically correct until 1978. Besides Cora, there was only one short-haired girl doll produced. From 1981-1986, limited special edition dolls were run, and all the 1986 dolls were limited, because production shut down early in the year. I think those may deserve their own entry later too.

The final era of Sasha doll production was 1995 to 2001 by Gotz again of Germany. Angela Karinne told you about this line of dolls back in her self-introduction. I think many of these points have been touched on before, so I hope my note hasn't been too redundant for you. But that is a little peek at the various lines of production dolls. For some great examples of 1960s Gotz dolls, I am going to refer you to Margaret Williams' page. Click on Gotz Sashas on the left hand side of the page, and then explore all the rest of her links for fun.
http://www.sashadoll-london.co.uk/
--signed Tasha Rhiannon

Sasha's at Play

Hi, This is a bit of a lazy entry, but I'm cleaning up the side-border and didn't want to lose these pictures, so I'm posting them here, plus a few new ones, in a blog entry instead. Have a great day everyone!

Yikes! I almost forgot to add a link for you. Today's link is Rebecca Pavley's page:

http://home.earthlink.net/~rpavley/index.html

Foster Skids

Hi Everyone! You've seen me before, but now you get an official introduction. My name is Shyvonne Alette. MamaT thought I needed a good Gaelic name to go with my red hair. Shyvonne is a misspelling of the very beautiful Gaelic name, Siobhan. It is a form of “Joan” and means “God is gracious”. MamaT can never remember how to spell the original, which is pronounced “Shiv-awn”, so she created her own spelling. Alette is for no reason in particular, except she found it in a story one time and liked it. It, like Alethea, means “footloose, verity, truth, small-winged one”. Sounds like an honest fairy princess to me. I am a 1979-1986, Sasha redhair “white dress” #108. MamaT says she has been coveting a doll like me for a very long time, like around 25 years. Angela Karinne is also a redhead white dress, but we're not the same. My eyes are brown for one thing. MamaT would also like a 60's redhead, English and/or German-made, but they are not in her budget now. She says she is partial to redhead Sasha's, even though her first Sasha was a blonde.

Technically, we (meaning me, Tasha, and Sandra) should probably be calling MamaT, AuntieT, because we really belong to her sister. We were purchased in the early 80s and then stored for many years until MamaT's sister gave us to her daughters, so we were played with and loved, but eventually somewhat forgotten, which can happen as young girls grow older. MamaT even forgot about Sasha for a few years. Here is an interesting trivia factoid. MamaT is the youngest of 6 girls (no brothers). Her oldest sister, who we belong to, also had 6 daughters and no sons. How amazing is that?! Anyhow, MamaT has now been given long-term custody of us and has basically adopted us all in, so we call her MamaT like everyone else.

We arrived with a few scuffs and marks from being played with, but we cleaned up easily with no dramatic make-overs or re-stringing required. One thing we did have was the stand-up bangs (fringe) that played with Sasha's tend to get, so when she washed our hair, MamaT tried an experiment. She's heard other Sashaphile's talk about using just-boiled water to remove or set curls in doll hair. In her past attempts to use the sock treatment for stand-up bangs, they look good to start with, but gradually begin to rise again. So this time after washing our hair, she dipped just our bangs in water that had just been brought to a boil, and then taken off the heat. Then we got the sock treatment. She thinks the boiled water may have helped our bangs behave better. Meanwhile we had quite the giggle fit laughing at each other wearing socks and towels. You probably had to be there to appreciate just how funny it was. See photos below. There's also a few photos with me and my cousins and new friends. Don't forget to scroll your mouse over the photos to read the captions or click on them if you want to see any close up. Before I sign off, I will leave you with a very fun Sasha page that was done by Judy Scaletti of Sasha Mart. There are lots of page links and they are worth checking out.
http://kkannon.com/sasha.htm
--signed Shyvonne Alette

She's Nuts!

Guess what Santa brought MamaT for Christmas! She got a new sewing machine!!! Not being much of a seamstress she has made do with a vintage 1968 Singer sewing machine (straight stich only), which has served well for mending and such and still works great (even though it is even older than I am). But lately she has been wanting to make some curtains and such and thought it time she graduated to something that could handle a larger variety of projects. We “Skids” (that's a term Johnny Raven coined for Sasha Kids) are secretly hoping to be the primary beneficiaries of MamaT's new toy. It bodes well that her very first project in testing out the machine was a Sasha sized gunny sack dress.

Here's the story on the gunny sack dress. MamaT bought her husband a bag of pistachios last fall that came in a nice gunny sack. When it was empty, she didn't know what she would do with it, but threw it in the wash anyhow. It turns out it shrunk substantially, and when she pulled it out of the wash, her first thought was that it was the perfect size for making a Sasha-sized dress. There was just enough material at the top of the bag (barely) to cut for the sleeves. Now MamaT says she is the last person to give out sewing advice, as her skills are minimal, but she is learning. In fact she is happy she only sewed the sleeves backwards twice yesterday. Once half a shoulder seam was facing out and had to be picked out, and once the cuff hem was facing the outside, but it turned out she needed to trim the sleeves shorter anyhow, so she just cut the hem off. That made hemming the cuffs a challenge. But she managed to finish it, and now Tasha (who you will meet later) has adopted it as her nightdress.

While I am posting, I am also including a photo of a very reasonably priced outfit we got not too long ago from seamstress, Diane Scarbrough, the same Diane who recently posted some cute smocked dresses on the SashaL list (and on Ebay as seller dfscarbrough). I don't think she has a website, so I will post a website for another fine seamstress, Sandy Wessel. There are many fine Sasha seamstresses out there, and it will take me awhile to post all their sites.

http://home.mchsi.com/~swessel/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

Lastly, I'm posting a Winter Wonderland photo inspired by Ted Menten's blog. MamaT used similar methods, so I was really not as cold as I look in the photo. And yes, it's possible to do a better job pasting the images together if you take more time with it.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!

Cora and the Diversity of Sasha Dolls

Cora Morgen is my name, and it is about time Sasha granted me a turn on the blog. I have been after her to let me have my turn ever since I arrived in late July. She keeps on insisting we have to go in the order we arrived in MamaT's possession. How silly is that? Now by raise of hands, I want to see how many people out there really care that we get introduced in the order that we arrived here. See there, I don't see a single hand raised, and Sasha, you don't count. I wasn't asking you. I already know your opinion. And so I have had to wait around for Cara and Patrick and Sandy AND Lona all to take their turns first, not to mention several turns for Sasha. I know Lona, for one, would have been happy to let me go first. Then when it finally WAS my turn, MamaT got busy working on some job application and Christmas letters and she has absolutely been HOGGING the computer all the time. I know a lot of folks have been looking for a new entry for a long time, so I think you will say along with me, it's about time I got my turn.

Now you did get a sneak peak at me late last summer when I was priviledged to be the only doll MamaT took on an outing to Glacier National Park, (although Sasha and Angela Karinne used to live in the park when MamaT lived there). That was pretty amazing and so beautiful. I really liked the bighorn sheep we got to watch. I made friends with her granddaughter, Ryin, that day too. MamaT says I was a breath of fresh air after Patrick and Lona, because I was not the fixer-upper sort. I came in perfect condition, missing only my box. And that makes MamaT smile too, cuz she hates having boxes to store. I am a “warm-toned” Cora doll with a flowered dress produced by Trendon between 1980-84. There were 2 styles of flowered dresses. The other had a dark blue background, and both were very pretty, I think. In my former home, I had a brother, Caleb, and I still miss him, though my new family is very cool, even if Sasha can be a bit anal at times. Black dolls were first produced in 1972, as Cora, Caleb, and an unnamed baby girl. The earlier dolls had dark black skin, like native African born blacks. Beginning in 1980, they started producing lighter or warmer-toned black dolls, more like American and probably European blacks. In 1984, the baby girl was named Cara.

Now I want to talk to you about the diversity of MamaT's doll collection. She has a relatively small collection (by Sasha collector standards), but has tried to include as much diversity as her budget allows in our small family. Here is how the family (and our diversity has grown).
--First there was just Sasha, an English Frido produced blonde girl.
--Then Angela Karinne came along, so there was a German Redhead and an English blonde.
--Next is Gregor, so then there was a brunette, English Trendon boy, and 2 girls as above, one by Frido and one by Gotz.
--Next a dark black baby Cara is added, so she had a baby, a boy, and 2 girls, with black, brunette, blonde and red hair.
--Then another redhead boy was added, so there were 2 boys, 2 girls and a baby.
--Next we got a honey blonde baby, so we had every hair color produced in just 2 boys, 2 girls, and 2 babies.
--After that MamaT got a brunette 70's girl for her birthday, so there were blonde, brunette, and redhead girls, along with the 2 boys and 2 babies.
--Then she needed a warm-toned Cora doll and that was me. I am also the only short-haired girl in the family (besides the babies). Only one other short-haired girl was produced by Trendon, the sweater blonde. There were some unisex dolls produced in the 60's by Gotz that could be whatever the owner chose. And when I arrived, she had 4 girls, 2 boys and 2 babies.
--This fall MamaT got custody of her sister's 3 dolls, to be introduced later. Now she is beginning to get some duplication with a twin for Margot, a younger brunette girl, and a redhead trendon girl. But she likes having an English version each of a blonde, brunette and redhead girl.
--So what could be next to further increase our diversity? We still don't have a toddler or a fair skinned Gotz doll. A doll like Iona or Ollie could fill both of those roles. We could add South American Yamka and an Indian Sari doll. Then we still need at least one 60's Gotz doll, and a least one Limited Edition doll, like Kiltie or Velvet. Then one could go on and collect a doll in every outfit ever produced. Then we don't have an example of a course doll either or a custom repainted Sasha. And there is no end to the diversity represented in the studio dolls, but there aren't enough of those for every Sasha collector, so we stick with enjoying photos of those. These are just some fun fantasies, but we do love all the diversity in Sasha dolls.
--signed Cora Morgen
P.S. And speaking of diversity, for today's link, you'll see a number of example of customized repaints on Sasha dolls.
– http://www.dayco.org/pages/PageFiveTest.htm

On Re-stringing Sasha Dolls

I believe I promised an entry on this topic some time ago, and I keep stalling, because I think it may be complicated to fit the directions in with the pictures. I'm not sure if I can clearly explain this, but I'm determined to try. As Sasha dolls age, eventually the stringing cords that hold us together can wear out. I was well played with by MamaT growing up, and from time to time when I lost my head, MamaT's Mama always knew exactly what to do, and was always able to get me back in shape. MamaT thought Gran-Mama was magic in her abilities to fix me, but she was a nurse by training after all. At some point or another along the way, Gran-Mama replaced my arm stringing and didn't know the importance of keeping original strings with Sasha dolls, so my arm strings were tossed and replaced with regular elastic. Fortunately, I still have my original leg stringing which is white with both green and purple flecks, positive proof of my age.

Up until this past year, my stringing was quite loose for a number of years. I could still stand—as long as I was balanced just so... But you could knock me over with a feather any time. Since my arm stringing was just ordinary sewing elastic, MamaT figured she couldn't do too much damage by attempting to replace my arm stringing herself. Then when Patrick arrived with his stringing all strunk, she immediately replaced his leg to head stringing, and next replaced my leg stringing (leaving the original string tucked inside my body). And when Lona arrived, she also needed to be restrung after her odor problem was resolved. MamaT took photos when she restrung Lona and is gradually getting better results from her work, so now I'll share her restringing methods with you.

Now before I go any further, I will recommend that you first consider sending your doll to a “Sasha Spa”. Prices will vary depending on what attention your doll needs, but after doing this on our own, I will say that $20 for a Sasha restringing is VERY reasonable. Below are links to a few different people I know of that do Sasha doll restringing and other repairs. If you know of others who should be included in this list, please post a comment.

http://home.comcast.net/~johnson-n-johnson/SASHA.html
http://www.oursashadolls.com/order.html
http://www.sashadoll.com/repair/repair.html
http://www.sashahospital.org.uk/

However, for the die-hard do-it-yourselfer, here are a few tips on restringing a Sasha doll. I expect there is more than one way to do this, and I can't gaurantee this is the best way, but it is a way we've found that works for us.

1). The Big Picture. First, you need to understand how a Sasha doll is strung. One loop of string holds the arms together. A second loop is connected to both legs and the head, as crudely shown in the diagram below. This is for an older doll. Post-1975 dolls have a ring/neck assembly, we'll address later. When you do measurements later, you will be figuring the size of loop needed between these hooks when all the limbs/head are in place.

2). Tools. Next you will need tools for the job. These include:

>Round elastic cord, at least 1/8” thick, but 3/16 or 1/4” would be better if you can find it.
>Metal tubing that just fits the width of your elastic (can be found at hobby stores). Kelly of "OurSashaDolls.com" above reminded me to point out to be sure not to use rust-prone metals, like steel. I used brass tubing, but copper tubing would also be okay. These oxidize, but they don't rust, and they only corrode in a very wet environment. My elastic loops look like hair bands, but the metal connectors on hairbands are made from steel and will rust. Kelly says there are hairbands available that do not have metal connectors, but I don't know if they come in the right size for Sasha restringing or not.
>Superglue
>String
>Scissors
>Long hook – Ours was made from 12 gage copper wire
>Needlenose pliers (2 pair if possible)
>If you are working with a ring assembly, you will need a small hook similar to those found on the legs and arms of your doll. Like these hooks, it should have a hook on both ends to hook on both the ring and the elastic string. You might also need cutting pliers or a wire cutter if you are making your own hook out of copper wire like we did. It needs to be very sturdy metal.

3). Measurements. Hold your elastic against a ruler and measure the maximum a given length of it will stretch. Most of the elastic we've seen will double in length, but you should check your specific material. Use a string (non-stretch) and whatever ingenuity you've got to figure out the size of loop you need between the hooks when the doll is all together. This part is tricky and hard to explain. The measurement you are looking for will probably make more sense once you've read through all the instructions, so do that first. Your first measurement is the size you would have if there were no stretch in your elastic. If you have elastic that can double in length at its maximum stretch, the size of loop you really need should be 75% of the loop you measured without any stretch. The elastic should be stretched to about half its capacity when the doll is in normal position. If the string is not stretched enough, your doll will be too loose. If it is stretched too tight, the stringing will wear out too fast, or worse yet, it could damage the shape of your doll. Once you've figured out the size of loop you need, you can cut the elastic to size. The amount of material you use will be surprisingly small. If your elastic is on the thin side, you may want to double the size of your loop and then loop the elastic around your hooks twice for a little extra strength if that makes sense. Just ignore the last sentence if it doesn't make sense.

4). Elastic Loops. When you have the right length of elastic, slip both ends into either side of a short piece of metal tubing that matches the width of your elastic. Put a drop or so of superglue at the mouth of the tube on each end. The glue should wick down the elastic inside the tube aways. While superglue dries quickly, you should let it dry several hours or overnight before stretching your elastic again, so it will be good and set before you put pressure on it. Other methods we tried included tieing the string in a knot. Getting the right size loop was even harder with this method, and the knot always seemed to slip and not stay in the same place, so we gave this method up. We also tried crimping the metal tubing onto the elastic. This worked sometimes, but not all the time, and ends up wasting a lot of tubing with failed attempts. The superglue technique worked consistently for us, so we like that method.

5). Leg to head restringing. If you are replacing both leg and arm stringing, do the legs first as they are more difficult. If your doll has a ring neck assembly, you need to hook a double ended hook on the ring (see photo). Hopefully, you read all instructions before you begin, because I'll remind you here that you need to measure your loop from the end of this hook and not from the ring when you are doing your measurements. In most cases the original stringing will still be on the ring and will just hang loose inside the body when you're done. Since this doll had smoke issues, the stringing is being stored separately from the doll.

Now hook either end of your leg loop on the hooks on your doll's legs (see photo). If your doll is missing a hook, you can buy a similar hook or make one from sturdy wire. If an end of the hook is closed too tightly to get string on or off it, it may take 2 pair of pliers or maybe a vice clamp and some pliers to adjust the hook opening so you can remove the old string and hook on the new. DH's can be helpful here too. Put your long hook down through the neck of the doll and grab the elastic with the hook. Make sure you have both sides of the elastic so you will have a double elastic in your hook as shown in the photo, and not just one side of the elastic.

The next step is a two person job, so find an assistant. One person will need to pull the elastic up to the neck of the doll with the hook. This will be at its maximum stretch. The second person should attach the head hook to the string. When the head is hooked on, you can unhook the long hook and let the head pull into place. Needlenose pliers can come in handy for helping get the elastic on and off the hooks as needed. The legs and head should all be snugly attached now.

6). Arm restringing. If you also need to attach arms, now hook your arm loop to the hook on one arm. Put your long hook through the opposite armhole and grab the other end of your elastic loop. Pull the elastic through and hook the second arm on this end. Unhook your long hook and let the arms pull into place. Now you should have a doll that can stand and hold his/her arms up. Voila! Try setting one foot flat, and the second foot on its toe and balance the doll. Sasha's can do this. Pretty cool, eh?

We've gotten a little better at this with each doll we've restrung. It does take some practice to get just the right tension you want. Most of us restrung dolls are still slightly on the loose side (which is better than being too tightly strung), but we can hold any pose we want now, so we're happy with that. I can even balance on a slanted log now (see Sasha's Summer Adventure entry), which I never could have done a year ago. So I will tell you from a personal experience--A properly strung Sasha is a happy Sasha. Hope you have good luck with yours!

Smokey the Doll

Hi, Sasha says it is my turn to introduce myself. I told her she could it do it for me, as I feel a little shy about writing about myself to anyone who finds this on the intranet, but Sasha insists I write my own. I am a Sasha Brunette “Pink Dress”, #103, made in 1979-1982 by Trendon in England. Most likely I am a 1979 girl, because the dolls made in the 1980s had much lighter skin. My name is Lona Rachelle, which MamaT says is after a special little girl, although her name was Rachel. Also Lona is the heroine in a fairy tale by Dare Wright about a courageous and kind-hearted princess. In the storybook, Lona was portrayed by a Lenci boudoir doll and by Dare Wright herself (more well-known for her Lonely Doll books).

I was a birthday present for MamaT's last birthday from her husband. I needed restringing, but he had already helped with a couple of restringing projects, so he knew that could be done. I arrived exactly on MamaT's birthday. She was so excited she opened my box right on the front porch. It was a lovely spring day, and she sat down on the porch and gazed at my face in the sunlight and fell head over heels for me instantly. At least that's what she tells me. After a few minutes, she took me inside, and that was when she got a whiff of my hair, which reeked of cigarette smoke. The seller hadn't mentioned this. The seller picked me up at an estate sell, and later said she hadn't detected any odors, although she was a former smoker. I was also sold “As Is—No Returns.” MamaT got a lot of feedback from the SashaL list about this transaction so she learned a lot of lessons. In no particular order, some of these lessons were:
--If odors are not mentioned in the listing, ASK. If the seller says they can't smell, don't bid.
--Even if you didn't ask every possible question, it is still the responsibility of the seller to divulge major defects, and cigarette odor is a major defect. You don't have to take the “as is---no returns” clause entirely at face value.
--Contact the seller before attempting any sort of rehab on the doll. If the seller really wants to be fair, and realizes they made an error in divulging major defects, they should be willing to accept a return or make an adjustment in the sale price.
--Kitty litter, activated charcoal, fresh air and indirect sunlight are all effective at mitigating smoke odors.

Working under the assumption that a return was not an option, and since MamaT had already fallen for me, she didn't seek for a return, and she had no idea you even could ask for a price adjustment. So she set about cleaning me up first thing. Always before cleaning a doll, she reviews the do's and don't's of doll cleaning on Susanna Lewis' site (see self-help Sasha care). She washed my hair, and the first rinse water was disgustingly yellow. However, she was delighted to discover that I have naturally curly hair. She thought she was going to be washing out all of my lovely curls, but it turns out our hair has a memory, and tends to bounce back to its original form, even if our bangs have been retrained to stand straight up. MamaT also cleaned the nicotine residue off my body. With the surface cleaning accomplished, she did a search on the SashaL website for tips on cigarette smoke odor removal, and found several suggestions. She didn't think stuffing the doll with bounce or using Febreeze sounded like really good options, as that would only mask and not eliminate the odor and who wants to spray a chemical on their doll? Another suggestion that did sound good was using a negative ionizer, but those aren't conveniently available everywhere, so she didn't try that.

Here's what we did for my odor problem. MamaT got a plastic bin and covered the bottom with kitty litter and mixed in a jar of activated charcoal. I've heard wood charcoal briquettes for barbecuing could also work. I think near the end she also put a little baking soda in the mixture too. She put in some blocks and set a cooling rack on top of the blocks, and then she placed me and my shoes on top of the rack. I was all in pieces at the time. She then put the lid tightly on the plastic bin, and left me for a week. At the end of the week, she gave me an airing for a day. She put me outside in the fresh air on a sunny day, but not in direct sunlight (we dolls hate direct sunlight). She also turned my various body parts periodically during the day. After that I went back in the bin again. This went on for about a month or so where I'd spend one day a week in the fresh air and the rest of the week in the kitty litter bin.

Finally, MamaT determined that I no longer had such an offensive smell, and the other dolls conceded they would be willing to stand next to me after all. I have been out of the bin for about 4 months now, and MamaT just gave me the sniff test. She says she can't detect any odor in my hair at all, and nothing to notice on the outside of my body. However, if you pull my leg and sniff inside my body, you can still detect some odor, but it's not terribly strong. MamaT has never smoked and can't stand the smell, so I'm happy she thinks I'm tolerable now. She is really happy with the results of the combo kitty litter and airing treatment. I'll post a photo of the bin we used below. I was too embarrassed to pose nude so Sasha painted a swimsuit on me. Isn't that silly?

Lastly, I want to mention that we recently discovered there are two other Sasha blogs out there. How fun! One, Sasha Street, is by Ted Menten, known as Teddy Bear Ted, a long time Sasha doll and teddy bear enthusiast. MamaT has a copy of a very nice article he wrote for Dolls Magazine in 1983. See his post for 10/21/08.
http://sashastreet.blogspot.com/
The other blog is by Franberry, another avid Sasha doll collector. She was the first follower of this blog. Both of these blogs have more frequent updates than we do. Check them out!
http://sasha3times.blogspot.com/

Wishing all of you a great day from Lona Rachelle
P.S. Sasha recently added a hit counter to this page. She already had close to 1,350 hits to this blog and MamaT's blog before she added the counter. She figures easily at least 1,200 or more of the hits were for this page before the counter began.

This Old Skirt

I have some new exciting news about a very old skirt. MamaT just went to visit her Mama on a vacation. While she was there, she found a stash of random old toys, and in that stash, she happened to spy my original skirt!!!!!!! It is truly amazing it has survived all these years, being separated from me, in with toys that have been available to lots of grandkids to play with. But I think there were no dolls my size in the box, so it must have just been ignored. This being the case, it is amazing no one ever tossed it out. Okay, MamaT's Mama (our Gran-Mama) grew up in the Great Depression and doesn't throw much of anything out, so I suppose that was in our favor. But MamaT and all her sisters do “help” Gran-Mama reduce her clutter from time to time, so things still get thrown out sometimes. But happily, happily, my old skirt has survived all these years. The not so good news is we think it has shrunk a little. Either that or I've put on a few ounces over the years. It does still fit around my waist, but it's pretty snug, and it's much shorter than my replacement skirt. Of course, the skirt was made in 1969, and we did wear our skirts shorter then. You can see my newly recovered old skirt in the photo (click photo to see it close-up). I'm also wearing tights compliments of Susan at Little Princess Frocks. Susan was so kind to send consolation prizes to all the non-winning stay-at-home raffle contestants during the 2008 Sasha Festival weekend. Here is her website:

http://www.littleprincessfrocks.com/lpf/clothes_sasha_subcat.htm

MamaT also returned home from vacation with THREE more Sasha dolls!!! These are her sister's dolls, but she has graciously allowed us long-term custody at our house. MamaT's sister let her daughters play with them, so they still need some clean-up, and her sister promises to look through the doll clothes for missing shoes and articles of clothing. There is a redhead white dress, (which was next on MamaT's wish list), a brunette red pinafore, and Margot's long lost twin, Sandra (or Sandy). Her sister says her daughters were more attached to their American Girl and Magic Attic dolls and never appreciated the Sasha's as much, so she sent them to our home where they will be very well appreciated. MamaT doesn't seem to realize what a workload she is creating for my blog. I just can't seem to get all the dolls introduced as fast as she keeps getting more dolls. She swears she is going to slow down about acquiring more Sasha dolls. Time will tell. The last photo of the purple dress shows another dress MamaT found in the toybox that Gran-Mama made for us dolls many years ago.

Hello Dolly, Margot Monique!

I want to type my OWN entry. PLEASE, can I try it mySELF! Xcxbnb czxnbmbc, hnc mnnbvx mcnv./
How's that? What does it say? What do you mean it doesn't say anything? It's supposed to say, “Hello Everyone! How are you?” Well, I can't reach those other letters. What's wrong with these letters? Oh, well I guess you can type for me then, but FIRST you have to promise you will only type what I want you to type and not every word I say like you did with Cara. Is that a deal? Well, is it? Well, you better not anyway. Or else I'll be mad at you. Okay, I think I'm ready to start now.

Hello Everyone! How are you? I am fine. My name is Margot Monique. The name on my box was Sandy, but I don't have my box any more. We don't like boxes here. They are no fun anyway. You would think so too if you had ever been tied up in one. I am MamaT's only honey blonde Sasha. Most blonde Sasha's are plattnumb blonde, so it is special to be a honey blonde. Sandy dolls like me were made from 1981 to 1986. There was another honey blonde baby too named Rosie made in 1983 to 1986, so you see I was the original honey blonde baby. Rosie wears a nightgown all the time, but I like playing more than I like napping. Cara is my buddy. I think I am older than her, but she says she is older, because she was manyufrakshured first and has been at MamaT's house longer. There was a honey blonde Sasha introduced the same year as me in 1981. She wears a white silk dress. She was made until 1984. Then in 1985, they introduced a honey blonde party doll. She is all ready for a birthday party. I hope it is my birthday party. I can't wait to grow up. It seems like I've been waiting a loooooong time. I haven't even gotten to be a toddler yet! Then I could reach more letters on the keyboard. There was just one sandy blonde Gregor, called Hiker. He was made in 1986. Since the factory closed in late January that year, less than 400 Hiker Gregor's were made. There was only one redhead baby, and she had blue eyes. Her name is Ginger. I have brown eyes. MamaT says that except for not having my box (which is ok by us), I am absolutely perfect in every way. I have no flaws whatsoever, and she says I'm bootifull too.

Well that's all I can think of to say, but you don't have to type that. How should I end it? Should I just say goodbye everyone? I think I will. Goodbye Everyone and have a really super good day too!--From Margot Monique

P.S. I almost forgot to give you a website. I bet you will like Melody's site. Her name starts with M like mine. Melody paints custom dolls and her doll, Tilily Tangerine, has traveled all over the world! Here's the site:

http://www.melodymock.com/AllegroMelody/index.html