Cora goes to Glacier National Park

Lucky Cora got to visit Glacier National Park, Montana on Friday. She says it was a picture perfect day and driving through Glacier feels a lot like driving through a picture postcard. It is so stunning and spectacular, it almost feels like it can't quite be real. Here are a few photos, but she says everyone was too busy gawking at the views to get photos of everything they saw. Scroll over photos for captions.

A Note from Cara Linnea (as dictated to Sasha)

Hi Peoples! My name is Cara Linnea. I am a black baby girl, most definitely a girl. All black babies from 1972 to 1978 were girls. Umm, what do you think I should say next? No, don't type that. I was asking you that, Sasha. Let's start over. Hi, Umm. My name is Cara. My strings are a rusty orange color. That means I was made in about 1972 to 1974. Hey Sasha, that's not nice to say, it's about time I grew up and learned how to type myself. Don't type that either. I was talking to you again. I am too little to type—you know that. Now delete that, okay. I have the dark black skin that Cora, Caleb, and black baby girls had until 1979. A warmer toned baby was made in 1980 to 1983 named Little Flower, and another in 1984 to 1986 named Cara, so I got her name. I came to MamaT wearing a white nightdress, but my original outfit was probably a white suit with a red, patterned trim. I can't remember it though. MamaT sewed me a new blue dress. She didn't have a pattern for baby clothes, so she made the pattern herself. She doesn't sew much, so it is not perfect, but it's not too bad either. I think blue is a better color for me than white. I like to go barefooted best.

I love flowers. Carl Linnaeus was a doctor and a botanist—that's someone who studies plants. He first started using two Latin names for each plant, the first name to show what group of plants it is related to and the second to name the individual plant. He changed his name to Carolus Linnaeus to match the Latin style of naming plants and animals, but maybe it should have been Linnaeus Carolus to really match. His favorite flower was Linnaea borealis or twinflower. Each plant has a pair of tiny bell-shaped flowers—it's very cute. One of my favorite flowers is harebell or Campanula rotundifolia. See no matter what language you speak, anyone in the world will know what you are talking about if you use Latin names. I like all the flowers, except some of the weeds. Knapweed and ox-eye daisy can be pretty, but they crowd out nicer plants, so I don't like them so well.

Umm, I can't think what to say next. No, I told you that's not part of my note. I will tell MamaT if you don't stop typing things I don't want you to. Umm. My best buddy is Margot. I was glad when she came to our family. I am glad we have Cora in our family now too. I like all the dolls in our family, except I don't like when Sasha types the things I don't want to say in my note. So don't do that anymore. Umm, that's all I can think of today. That will be a good place to end. Tell everyone Bye for me. I hope they all have a good day.
--from Cara Linnea

P.S. I have a website to share too. Marie has a very nice site. I think you will all like it.

• http://www.sasha-dolls.com/index.htm
  
  
  
  
  

Sasha's Summer Adventure

Sorry, it's been so long since I've posted, but you know when the weather is nice in Montana, you've got to get out and enjoy it. There will be plenty of time to sit at the computer some other day. Gregor "borrowed" the camera and took pictures while we explored MamaT's yard today. I think this will explain why I'm not blogging so much these days. But I do promise to get back to it. Scroll your mouse over the photos to read the captions. It's harder than I thought to add lots of photos in one blog. And don't forget you can click on the photos to see them close up.

Cara thought these were "naughty" onions. =)

Have a great summer everyone!

Baby White Bird

Good morning! I hope everyone had a great 4th of July or Canada Day if that's where you live, or just a good early summer weekend if you don't live in North America. Where we live, there are lots of Canadians who own summer property on nearby lakes, so on the first weekend in July, MamaT's congregation always sings both the Star Spangled Banner and Oh Canada at church. It sounds pretty good with over 700 people there. For our special treat, we got a new display shelf MamaT's husband made for her birthday, which has now been clear-coated and got attached to the wall yesterday. Gregor's already tried his headstand out on it. Today, the 5th of July, is known as the Fibalibaluly! in MamaT's family. It's her mother's little brother's birthday, and that's what he called it when he was small.

Today, I'll tell you about a “foster baby” we had here for a few months last year. She was a baby White Bird. Dolls like her were produced from 1975-1986. MamaT called her Morgen, and I think you can guess why. If it was up to me, I would call her Ave Alba which means “white bird”. She was absolutely perfect. In fact her only flaw was that she came with her box. As soon as she arrived, MamaT realized that not only would she have to take care of the baby doll, she would have to store the box carefully somewhere so it would not get damaged, because it was a part of the value of the doll. Well, what with so much of her stuff already still in boxes, she didn't want to deal with storing yet another thing. So after a few months of enjoying her, we found another home for her. She sold for a little less than what we purchased her for, but getting to enjoy her as part of our family for a little while was worth the difference. We still miss her a little. Her face looked almost just like Gregor's. Don't forget you can click on her photo to see how pretty her face really is.

The featured site I'm choosing for you today is Nikki's site (even if it is based in Ireland instead of N.A.). MamaT and her husband both have Irish roots, so they have a soft spot for Ireland. It is called Sasha doll style and has lots of wonderful handknitted clothes available. There are lots of great photos. Check out the Sasha at home page which features photo series of Sasha's at every day play. There is even a blog on the site too.

• http://www.sashadollstyle.co.uk/
  

Gregor here

Hello Everbuddy—it's Gregor here! If you want to know the truth, unlike Sasha, blogging is not anything that ever crossed my mind. But since I have the chance, I may as well give it a whirl. You never know, it may be my only hope for 30 seconds of fame. So I get to tell you MY story. I was MamaT's first Ebay Sasha. Now Sasha is hovering over my shoulder and telling me I have to back up a bit, to where ol' Karinne left off. Well, I wasn't even here then, so I don't know why that's my job, but I'll tell you what I've heard anyhow, and no doubt, Sasha will let me know if I get any of this wrong.

I think MamaT got Karinne in 1999. MamaT got married in 2002 and started on this house building project, which they still haven't finished. Don't ask me why it's taking so long. You might find that on MamaT's blog. Anyhow, in 2003, they moved onto the property, and most everything had to go into storage including Sasha and Karinne. MamaT says it really bothered her to think of her dolls packed away in a dark box in a cold storage unit, what with them being real and all, but it couldn't be helped. And I don't know what the technical term is, it's not hibernation or aestivation, but we dolls go into some sort of suspended animation while we're in storage, so it's not quite so bad as you think. Still we do prefer to be out in the open.

Fast forward to 2007 when at long last the storage unit was emptied, and MamaT was delighted to be reunited with her dolls again. She also pulled out her Sasha books, although most of her other books are still boxed up. MamaT says she searched for Sasha's on Ebay a number of years ago, and found some, but there were only a few. With her dolls back on her mind, she did a search in 2007 and was amazed to find dozens of dolls available at any given time. She googled Sasha too and found all kinds of wonderful websites about Sasha dolls and saved most of them on her Favorites. It wasn't long before she became addicted to looking at the Sasha doll listings almost every day, just to enjoy looking at them you know. The most common search term she uses goes like this:

• sasha -bratz -euro -eurogirl -american -osmond -attic

This narrows the number of non-Sasha hits down a bit. There are other terms she could take out too, but there is a character limit on the search term. She has this search saved as a favorite. Now if you are looking for clothes and accessories, you could probably leave Eurogirl, Magic Attic, and American girl (for accessories not clothes) in, but MamaT mainly just wanted to look at Sasha's which she says she never tires of.

Now I said earlier that I was MamaT's first Ebay Sasha, but that was not the search she used to find me. Just for an experiment, she tried searching on “Gregor” and I was listed without Sasha in the title. She thought maybe there would be a little less competition for me, since most people just search for Sasha. So she tried bidding on me. It was a very close auction. She won me by only 2 cents. She felt a little guilty the next bidder lost by such a narrow margin, but later that same bidder outbid MamaT more than once, and she saw her pick up lots of other things. So she quit feeling guilty after that. Back when Ebay didn't keep the bidder names hidden, she would see the same Sasha bidders a lot, some often enough to make a guess at their personality. But she says it's been more fun communicating with them more personally on the Sasha-L list.

My original owner was a young girl who had an English Grandma who got me and a blue gingham Sasha for her granddaughter. The mother who sold me couldn't remember what my original outfit was, but the highest probability is that I wore the denim jeans and navy sweater. Her best guess is that I was purchased in about 1985, and I have all the characteristics of an 1980's doll (dark brown and white stringing, minimal hand detail on my eyes and paler skin). I've been told that I resemble Hugh Grant for what that's worth. Sasha says I should take that as a compliment. I came wearing the pyjamas outfit with the red robe usually found on blonde Gregor's, but also shown on a brunette in the postcard set. I also was wearing the ribbed briefs typical of dolls of 1980 and older, so it seems my underwear is older than I am. I have to tell you one great advantage of being a doll is that you can wear the same pair of underwear for 20 years and no one cares. In fact, the longer you have worn the same underwear and same clothes, the more valuable you are. Is that cool or what? But since I have pyjama bottoms, I really didn't need the briefs all that badly, so I loaned mine to Sasha who wears a skirt and needs them more than I do. Again, this is all totally kosher when you're a doll.

One of my best talents and favorite tricks is standing on my head. I am also a pretty good dancer. Now Sasha is whispering that I have to share my favorite website with you. Well having some English family roots (besides being manufactured there), I'll have to say Shelly's site, Sasha Doll UK is the one I'd like to share with you. It has all kinds of great Sasha doll photos and some fantastic dolls for sale that would make any Sasha collector salivate. Good day to you all! --Gregor Vaughn

• http://www.sashadolluk.co.uk/
  
  
  

Sasha Resources

Hi, It's me, Sasha, again. I just discovered something really cool. If you click on the pictures in the blog notes, they pop up full screen, so for example, if you click on Angela K's photo in her entry below, you can really see how pretty she is and how pretty her dress is. I've always been a little envious of her dress. Except when it comes to play time, mine is a lot more practical.

I also notice A. Karinne made several references to the Sasha-Puppen book (sample page shown in photo above) without explaining what it was so now I think I need to do an entry about the Sasha books and other Sasha resources out there. So first about the books, currently there are 3 available.

1) Sasha Dolls by Michael O'Brien, 1998. It is a small paperback 6x8” and about 40 pages long. 1,000 books were printed, and each has a number stamped in it. MamaT's is #031. It features photos and information about the Sasha dolls produced in the 1960's, including both the German and English dolls. Dorisanne referred to it as the “Dream Book”, I think because it has so many nice photos of dolls we'd all love to have. The thing about Sasha dolls is that the older the dolls are, the more hand painting was done to finish their eyes, so the older they are, the more unique and extraordinary the eyes are. In particular, the early German or Gotz dolls (which stopped production in 1970) have a wide variety of eye styles and face styles too. MamaT didn't like them as well as the English dolls when she very first saw them, but has since become entranced with them. A 60s Gotz doll is in our fantasy wish list.

2) Sasha-Puppen, Sasha Dolls by Benteli, Verlag Bern, 1999. This is the book Angela Karinne kept referring to. It is a large 11x11.5”, 120 page, coffee table book, written in both English and German (as is O'Brien's book). The book tells the story of Sasha Morgenthaler's life with samples of her early artwork, including stuffed animals she made for her children when they were young. A section of the book was written by Sasha's daughter, Barbara Cameron Morgenthaler. The book also features numerous large format, stunning photos of Sasha Morgenthaler's studio dolls. This book was MamaT's first introduction to the studio dolls, and she was instantly captivated by them. A studio doll is on the extreme end of our fantasy wish list.

3) Sasha Dolls Through the Years by Dorisanne Osborn, 1999. This book is the current encyclopedia of Sasha dolls. There is information on the studio dolls, course dolls made under Sasha's or her assistant, Trudi Loffler's, instruction, and all the lines of production dolls. There is information on the different face and body types, so you will know what it means when a studio doll is described as CIII, for example. There is a lot of information to assist a collector in aging their doll, including stringing color, skin tone, eye painting style, boxes, tags, clothing, even underwear and snaps or closures. It is really a must-have for the Sasha collector.

There is information on ordering these books on Susanna's site.
--http://www.sashadoll.com/books.html

You can also order Dorisanne's book directly from the author (and even request a signed copy). See this link for information on what Dorisanne has to offer. You can also ask her about magazines with Sasha articles she may have.
--http://www.mysashas.com/friends_of_sasha.htm

The books also show up on Ebay regularly for a wide variety of prices. Since we have them, we haven't searched out other sources.

Finally, we are eagerly anticipating the publication of a 4th book, which will be titled The Magic of Sasha, by Anne Votaw, Ann Chandler, and Susanna Lewis, expected summer 2009. Besides the history and identification of Sasha dolls, the book will also feature examples of the creativity that Sasha has inspired.

There is also a magazine called “Sasha World” currently printed in the UK. For info, see:
--http://www.mysashas.com/sasha_world_magazine.htm

In fact this is a good website to feature today. The home page is: --http://www.mysashas.com/
Click the “Doll Information” tab for more good info about Sasha's.

And there is a current newsletter called Sasha Friends. See this link for information on how to subsribe to the newsletter and information on subscribing to one or more Sasha on-line email groups. --http://www.sashadoll.com/#board

There have also been many magazine articles about Sasha dolls published. There is a good bibliography on Susanna's page, good through 1999.
--http://www.sashadoll.com/bibli.html

Post-1999 Sasha articles we've found include the following. You can find these sometimes if you google or search for the magazine issue on Ebay.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. Best of the West, Sasha travels Arizona's highways. Dolls, Oct 1999, p14-15.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. Sasha Dolls, a Favorite of All Ages. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, cover, p. 4-5.
--Knüsli, Laura. A Swiss Vignette: Zürich's Toy Museum exhibits Designer Toys "made in Switzerland" from Sasha Morgenthaler, Kurt Naef, and Antonio Vitali. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 10-11.
--Heyerdahl, Virginia Ann. The Sasha Morgenthaler Doll Museum at the Museum Bärangasse. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 12-13.
--Warnaka, Karen. Apron with Knitted Bib for Sasha Dolls. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 14.
--Stiles, Evalyn. Velvet and Taffeta Holiday Dress for Sasha. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 20.
--Nelson, Martha. Sasha How to... Holiday Box with Cookies. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003 p. 23.
--Truffaut, Laura. Needlework Corner: A Snowflake Turtleneck for Sasha. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 24.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. Sasha Morgenthaler, Swiss Doll Artist. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 25, with paper dolls of Sasha Morgenthaler, age 7, featured on p. 26-27.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. The 2003 Sash Festival. Doll Castle News, Nov./Dec. 2003, p. 28-29.
--Newman, Penny. Sasha Dolls, a Story of Harmony, Simplicity and Love of Humanity. Contemporary Doll Collector April/May 2004, p. 30-35.
-- Sasha Babies at the Beach. (paperdolls). Doll Castle News May/June 2004, p. 26-27.
--Osborn, Dorisanne. Sasha Morgenthaler's Boys and Girls. Doll Reader, Feb. 2005, p. 24-29.
--Ndouop-Klajian, Ruth. Playing with Asymmetry. Doll Reader, December/January 2008, p. 62-64.

There are oodles more websites, but I am only going to feed them to you a few at a time, so you can spend some time to enjoy each one, without being overwhelmed at all of them, although you can find more on some of the links I've already listed.

Wow, I didn't realize there were so many Sasha resources when I started this note, and I'm sure there is more I've missed. Phew!

Enter Sasha Doll, #2

Well Hello to you all! My name is Angela Karinne, and Sasha has given me a turn at the computer to tell my own story, but first I should tell you how MamaT came to discover me. She'd probably hate to admit it, but I think she pretty much forgot all about Sasha's for a few years there. But in 1999 after she'd be working at her career for several years, it dawned on her one day that she could finally afford a companion doll for Sasha. She was disappointed to learn that the Trendon dolls had gone out of production way back in 1986. She searched on-line and found very little information on Sasha's, but came across a contact for Gotz and ordered a catalog. She then called a couple numbers in the back of the catalog and got referred to Dorisanne Osborn's Crow's Nest store, which is where I was living at the time. MamaT was delighted to find such a knowledgable Sasha lover out there in the world. She told Dorisanne that she had most hoped to find the redhead white dress doll from the 1980's, so Dorisanne recommended me. Of course, Sasha dolls were no longer selling in the $50-$100 range that they had sold for in the 80s. Retail costs were closer to $300 for non-limited edition dolls, and I cost $270 which was a good deal. So MamaT splurged a little and bought me as a birthday present to herself for her 34th birthday. She also bought a replacement "Kilt" outfit for Sasha who had still been dressed in her purple wrap-around sleeveless dress until then.

But we're not discussing Sasha here. I'm introducing myself. I am known as a modern Gotz Sasha doll. I was one of the first dolls produced when the Gotz company began producing Sasha dolls in 1995, the first since Trendon stopped production in 1986. I have red hair, gray-blue eyes, and a lovely white dress, a little like the doll on page 46 in the book on Sasha studio dolls. Sasha Morgenthaler dressed many of her dolls in lacy white dresses. MamaT pulled a little of the hair away from my face into a ponytail in back when I was first arrived, and we both think it looks much better that way. More recently, she trimmed my bangs just the tiniest smidge because they always cast a shadow over my eyes. I was named Angela at the factory, and Karinne by MamaT. I answer to both names, since I am called one just about as often as the other.

All of my stringing is white, although that's not really an issue with modern dolls. Stringing color is used to help date the older dolls. However, I am strung a bit tight (physically—I hope that's not my personality), and I've got some slight caving of my chest just around the neckline. This is said to be common among Angela dolls. I don't know if it happens with many of the other modern dolls. I've heard that if the caving gets severe, the sides could eventually split, which sounds a little scary if you ask me. But mine is just slight, so we are just watching it for now. Apparently, modern dolls are more complicated to restring than the older dolls, so MamaT doesn't dare mess with my stringing herself. Kelly Wenarsky can restring modern dolls, and maybe she'll send me there if my caving gets worse. I will post a link to her site. It is a great site with lots of great photos of Sasha dolls from all eras, including studio dolls and Kelly's custom repaints. If anyone else out there knows how to restring modern Gotz dolls, feel free to post a comment on this note.

I was produced in 1995, but dolls like me were produced in both 1995 and 1996. A limited edition line of Angela dolls was also produced, which as far as I know only seem to differ in that limited edition dolls are numbered. It's the only case I've seen where a limited edition doll looks almost identical to a non-limited edition. Modern Gotz Sasha dolls were produced between 1995-2001. A wide variety of different dolls were produced, including babies, and the only toddler dolls that were factory produced. Both pale and dark skin tones were produced, and different nationalities and socio-economic classes were represented. Many of the dolls are similar to one or more of Sasha M's studio dolls. In 2001, the Morgenthaler family pulled the manufacturing license from Gotz, and Sasha dolls have not been produced since. I don't know the details of why they pulled the license, but there was something in the quality they disapproved of. MamaT's favorite modern doll (besides me!) is Yamka, an American Indian doll, patterned after the studio doll on page 100 of the Sasha-Puppen book on studio dolls. She was a limited edition from 2001 and not in our household budget. It would also be kind of cool to have a toddler in the family.

Goodness, I've sure rattled on here, but you never know when Sasha will let me have another turn on the computer. So I wanted to tell you all about the modern Gotz Sasha's while I had the chance. I'll post another link to Susanna Lewis' page that shows photos of the modern Gotz dolls. Dorisanne Osborn also still has catalog sets for sale. MamaT just got a set from her. Seems like there was one other thing I wanted to share, but it's slipped my mind, so I will stop here and post the link's to Kelly's and Susanna's pages.
--Angela Karinne

• http://www.oursashadolls.com/
  
• http://www.geocities.com/slewisnyc/
  

Growing up with Sasha

Hello, MamaT here, as Sasha appears to have dubbed me. Sasha has graciously allowed me to insert an entry into her blog. I wanted to add in just a few comments about what it was like to grow up with Sasha from my own perspective. In any childhood picture where I am holding a doll it is always Sasha. I owned other dolls such as Velvet (as in Chrissy and Velvet with the retractable ponytail) and Gabbigale (for a short time—until her voice box failed), and we played with our Dawn dolls a lot, but it was Sasha that held a special place in my heart above all the others. I remember once showing her off to a friend from school and was shocked that my friend thought it was strange that she had blonde hair and brown skin. I thought it was one of the things that made her so unique and wished I could have a blonde, tan-skinned baby of my own one day. (At that time I had never seen a Sasha with any other hair color.) I even confess to once having a crush on a boy based primarily on the fact that he was blonde and olive-skinned. Later, at least 3 of my sisters bought their own Sasha dolls as adults in the 1980s. I was still in high school/early college in those years and could only drool over the catalogs wishing for a redhead in a white dress or a brunette in a dancing blue dress. I admit I neglected Sasha in my teen years and have to credit my oldest sister with rescuing her from the toy box. Unfortunately, her original clothes were all long gone by then, but she was stored in a cedar chest until shortly after I finished college when I was ready to reclaim her. Being no seamstress, I cut 3 holes in a piece of a fabric for arm holes and made a wrap around dress for her, with a matching belt and hair ribbon. I also worked to retame her bangs that wanted to stand straight up, and I curled her hair with rag strips. I hope she feels better taken care of now then in those days.
--MamaT

What's in a Name?

Today, I'll give you a quick introduction to the rest of my Sasha family, and later I'll let them introduce themselves in more detail. The first sister I acquired is a 1995 Gotz Sasha doll named Angela by the factory. MamaT named her Karinne, partly after one of her best friends in college, named Karen, and partly because it just sounded like a good name for a Sasha doll. However, the Angela name stuck with her until MamaT finally realized she needed both names, and her name became Angela Karinne.

Next to join our family is 1980-1986, Trendon boy, named Gregor Vaughn. Being the first Gregor in the family, he had to be a Gregor. Vaughn is because MamaT's husband is a 4th generation of names beginning with V: Victor, Valentine, Valentine Jr., Vance. It is also for MamaT's middle name, which is Yvonne. She also has a little Welsh ancestory, so that fits too.

After Gregor, we got a 1972-1974 Trendon baby black girl, named Cara Linnea. A later version of the baby black girl was named Cara, so we used that name for her. Her name is partly after Carl Linne, the father of taxonomy, who later changed his name to Carolus Linnaeus. You have to understand MamaT is a botanist, so she likes Latin names. The twinflower, Linnaea borealis, was named for him and is one of the cutest flowers ever. The name is also a play on her own last name, Carolin.

We got 2 more additions to the family just this year. First was a red-headed 1982-1986 Trendon Gregor, named Patrick Terrence. We can't have 2 Gregors in the family, and we have a lot of Irish in our family, so a redheaded boy needed a good Irish name. Patrick is after a great-great grandfather, Patrick Carolin, (Victor's father) who was the first in his line to immigrate to the States from Ireland. Terrence is yet another play on names, partly after MamaT's name, Tara, and her husband's middle name, Terry.

The most recent addition to the family is a 1981-1986 Trendon honey blonde baby named Sandy at the factory. She is now named Margot Monique. MamaT and her sister, Natasha (which is a great name too, I think. It's Russian for Christmas child which Natasha was.), used pen names for writing letters at one time. MamaT's pen name was Margot, and Natasha's pen name was Monique. So that's where the Sandy baby got her name.

Since everyone else had 2 names, MamaT thought maybe I should be given a second name too after all these years. She thought of several ideas, but nothing seemed to be quite right. She thought of her favorite cat she had growing up which she loved just about as much as me. The cat was named, Kaylee, but that wasn't quite right either. Then she thought by switching a few letters, I could have a name partly after Kaylee, but partly all my own that contained all the letters in my box name, Kilt. And so I became Sasha Kaelita, which works. But in truth, I will always mainly be just Sasha.

The Multi-lingual Girl

Idday ouyay owknay atthay Iay ancay peaksay ivefay ifferenday anguageslay? Robablypay, veryoneay niay ethay orldway owsknay Igpay Atinlay. Atthay asway ethe irstfay econdsay anguagelay Iay earnedlay.

Dobues abunyobune rebumebumbebur thebu tbuvbu shobuw Zobuom whebure webu lebuarnebud RububibuDububibu labunguabuage? MabumabuTbu's fabuvoribute Zobuom chaburabuctebur wabus Maburabu, bubut mbuy fabuvoribute chaburabuctebur wabus Beburnabudebutte, whobu coubuld twiburl hebur arbums.

Lopatoperop, wope learopnoped tophope lopanopuagopue ofop Opop wophoperope yopou inopsoperoptop anop opop afoptoperop evoperopyop coponopsoptopanopanoptop anopdop sopayop evoperopyop vopowopelop. Itop wopasop a soplowop wopayop topo wopropitope nopotopesop bopacopkop anopdop foporoptophop inop topyopinopgop coplopasopsop.

Tonghonge Asonianong vongerongsongionong ofong Opong isong Ononggong. Tonghonge rongulongesong aronge alonglong tonghonge songamonge, exongcongepongtong youngou songubongsongtongitongutonge ononggong fongorong opong.

Oops! MamaT just caught me on the computer typing this. I couldn't finish that last sentence fast enough before she walked in the room. But I'm happy to say I didn't get in trouble after all. She thinks it's “cute.” She says she's going to tell all her Sasha-loving friends about my blog. I hope that doesn't leave me tongue-tied. She also says I have to let the other dolls have a turn now and then too. I WAS planning to introduce them—eventually. She took a picture of me at the keyboard.... By the way, my 5th language is English, of course.

My Story

In the fall of 1969 MamaT's parents were out doing their Christmas shopping. I actually don't know where they found me, but I have always imagined it was at the Teddy Bear Toy Shop at the Sherwood Gardens shopping center in Salinas, California. The center had a rustic wood porch and inside the front door of the shop was a larger than life (at least 5' tall) teddy bear. MamaT thought the place was almost magical, even better than visiting “The Sugar Plum Farm” near Gilroy. And how could a place with a name like that NOT be exciting when you're 5? Anyhow, MamaT's daddy caught sight of a Sasha doll like me in the store window display. Although I was a bit on the expensive side for a play doll at the time ($17), her Mama agreed, and they picked me out and took me home to put under the tree on Christmas Eve. I wore a plaid skirt and white sweater and am known to Sasha collectors, as a "kilt" doll (not a very romantic name, I know). I was manufactured in England by the Frido doll company and was packaged in a "crayola tube" shown in the video below. That was back in the days of the 8mm silent home movies, and MamaT has a video clip of the moment she first opened my crayola tube and pulled me out. I love seeing the smile that flashes across her face when she first sees me. MamaT's daddy labeled the film box. "Christmas 1969--the year that Sasha came". It was like I was an additional member of the family. MamaT is the youngest of 6 girls in the family, and somehow she was the only one privileged to receive a Sasha doll. That didn't prevent the whole family from falling in love with me. In some ways, I was like MamaT's little sister and the real baby of the family.

I've posted the video-clip below, but before you get your expectations up, I'll start with an apology. The film was taken as a Super-8 home movie, and it was always a family favorite for repeat viewing. A decade or so ago, MamaT's sister, AuntieN, transferred many of the old home movies to VHS video format by projecting them on a wall and videotaping the projection. From this version, MamaT used a digital camera to capture this clip by filming the television screen. Through all of this the quality of the film has gotten quite poor and dark, so we apologize for that. And possibly the quality was never that great to begin with. We also had the VHS version professionally transferred to a DVD, and I think the digital camera version is no worse than that. In the film, you can see AuntieN (who was 8 at the time) is as excited about me as MamaT and very eager to "help" her with me. The video includes a clip of another baby doll that MamaT got that year just because it's a cute scene, but the baby doll is long gone and never got to become real, while MamaT swears she would never part with me at any price.

The Sasha link I'd like to share with you today is Cecelia's page. It features a couple of kilt dolls just like me, and even shows an original sales receipt. Now you can see what my original outfit looked like. My own was long lost over the years, and I am wearing a replacement outfit which was produced in the 70s and not quite exactly like my original skirt. Here's the link:

• http://www.dcai.com/sasha/


• And now for the video clip, click the box below...(if nothing happens with the first click, click again.)

So just what IS a Sasha doll anyway?

I suppose the first thing I need to explain to you is just what it means to be a Sasha doll before I go much farther. Sasha dolls are those designed by the Swiss artist, Sasha Morgenthaler. She made and sold dolls beginning in the 1940s until she passed away in 1975. We Sasha dolls are exceptional in being proportioned like a real child right down to the facial and body asymmetry found in real people. Because of this, we can portray a wide variety of moods with slight adjustments to the tilt of our head. We intentionally have a nuetral expression so we can be sympathetic to all moods of the beholder. The studio made dolls are exceptionally beautiful and are made in the likeness of children from around the world. In the 1960s, Sasha Morgenthaler's dream of having her dolls mass produced, so we could be available and affordable for common children was realized. First the Gotz doll company in Germany and then the Frido (later Trendon) company in England began production. Trendon continued producing the dolls through 1986, and Gotz manufactured them as collector dolls from 1995-2001. We factory dolls have a dark skin tone that was intended to be a blend of colors of all the children in the world. And if I don't say so myself, we dolls are incredibly well proportioned and balanced, so that not only can we stand easily by ourselves, we can even stand on our head or on one foot and one toe. I have to admit my brother, Gregor, is better at this than I am as his stringing is in better shape. There are a number of web sites that already have good Sasha doll information, so I won't go into more detail here. The first Sasha doll site I am going to recommend to you is by Susanna Lewis. It has the most comprehensive Sasha information of any site I've seen. I will probably point out different parts of it that MamaT refers to a lot in future blogs. The site can be found at:

• http://www.sashadoll.com/