Showing posts with label Sasha #108. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sasha #108. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The Case of the Missing Dress

Sasha #108 circa 1979-1986, redressed in a yellow floral print dress

I began looking for Sasha's original white dress after her sister arrived in May 2014.  This Sasha arrived in June 2011 wearing the missing dress that I stored after dressing her in the extra yellow floral print dress the seller sent.  I thought the yellow complemented her complexion and red hair. 

After three years, I wanted to redress her in the original dress, but could not remember where I stored it.  I looked high and low, in every nook and cranny of the doll room, in every doll trunk where clothing for dolls her size is stored.  I could not find it until the day of this post (almost a year after the search began) when I decided to store a smaller doll's clothing in an Effanbee doll trunk. 

Effanbee doll trunk designed for 9-inch Patsy dolls, clothing, and accessories

This particular trunk  has always (as far as my memory could stretch) been empty.  As soon as I opened the trunk I shouted (in my head), "There-it-is!"


Sasha's original white dress


I haven't redressed Sasha just yet; but when I am ready to do so, I will know where to locate her white dress.  I have documented here and in the description column for her entry on my Excel spreadsheet where I stored it:  White dress is stored in Effanbee trunk.


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Friday, May 30, 2014

Sasha From Canada

16-inch Sasha doll with dark skin, brown eyes, and red hair by Sasha Morgenthaler

No this doll was not made in Canada.  She was most likely made by Trendon Ltd., Stockport England.  Doll artist and Facebook friend, Frantz Brent-Harris, creator of Sonadolls, found the above preloved Sasha at a flea market in Canada.  He offered her to the first taker for his cost plus shipping.  My new doll arrived the Saturday before Mother's Day as shown above.

I washed and rolled her hair, then treated a stain that I discovered on the side of her right leg.  See the following pictures for these details:
Sasha's auburn hair has been washed.
She sat still while her hair was sectioned and rolled.  I left the rods in until dressing took place some two weeks later.
Leg stain prior to Oxy-10 treatment.  The stain was faint, but I wanted to treat it.
Oxy-10 was applied and left on the stain for 7 days.
After 7 days, the leg stain faded some.  I applied additional Oxy-10 for another week.  More fading took place.  The stain is still visible but not enough to cause worry.


During Sasha's leg stain treatment, she remained nude.  At the end of treatment, I dressed her in the perfect dress, tights (that cover the leg imperfection), and shoes that were all on hand.

 Sasha shows off her lovely locks that were finger-combed.


Wearing the bolero jacket that matches the dress, Sasha has joined Sasha #108 who has been here since the summer of 2011.  The older doll arrived with her original white dress, which I cannot locate at present.  The two are now BFFs and display quite well together.

Shown below are Gotz babies Andrea (1996), a redhead; and brown-haired dolls Celina (1996), Christina (1997), and Toni (1999).  Like the 16- and 17-inch Sashas, the babies have dark caramel complexions. 



Ebony complexioned Sasha dolls and two brunettes with caramel complexions can be seen in a previous post. As a result of my new Sasha and this post, I purchased the book, Sasha Dolls:  The History by Anne Votaw, Ann Louise Chandler, and Susanna E. Lewis. 


What Are Sasha Dolls (from Wikipedia.com)
Sasha dolls are a type and series of doll created by Swiss artist and dollmaker Sasha Morgenthaler (1893–1975), produced in Germany and the United Kingdom beginning in the late 1960s. Popular with collectors, Sasha dolls are characterized by their individualism, their realistic expressions, their unique color, and the extreme attention to detail in the manufacture of the dolls as well as their clothes. It is said by Juliette Peers that: "Sasha dolls are renowned for possessing a solid intellectuality, despite their bizarre origins as representations of holocaust victims."[1] Morganthaler created face sculpts for her dolls with subtle expressions to not dictate artificially exaggerated smiles, her concern that children surviving the horrors of WWII would not relate to dolls so happy in times of terror. Morganthaler, herself, "When she was sad, she did not like her dolls uncompromising smiles. Once she grabbed a nail file and scraped off her doll's false grin..." In her own words, "No grotesque caricature can awaken a child's true feelings. A piece of wood, barely carved, is far superior to a conventional doll with an exaggerated smile."[2]  Read more.
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1. Mitchell & Reid-Walsh (2008). Girl Culture: An encyclopedia. p. 29.
2. Votaw & Chandler & Lewis (2011). Sasha Dolls, The History. p. 10.

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