I have been very good at not buying any Sasha dolls until recently, however when I attended the Sasha Festival last year, I fell in love with a little baby that was modelling an outfit by Rosie shortell. this was unusual for me as I am not really a Sasha baby person.

Any way I found this littlie guy on a well know auction site and the rest is history as they say. As you will see he is something of a little Tyke.

All sweet and innocent here with his little bunny, but soon up to mischief!

Oh, a horsey,

I can make it

Did it.

come on Bunny your turn.

you can do it

sorry Bunny it was too high

You know i love you Bunny

Horsey come here

Horsey stay still

I don’t want to play anymore.

I think Little Tyke is a good name for him.

 

Thanks for looking ……………..

This post is dedicated to the miniature prams that go so well with Sasha dolls.

I will attempt to give you information on all the different types of these prams and how to identify them.

I have asked these young ladies to give me a hand.

Pippin and the Twins

Now then contrary to believe these prams were produced as toys for children in the 1950s in France.

The names they were produced under were Doucet, Red and Ponfa, there is also believed to be a 4th called Solein.

I believe that the Red and Ponfa prams were produced by the same company and that Doucet were produced by another company, merely because the Red and Ponfa prams are nearly an identical design. Below is an article from magazine advertising the prams for sale. 10.95 seems like a bargain to me.

 

 

 

We shall start with the RED prams, as you can see they are a good size for Sasha dolls.

This is the  smaller of the Red prams it  is approx. 11 inches from hood to handle in length. Approx. 8 inches in height from the floor to the handle and approx. 4 and 1/2 inches wide at the handle. The wheels are approximately 3 inches across and the straps on the sides are made from leather. Another difference between these prams and the Doucet is that Red and Ponfa pram aprons are attached with eyelets, whereas , Doucet pram aprons are attached with elastic.

Here are some other views of the same pram.

Here is the RED logo under the chassis of the pram,.

Here is another of the smaller RED prams

These prams come in an array of colours i have seen them in white, light blue, dark blue, yellow. lavender , red, grey and black. Although i do not have any photo’s of a small Ponfa pram, they are indeed identical to the Red prams.

This lovely photo was kindly given to me to use by Dawn Law, who has an extensive collection of prams.

 

 

Next up is the Doucet pram, unfortunately i do not have the original cover for this pram. The replacement apron and bag were made by a lovely lady in France and although not an exact match, it does fit the pram.

The Doucet pram again is approx. 11 inches from the hood to the handle in length. 8 inches from the floor to the handle in height and approx. 4and1/2 inches wide at the handle. The wheels are approx. 3 inches across . The straps on the sides of the Doucet pram are made from plastic and not leather.

The main difference between the Red, Ponfa and Doucet prams is that Doucet has a far shallower chassis, which is also more streamlined and as you can see where i have indicated with arrows, the chassis angles upwards.

The other thing that distinguishes Doucet from the other prams, is that Doucet prams  only come in the smaller pram and not the larger prams.

Here are some more photos of the doucet pram.

This is the Doucet logo which is underneath the pram on the chassis.

Below are some more photos kindly on loan from Dawn law ,showing a before photo of a Doucet pram needing restoration.

And after Dawn lovingly restored it. What an amazing job.

Now onto the larger prams, which were produced by Red and Ponfa and which i believe to be the same company in France.

The larger prams are still a good size for  Sasha dolls.

They ae also a good sixe for the Sasha Studio dolls too.

 

Here is a larger RED pram.

The larger RED and Ponfa prams are approx. 13 inches long from the hood to the handle. 9inches in  height from the floor to the handle. 5 1/4 inches wide across the handle and the wheels are approx. 41/2 inches across

Here are some more views of the pram.

As above only the larger prams have handle grips.

As above the chevron pattern on the side of the pram can only be found on the larger prams.

Here is the RED logo which is underneath the pram on the chassis.

This pram also came with an import sticker on it.

Here is a larger Ponfa pram, as you can see apart from the logo and colour it is identical in size and shape to the large RED pram.

Here is the Ponfa logo which is underneath the chassis.

Here is a larger pram in another colour

 

Here is a large pram lovingly restored by Catherine French.

 

At the beginning of this post i mentioned a 4th pram  known as a Solein pram. I have never seen one, however, Dawn law has provided me with this photo which shows the three types of prams i have already described along with a 4th that maybe the illusive Solein pram. It has two different size wheels and also a different shaped hood.

From left to right we have a smaller RED or Ponfa pram,a Doucet pram, an unusual pram which could be the Solein pram and the larger Ponfa or RED pram.

 

This last photo show a small and large pram side by side.

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed this post,  and if anyone has other information that they would like me to add, just leave a comment and let me know.

 

Thanks for looking…………………

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday was cold but the sun was shining , we even had a little visitor to the garden.

This morning i awoke to a massive deluge of snow, not that i am complaining , because i love snow.

For me , its starting to feel like Christmas and i hope it snows Christmas Eve as i still find it magical.  Tod and Red thoroughly enjoyed the snow and are very proud of their snowman.

 

Thanks for looking……………..

 

Freya and Nuru had just come back from Trick or Treating  and were just about to sit down and see how many sweets they had got.

 

 

When Nuru said, “whats that noise, its gone awfully cold in here”

“Run”, shouted Freya as they fled leaving behind their booty.

 

Now what what this?, a ghost?

Hang on a minute, there’s something afoot here.

 

 

I recognise those little legs.

Yum, yum said, Tod.

I might have known this mischievous little guy would be up to something , after all it is Halloween and he is a Toddler .

 

 

 

There has been quite a bit of discussion lately about the appearance of the Suki dolls.

They seem to have the same effect as marmite, you either love them or you hate them.

I purchased a blank brunette one myself, because, one I was intrigued, two, to use the blank doll to practise painting Sasha eyes and three I  also wanted to see the similarities to Sasha dolls.

So with al little help from a few of my Sasha dolls, here are the comparisons.

The first  Sasha doll I compared the Suki doll with, was Maria a Gotz Sasha from the later production.

As you can see the Suki doll is much shorter.

 

A side view

A back view

Face to face

Body to body

The feet are much smaller.

A view for the arms

As you can see Suki is not Asymmetrical.

Here Suki is wearing a Sasha doll dress, which is much too large for her. Suki has long wavy hair made  from a saran type hair and a side part. The vinyl she is made from is very dark compared to Sasha dolls.

Now I am compering her with an early Trendon Sasha

side view

Back view

Trendon body

Suki body

The arms

The feet

Head

Now I am comparing her with a Gotz Sasha from the earliest production.

Front view

side view

back view

And here they are altogether

So there you have it my little suki doll, she may not appeal to everyone, but then again beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Thanks for looking…….

 

 

 

 

I arrived home from The Sasha festival and unpacked my loot.

I think we will start with The Festival souvenirs, From my first table Hostess Elizabeth Mizererek , I received a lovely dress and pants set made by Vicky Chapman and a Sasha sized steam engine, along with the first of the official festival souvenirs, a Spa for Sasha.

 

 

Along with the spa came a pattern for a face mask and a pair of slippers, a sponge scrub and Orvus cleanser for Sasha

My next table Hostess was Heidi Wheeler and I received a lovely dress made by Heidi.

My Last table Hostess was Jeanna  Bauer from whom I received a little box full of sweets for me and accessories for Sasha Gregor and baby.

My next festival souvenir depended on which type of chocolate I liked. I chose dark hazelnut and this is what I received.

There were four festival outfits. All made by Karen Warnaka.

My last Souvenir gift was a Sashapotmus onesie and a sewing pattern for baby and Toddler.

My exchange gift from Monica Jarpey

 

I managed to win this outfit from the Helper raffle

 

From The Children’s Fund Auction I managed to win this wonderful Sasha box filled with 5 pairs of Sasha, Mary Jane shoes. White, brown,blue black and red. I have since found out that only 10 of the Sasha boxes have ever been made. Each pair of shoes were individually wrapped in a little bag with the Sasha logo on it.

Now to my purchases  which were not many, but things I really wanted.

 

 

This lovely dress by Frances Trickett was purchased from Gayle Rotheim

The lollipop was a gift from Jeanna.

 

 

I could not resist this pair of dungarees and top which I purchased from Sheila Foery and I may just have to buy some more.

 

 

My next purchase was 5 pairs of shoes from Betty Jean Densford, which I love.

Betty Jean also made these accessories for Sasha.

 

 

My last purchase came from Ann chandler which was vintage fabric to use as a collar for a Sasha outfit and some socks.

 

 

During my visits out and about in Washington I picked up some presents for my family and found these lovely Sasha sized donuts in Target.

Just the right size

 

 

That’s all the loot from me , except to tell you about 2018.

 

If you have never been to a Sasha Festival I can highly recommend it.

Thanks for looking….

 

 

Sunday had come around much too quickly and it was hard to believe that this would be out last day together.

Breakfast was delightful and the hostess at my table this time was Jeanna Bauer and out hostess gift was  a little box full of sweets, toys and accessories for Sasha, Gregor and baby. We also received a Sashapotmus onesie for baby, plus sewing patterns for baby.  Photos of which I shall share with you on my last post. here are some photos from out last breakfast together.

 

Ida was dressed for travelling

 

At the end of breakfast we gave a warm heart felt round of applause for our wonderful hosts, Charla, Karen and Norvell. Thank you so much ladies for my first Sasha Festival in the USA.

All too soon it was time to finish packing and as my flight wasn’t until the evening I had some time to kill, and on my way back through the bar I came across this young lady.

She belongs to Sophia McClain ( I hope I have that right), she is a very early rubber head studio doll. Sophia gave me permission to hold her and photograph her. She is very tactile and much more beautiful in reality.

Now then as if holding an early studio doll was not a great way to end a Sasha festival, the next thing I know I was kidnapped by some very lovely ladies, bundled into a car and taken to a flea market.

There were a few Sasha dolls there, but very highly priced. This little sandy baby was on another stall with a reasonable price of $85.

I couldn’t resist photographing this

Thanks to Lynne Field, Heidi Wheeler,Barbie Hart, Pat Pellerito, Sheila Foery for kidnapping me and looking after me until it was time for my flight home, I has a fantastic time.

Now I would like to share with you some of my favourite photos from The Sasha Festival.Starting with:

Norvell Jones

 

Heidi Wheeler

 

Cathy Himmel

 

Dawn Law

 

Gayle Rotheim

Peggy livingstone

 

 

Charla McQuire Neal and Karen Warnaka

 

Jinny Lee Myers

Brenda Myers and Jinny Lee

Anne Votaw

 

Ann Chandler

Julie Ruleman

 

Lee Moore

 

 

 

Barbie Hart

Susanna Lewis

 

Ellen Church

 

Inara Koyutis

 

Betty Jean Densford and Joann Staricha

 

Mary Righos

 

Jinny Lee and Ann

 

Softie get to visit Lincoln Memorial

 

 

The Cheesecake Gang

 

Miss Foery

Friendship’s renewed and new friendship’s made, memories to cherish made along the way. My next post will be my last post on The Sasha Festival 2017.

Thanks for looking….

Forever Young was the Festival theme this year and I remember my Mother saying that although your body aged  in your mind you were forever young and it is so true.

 

The next part of the programme were craft workshops and the craft this year was to make felt finger puppets. I must apologise that I took these photos on my return home as I was so engrossed in actually doing the craft , that I did not take any photos at the time.

There was a choice between a monkey, cat,  parrot, elephant and dog.

I chose the Elephant and dog and these are my efforts below.

After the crafting was over it was time to get ready for Dinner.

 

 

As we entered the hall I was asked to pick a bar of chocolate from four different flavours and as dark chocolate with hazelnuts was on the menu, that was the one for me.

The wonderful hall we were having our dinner in had beautiful ceiling lights, which I thought were worth a mention.

 

 

I made my way to a table where Heidi Wheeler was the Hostess. I received a lovely dress made by Heidi as a hostess gift from her which I will show in my last post.

I discovered that Monica Jarpey also has a penchant for dark  chocolate.

 

Here are some photos from around the Dining room. The dinner was a three course meal and very yummy.

 

 

 

Donna explains the meaning of the chocolate bars. There were four different souvenir outfits and four different types of bars of chocolates. Depending on which type of chocolate bar you chose, you would receive a corresponding souvenir outfit.

Souvenir gift boxes were given to each table. I will let you know which one I received in my last post.

 

Not sure what these two are up to, but they look like they ae having fun.

 

Ida and friends are dressed for dinner

 

After dinner Diane Duke gave a wonderful talk and slide show about her knitting. Once again I need to apologise for the lack of photos on this as I was busy listening and by the time  took some photos many of the dolls had already been taken away.

I was very pleased to see Helen the wandering doll again.

The next post will be breakfast and goodbyes, along with some of my favourite photos from my time in the USA, Thanks for looking…..

 

 

 

 

 

From the queue for a moment I thought I had been transported back to England, but, oh no it was just the queue for The Sales Tables.

 

Once inside the door it was an Aladdin’s cave of Sashaness.

 

 

Sheila Foery had an array of items for sale.

 

 

Anne Votaw’s husband  kept watch on Anne’s table.

 

 

Not sure whose table this was, but if you let me know I will add your name.

 

 

Dawn Law’s table

 

 

Heidi Wheeler’s table

 

 

Lynne Fields table

 

 

Diane Duke’s table

 

 

 

Francine Briggs table

 

 

Ginger’s table

 

 

Laura Osterdyk’s table

 

 

Cheryl Cloutier’s table

 

 

Ann Chandler’s table

 

 

Carol Sluys Table

 

 

 

Sasha Rose’s table

 

 

Betty Jean Densford’s table

 

 

Joann Staricha’s table

 

 

Jackie Kraemer’s table

 

 

 

Julie Ruleman’s table

 

 

more tables

 

 

Ellen Church’s table

 

 

Norvell Jones

 

 

 

 

Beth Whitehouse table

 

 

 

Shirley Bennett’s table

 

 

Florence Gadol’s table

I know this is a very long post, but I thought you would want to see as much as possible form The Sales Tables. If I have any names wrong please let me know and I will change them.

The next post will be the Crafts and Dinner.

Thanks for looking….

 

 

 

After Lunch and before The Children’s Fund Auction, we had The Experts Tables which were very informative.

There were four experts tables.

Number 1 as I went around them started with a display on how to re-string your doll by Anne Santucci.

here she is hard at work

 

The next table I visited was Anne Votaw’s wonderful display of studio dolls. I was very honoured that my studio Inge  was on display and that Anne told her story. Anne also advised us how to look after our studio dolls and how to identify them.

Anne Votaw is sitting by the table in a lovely green outfit.

Below is Inge looking very proud at sharing the platform with her American cousins.

Marti Murphy made this girls dress and it suits her so well.

Love this girl

Diane’s new bebe, Anni, in the pink gingham.

A glunk doll whose eyes were painted by Sasha Morgenthaler

I could have stayed looking at those beauties forever, but before long it was time to visit my next table.

 

 

Ann Chandler’s table was my next visit and Ann was advising us on how to use different types of fabric. How to check if a vintage fabric would stand the test of time or would fall apart and be no good to spend a lot of time and effort on. It was fascinating to listen to especially if you enjoy sewing as I do.

Ann Chandler demonstrating which fabrics are suitable for Sasha or Gregor.

The suit that this Gregor is wearing was completely hand sewn by Ann Chandler and I just love it.

In this photo Ann is a young child and the dress she is wearing in the photo is the dress on the table, which at some point will be made into an outfit for Sasha.

The next photo is of an older Ann, she is on the right in this photo and I believe the beautiful dress she is wearing has since been made into an outfit for Sasha.

 

 

All too soon it was time to move onto the next table and this time it was Dawn Law showing how to curl your dolls hair in a permanent tight curl.

Dawn sets to work measuring the pipe cleaner which is used as the curler.

Combing a small piece of hair out and dampening it with water.

Rolling the hair under onto the pipe cleaner.

Until the whole head is covered in pipe cleaner curlers.  Then hold the baby over the sink and pour boiling water over the curlers, being careful not to burn yourself, then leave until the hair is dry and remove the curlers.

Hey Presto a head of bouncing curls.

 

 

 

Now the last table I visited was a re-rooting demonstration by the lovey Sheila Foery.

 

Sheila uses a medium sized doll needle

A pair of clamps

 

Sheila cuts the tip off of the doll needle so that it resembles a mini tuning fork

Now early Gotz doll heads are a lot softer than Trendon doll heads, if you need to heat the dolls heard first, Sheila has come up with a brilliant idea, by using a microwavable heat pad like the ones you can get to heat your neck ect. If you heat your pad or neck warmer in the microwave then apply it to your dolls head to heat it up in order to put the needle through. You will need to do this a few times but it is a lot less messy than hot water or  a hairdryer.

Select the strands of hair you are going to use and bend them in half over the top of you needle end, then wrap the rest of the hair around your needle twice holding firmly in you hand. Place the needle on the clamp and push into the hole on the dolls head tuning fork end first. Push in so that the needle goes in a good way, release you hand so that the hair is released and pull the needle out. The hair is now in place and will not come out.

 

I hope you have enjoyed The Expert Tables as much as I did. A big thank you to all our experts. .

Tomorrow will be The Sales Tables.

Thanks for looking…..