Zwernase Art doll Suse

I love Zwergnase dolls, they have such interesting and characterful faces.  I have only ever owned two Juniors but have always enjoyed looking at the art dolls, but their prices have kept me from buying one.  That, plus the fact that I really don't like cloth parts on dolls.  However, I just happened to look on Marja Holstege's website and was smitten by a girl she had for sale on there.  The doll is question is called Suse and she is from 1996.  I decided to order her and she arrived yesterday from the Netherlands.

Suse is 65cm tall and is number 60 of 300 dolls made.  She has a human hair wig and blue hand painted eyes.  The art dolls nowadays come with German glass eyes but Suse, being from back in 1996 has painted eyes.  She is mostly vinyl but has cloth from just below her chest down to mid thigh and then there are small parts of cloth on her upper arms. 

Her default outfit consists of a grey knit short sleeved dress with another flowered knit dress with string shoulder straps over the top.  She has white knickers, black socks and the 'famous' Zwergnase black real suede boots.  She also has a small silver handbag but I've not taken that out of the packet yet.  She is signed by the artist on her 'stomach' and her release number is also handwritten there.

What I really fell in love with was her face though, she has the most goofy look about her which I liked instantly I saw her.  I know she won't be everyone's 'cup of tea' but I guess it would be a pretty boring world if we all liked the same, wouldn't it!!

Like a lot of the Zwergnase dolls, people say that 'this one' or 'that one' remind them of someone....and this girl is no exception.  As soon as I saw her out of her box she reminded me of someone I know and I was tempted to name her after that person, but have decided against it because I don't want to cause offence.  So for now I'm still thinking of a name for her.

Here are some quick photos I took yesterday when I removed her from her box:

A close up of her handpainted eyes:

I have since put her hair into two plaits and have been measuring her up to make patterns for her clothes.  I will take more photos once she has 'settled in' :)

Thank you for visiting, I hope you've enjoyed seeing  Suse and hope you are all having a great weekend :)

How did you get here?

I realised yesterday that somehow I had 10 of my Sasha family down here at the coast with me!  Now how did that happen?  I'm sure I only brought a few down here when we loaded the car to come to the coast for the summer.  I am assuming they must have made their own way down here by bus or maybe by the high speed Ave train! ;)

Anyway, here they all are, they wanted to show you their new outfits too, so I thought I'd take photos of them all, even those who aren't wearing anything new!

Here is a group shot:

L to R: Gabrielle, Eden, Willow, Skye, Wren, Teddy (in front), Devlin, Nuria, Stella and Bailey (trying another new wig)
 

I love how, despite having the same face sculpt, they all look so different because of how they have been painted.

I know that readers of my blog will have seen most of these kids before, but I thought I'd still share some closeups. 

Gabrielle is a late 70s Sasha Pink Dress but her eyes have been repainted by Shelly of Sasha Dolls UK and I added freckles and blush.  Her wig is by Mary Madeco Smith and is made of Tibetan Lambswool.
Her outfit is made by me and her shoes are by Marti Sanders Murphy.

Next up is Eden who recently joined us here in Spain from her previous home in the US.  She is a Sasha Gingham from 1970 and is wearing an outfit I made last year, plus boots by Ruth of Ruthsdolls:

Next we have a little newbie who slipped in last week having come to live here from her previous home in the UK.  Her name is Willow and she is from 1969.  She is wearing a lovely new smocked dress by Marilyn Hotchkiss, socks by me and shoes by Marti Sanders Murphy.  I have since changed her socks for white ones as I don't think these striped ones go well with this dress:

Next up is Skye, she is a 1969 Blond Sasha and is wearing another new outfit also made by Marilyn Hotchkiss.  The outfit is made up of a blouse, shorts and this lovely biscuit coloured pinafore over the top, so in effect could be two outfits :)  The socks are by me and shoes are again by the lovely  Marti Sanders Murphy and were a Christmas gift from my dear friend Louise who knew that I really liked mustardy yellow shoes :)   Although you can't see it very well in these photos, the blouse and shorts fabric has orange and yellow owls on it, so the shoes are a perfect match :)

Next we have Wren who is a 1969 Sasha Kilt.  She is wearing yet another new outfit, again by Marilyn, consisting of white shorts, blue and white 'angel' top and sun hat!  I love Wren in blue as it really brings out the colour of her eyes.  Her socks are by me and her shoes are by the late great Jean Jensen.

Next we have Wren's twin brother, Devlin.  Devlin is a 1969 Blond Pyjamas Gregor and poor lad doesn't have anything new to wear.....but I struggle to take off his blue hoodie as it matches his eyes perfectly!!!  His tee shirt, hoodie and denim cap were made by me, his brown cord trousers are Dollydoodles I believe and his shoes are by Boneka.

Squeezed in here is little Teddy!  Teddy is a Gotz Toddler Erik from 2001.  He is wearing striped dungarees and matching cap plus lemon knit tee shirt, all recently made by me especially for him and his shoes are by Lisa Hartley. 

My little redhead Nuria is up next and she is a Ballerina Sasha from 1968.  She is wearing an outfit that I made especially for her last week, consisting of bubble shorts and top.  The shorts are made from a lovely soft fine needle cord which I got from Finland.  I also used the fabric for decorating the top.  Her socks are also made by me and her boots are by Ruthsdolls.

Alongside Nuria we have Stella, the second little brunette girlie who arrived a couple of weeks ago from the US.  I think Stella is from late in 1969 but not completely sure on that.  Regardless, she is a little sweetie and is wearing a pretty three piece set by Passion for Sasha with yellow socks by me and leather shoes by Noreen Walters.

And last but by no means least is Bailey.  Bailey is my wigged ex Brunette Sasha from 1971.  Today she's trying out yet another wig  but will probably go back to one of her others tomorrow.  I am not overkeen on this look for her!   She is wearing white dungarees and navy and white gingham blouse and socks all made by me and her shoes are again by Jean Jensen.

Finally, some photos of groups together:

The boys, Teddy and Devlin:  (Cute teddy bear being held by Teddy, was a gift from the lovely Ginger!)

The Blonds:

Skye, Wren and Devlin:

 

Thanks so much for visiting with me and the Sasha gang.....I hope you've enjoyed seeing them all and hope you have a great 'rest of the week'!

And then there were TWO!!!!

As some of you will know, since my 1971 Brunette Sasha, Bailey, lost all her hair, I have been hankering after another Brunette.  I did reroot Bailey, in fact I rerooted and removed her hair twice, but she is now classed as a wig wearing 'waif'!!!  So recently I decided to make more of an effort to find a Brunette.  I missed a few because of time differences and another because I wouldn't pay a  high price for a doll with badly falling hair.  Then a dear sweet friend in the US came to my rescue.  Ginger of Sasha Shangri-La offered me a choice of one of her two Brunette girls and because I couldn't decide between them, liking them both for different reasons, I decided to adopt them both and bring them to live here in Spain.

The two girls arrived yesterday and today they are settling in and resting after their long journey from the USA.  As Ginger informed me, both girls have falling hair to some degree, but I have learned my lesson the hard way in the past, these girls will not be getting a hair wash, in fact they will not even have their hair combed!!  So if they look a little windswept please forgive me!!

First up is Stella who was named by her previous mum, Ginger.   Stella has white elastics although I'm not sure if they are her original ones, and pretty brown eyes, her lips have oxidised a little, she is in good 'played with' condition.  She has very thick hair and as far as I'm aware has no empty plugs :)  She is wearing a new outfit that I recently received from Ginny, of  A Passion for Sasha, I think it really suits her colouring.  Her shoes are made by Noreen and her socks are made by me.

Secondly we have this little lady.  She had a sad start to life apparently, she was owned by a person who had acquired her in a 'lot' of dolls, and sadly the person didn't even like Sasha dolls!!!  She has never been played with, and never had a name!  I think you can see this sadness reflected in her face! ;)  So she went to live with Ginger, where she was happy but still didn't get named, LOL, and now she has come to live here with me.  She too has nice thick hair and no missing plugs as yet.  Her elastics are also white and she has lots of sand falling from her joints.  She came to me wearing her original gingham outfit but changed straight away into this outfit which I made a while ago for another girl.  The reason she hasn't got anything new yet is because the outfit I made especially for her, just didn't suit her, so I will make her something else. Red leather boots are made by Ruthsdolls.

And here are some photos of the two girls together.  They are happy to have one another because it's always a bit overwhelming to arrive in a new home in a strange country  and not know anyone, but I'm sure that my other girls and boys will soon make them feel at home :)

Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed meeting the new girls.  I will hopefully have a name for Little Miss No Name very soon! 

Last minute sewing....

During the last view days I finally started, and finished, my raffle prize donation for the Sasha Celebration Weekend  being held in the UK from the 13th to 15th May.  I had promised Janet, the organiser, that I would send something as a prize and had every intention of doing so, but my goodness the time passed so quickly that I didn't realise the event was almost upon us!  So I'm relieved that that is done and will be sent off this week :)

Here is my lovely Wren (1969 Sasha Kilt) modeling for me.  The skirt fabric is from Santoro, London,  the company who produce the Gorjuss range of goods,  I really love the designs they produce.   I've added a second layer of white broidery anglais to the skirt because not everyone likes their girls in such short skirts as I do!!  A headband in the same fabric as well as appliqued tee shirt and black and white striped socks, completes the set.

I hope you like it and hope the winner will be happy with it too!

Well I hope you all have a lovely week ahead and that spring has sprung where you live....unless you're in Australia of course ;)