Sasha Doll festival 2012 - part 4

On Saturday morning we were treated to two very interesting talks.  The first was by a slightly nervous Marie, who showed us some brilliant slides of studio dolls and discussed in detail the history of Sasha studio dolls in particular.  Her slides showed the different faces which Sasha used, some of them more regularly than others.  She then unveiled her collection of Studio dolls in glass cases which we were able to photograph, what a glorious surprise to see them up close.

waiting for the first talk to begin

Marie gives her Studio doll talk

Eskimo Sasha studio dolls

Sasha Studio doll

A lovely pair of Sasha Studio dolls

Christine with her rare Sasha studio baby

rare Sasha studio baby

After the tea break Brenda Walton, the manager of the Trendon Factory, gave us a fascinating talk about the production and also showed us a BBC produced film of little Jenny watching her Gregor doll being made.  We were all pleased to know that Jenny still lives in the area near the factory and still has her Gregor.  It was quite entertaining when the hair was rooted into the doll's head by machine - the gasps and laughs around the room were quite audible, especially as we had learned all about the tedious task of rerooting the previous day - so fast and easy compared to the restoration process now.

Dawn Law with Ann Chandler

Brenda Walton talks of the early Sasha collector
who dressed the dolls to record a bygone era

the children busy colouring and drawing

Listening to Brenda

Some of Brenda's gorgeous Sasha Trendon collection

Some of Brenda's gorgeous Sasha Trendon collection

A lovely redhead from Brenda's collection

Another lovely redhead from Brenda's collection

My girl plays with our Sasha dolls

Before lunch, my daughter and I took the opportunity to look at the amazing Special Raffle prizes and the Helper Raffle.  We, like everyone else, were quite overwhelmed by the sight of the three prizes.  My girl wanted to win the baby, I liked the blond school boy and the American invasion Cora in equal measure, their collections of clothes and accessories were truly incredible.

On our way to lunch I got a chance to take a photo of the amazing themed display in the lobby with the cabinet doors open, so no glass reflections or door dividing the scene.

Children's Fund Auction next, but that will be in my next post.