In the Garden after the Rain

Since my current garden is narrow and L-shaped I can't always get far enough away to frame my photos the way I'm used to, but I decided to not let that get in the way of new photos and took Carpatina Veronika and Double Dutch Sascha out after a rainstorm to do some experimenting. I'm not thrilled with the results, but that just gives me something to work towards, right?

It's all photos from here on out.

Season's Greetings! And Planning for 2015

Double Dutch Sascha (in a Carpatina oufit),
Volks SDGou Claude the Beast,
Carpatina Veronika

I missed posting on Christmas, so just wanted to make a quick post to send a Holiday greeting!

Coming up in the first few weeks of 2015,  I should be posting about the Carpatina doll and clothes line (I received a doll and three outfits as part of a gift exchange), and about my end-of-year splurge gift to myself, a Volks SDGou Claude the Beast, who I lucked into finding on Mandarake two weeks ago.  Also in the queue are Monster High's Vandala Doubloons, and some vintage Star Wars figures and vehicles.

I also seem to be hitting a storage and display limit, which means it may be time to thin the herd, so it's likely that I'll be talking myself through the process of elimination some time in the next couple of months.

And finally, my husband is expecting a new work assignment some time in the next 5 months, so since we'll be moving house some time this year there may be a series on packing-up dolls and figures in the works.  And depending on our next location, we may be unpacking out storage items as well, which will open up a whole host of new/old "Out of the Box" posts as I sort through those items.


I hope 2014 is wrapping up as well for you as it is for me, and best wishes for 2015!  Cheers!

Out of the Box: Sascha (Double Dutch Dolls)

Double Dutch Dolls "Sascha"

Before I talk about this doll, can I just mention how many times I (as a Sasha Doll fan) typed "Sasha" instead of "Sascha" while writing this?  It was certainly more of a challenge than I expected.  Anyway, on to the new doll!

A few months ago I started reading reviews of the first two dolls released from the new Double Dutch Dolls line - a line of dolls and books that were created with the goal of "celebrating the beauty, experiences, and diversity of multi-cultural children".  The creators had a Kickstarter campaign going to fund the rest of the line.  I was fairly impressed with what had been released so far, and made enough of a contribution to receive one of the new dolls once they were released - and today that doll arrived.

The dolls in the line are 18" slim dolls, similar in height to American Girl dolls, but slimmer and with slightly more mature features and bodies.  They have 11 points of articulation (knees, hips, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck), inset acrylic eyes, and wigged hair.


The dolls ship out in a pink striped cardboard box . The boxes front window allows for nearly a full view of the doll inside.

In the box.

Removed from the box, the doll is secured to the inner shell via two tie-downs at the dolls neck and ankles.

The inner shell.

Out of the box and out of her pink jacket.

Sascha is outfitted in a pink jacked, white tunic-length t-shirt, patterned leggings, black socks and faux-patent ankle boots.  Having heard stories of the first two dolls having stains from their socks, one of the first things I did after removing this doll from her packaging was to take off her shoes and socks and check: I'm happy to report that there was no staining, so hopefully that issue has been resolved.

Stain free and showing off her jointing.

The outfit is decent quality, although the soles of the shoes are a bit of a flimsy foam-like material, which surprised me given the construction of the rest of the shoe.  That aside, the t-shirt is decent (if simple) and the leggings and jacket are nicely made (and I love the pattern on the leggings).

The real outstanding part of this doll is her hair - I don't think I've ever seen a doll with such a thick wig.  My mother is visiting this week for the holidays, and spent about 10 minutes commenting on how much hair this doll has - when I started taking the single hairpin out, my mum's response was "Don't do it!  You'll never be able to see her face again!"

My mother was not wrong: The hair does tend to
cover Sascha's face when it's not pinned back. 

I think the biggest challenge people may have with this doll will be related to clothes-sharing - she's too small to share with American Girl/Our Generation/18" Madame Alexander/Maplelea dolls, and too large to share with Hearts for Hearts type dolls.  That said, I've heard that there may be some sharing potential with BFC INK or Carpatina dolls, but I can't confirm that since I don't have either (although I may be receiving a Carpatina doll as part of a New Year's gift exchange, so I may have the chance to make some additional comparisons in the future).

Compared to American Girl

Compared to a Hearts for Hearts doll.

Aside from size, I think the other thing that distinguishes these dolls from others in this size range is the less-round face, which gives the doll a more mature look - which makes sense, as the characters in the tie-in books are apparently 14 versus the 9- and 10-year-olds who appear in most of the AG tie-in stories.

Overall, I'm always eager to see new dolls from new doll lines, and this doll is a solid realization of the creator's 2D vision.  I'm hopeful that this line will continue to expand as I'm looking forward to seeing how the final 3 planned dolls turn out.