 On Wednesday, we had a tea party with all the dolls, the L.A. contingent and Las Tiradas, whom Sophie brought with her from Costa Rica. We invited our friend and fellow doll-maker, Erika, to come and bring some of her dolls. After a round of mimosas, we assembled the dolls in the backyard. Among the usual suspects on the red settee, Delphine, Delfina, shy Andre, Carmelita, and Mariel, etc., are some of Erika's dolls, including the mysterious Jazzette, who lounges across the top of the group in her mardi gras mask. The dolls had tea from Vera's handmade tea set while we snapped photos of dolls and roses. Afterwards, while the dolls rested inside, we had cookies and coffee. The plan had been to do some sewing, but between the mimosas, the photo shoot and the heat, we decided to have a think tank instead, discussing dolls we want to make and plans for the next meeting. We finished by inviting Erika to be our first guest contributor to the dollsbysasha doll blog, which you can read below. More soon. Have a great week! Sasha  TEA TIME WITH SOPHIE AND SASHA I have been honored to write about my invitation to Sophie and Sasha’s house for tea. I was so excited to be invited and it was such a gorgeous day, and such a lovely time. Then, I was even more honored to write on Sophie and Sasha’s blog. Sophie was correct in saying yesterday, that Sasha, Sophie and I, (Evette) have been working and creating since 2007! Our precious little dolls, or little girls and boys, are almost like our children. When we give a doll as a gift, we make sure all the details are in place, then we make sure the petticoats and crinolines are perfect because after all this is our work, and we want our work to show. We notice as we are finishing our dolls, that each one has their own personality. They may have a tilted head, or sometimes the legs don’t go completely straight. This is a “flaw” to some eyes, but in our eyes it is part of who he/she becomes. No one is perfect and each one of our little creations is hand-made and individual as you and me. Now, I need to talk about the tea party. Thank you so much for the invitation. Upon my arrival all of Sasha’s dolls had been strategically placed with a small teacups and saucers on the dolls laps, and the dolls sat on their beautiful red, wicker chaise lounge. The dolls were outside in the garden, under the cypress trees. By the way, I need to give a “Shout-out” to the maker of the adorable, floral tea sets, “Muddslinger Pots” on Etsy. When I arrived with my very first doll, Momoko, she observed all the details. My second doll, Lisette has orange hair, and Coquette has blond hair. I cannot forget to mention, Jazzette, (She likes attention, and she is sprawled on top of all of the dolls.) Momoko was not at all too pleased with Jazzette’s attention getting, because Momoko thought we are all created equally! With equal parts muslin, recycled materials, and equal parts love. Oh well, Momoko does get a little jealous because she was my first one, and sometimes Jazzette feels a little left out because she was my middle doll.  All the bigger dolls tenderly held some of the smaller, but equally important dolls in their laps, and they wrapped their arms around them. Everyone needs the protection of arms wrapped around them sometimes, or the feeling of having arms wrapped around you. Each doll was dressed in his or her best frock or pants, and they all smiled for the camera. Sophie took amazing pictures, which you will see on this blog. Sophie took side views, she stood far away, and did some close ups, we moved the chairs; dolls took a sip of tea, because after-all it is exhausting being a model! Then we moved the little lovelies into the living room. They all thanked us for getting out of the sun. By this time, it looked as if they had all had some margaritas!  The tea was smashing and lovely! And Sasha and Sophie’s friend Nelson came over and he even had a little sip of tea to share with the lovelies.  Everyone had a wonderful time. Momoko was willing to forgive Jazzette with her antics, and all of Sasha’s dolls were so sweet and generous with their time and offering of tea. Thank you for my first blog, and thank you Sasha and Sophie for the lovely afternoon. The dolls were surrounded by resplendent roses in full bloom, who could ask for more? Evette “All About Evette” Etsy 
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 The other day, I was back at my favorite blog spot, at a yellow-topped table at the Farmer's Market with a cup of hot chocolate topped with the tiniest bit of whipped cream, thinking about my trip to Costa Rica. After landing in San Jose, a friendly taxi driver talked me out of a red taxi ("They have a monopoly-they discourage competition!”) and brought me to the Aranjuez, an unassuming little hotel in the heart of San Jose, where Sophie and Malekai met me.  After checking into my large, sunny room, we ventured out into the downtown traffic in search of some dinner. We found it at La Glorioso (this is the wrong name, but the food and drink tasted "glorioso" to me, especially the Cuba Libras!). Then we walked up and down the city streets, taking care to stay out of the way of careening cars, buses and the ubiquitous red taxis that sped by with little concern for stop signs.  Eventually, we reached a shopping area reminiscent of the Santa Monica Promenade, where we took pictures of large, ceramic birds mounted on "balls" that seemed to be part of some ad campaign, but which we liked for the colors and scenes of birds and Costa Rican wildlife they portrayed.   I loved the murals in San Jose that seemed to surprise you around every corner and the pink elementary school that looked like a palace. But the most surprising discovery was the little hotel, Cinco Hormigas Rojas, or Five Red Ants, which I mentioned last time. Here is a picture of Sophia and Malekai trying to find the entrance, a la Alice down the rabbit hole.   The next day, we took a bus up into the hills to the town of Heredia for the Britt Coffee tour. The first stop was a kind of sculpture garden with six large metal heads of fairy tale characters. Next to each was a tablet with a cautionary tale for children that made Grimm's fairy tales look like Sesame Street. But I loved the faces. My favorite was La Llorana, pictured here. (I sense a doll from this one!) After the tour, we took the bus from San Jose down out of the mountains and east through the jungle to Limon on the Caribbean coast, where we made a right turn. A woman told me that after several days of heavy rain, there had been flooding and indeed, the ocean was wild and alarmingly close to the highway as we made our way through several small towns to Puerto Viejo and the Lizard King. I had a great room there and found a new friend, the Raggedy Ann Sophie rescued from a thrift store in Limon, whom I named Margarita. She turned out to be quite photogenic, as you can see here.  During my week in Costa Rica, I had some delicious meals with fresh fruit right off the trees, drank lots of Cuba Libras, heard some great stories and saw (and heard) monkeys thick in the trees at the National Park in Cahuita, where we took a side trip one day and hiked on a sandy trail with the ocean to our left and jungle to our right.   On my last day in Puerto Viejo, Sophie and I jumped in the ocean and then had a photo shoot with Las Tiradas, who at one point, piled on the ATV and tried to take off into town with Suki at the helm!   The next day, I flew out of San Jose thinking about "green,” murals and "street art," some new dolls I want to make, and with a pang for this beautiful, strange country that has stayed with me long after I got back to L.A.
Until next time. Have a great week! Sasha |
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