Jackie Rydstrom : A Re-Rooters Story
I’ve often wondered if the utter shame of chopping off my beloved 1968 blonde Sasha´s hair when I was a child has anything to do with my passion of re-rooting these beautiful dolls now?
The memory of my much adored Sasha had always stayed with me though and when I first tapped into the internet and searched for her name, I was astounded to find she was still in circulation.
However, I had no idea there were so many different ones with such an extensive price range, but one thing for sure, I was totally smitten and there was no going back! I soon found the doll of my upmost dreams; a 1968 ballerina on Shelly´s website, Sasha Doll UK, but almost fainted at the price!
Feeling downhearted, I just couldn’t warrant dipping into my savings to purchase the doll and thought my family would have me certified had they found out, so I came up with a cunning plan…..
Tapping into my female logic, I decided to buy and re-sell the bedraggled waifs from eBay and put away the tiny profits to save up for my prize.
Little did I know how things would develop and thanks to the likes of YouTube, I found I was more and more educating myself on the craft of doll restoration with each new problem that arose.
Then the funniest thing happened. My second attempted re-root, a 1970 brunette I had re-styled with red hair, was used as my model to sell off an original dress via eBay UK.
I repaired the gap around the hairline and re-styled the hair into an even bob. I didn’t want to remove her beautiful hair completely so as to keep as much of the original as possible…being that she was such high value.
My now dearest friend, Kendal Hackney, messaged me to say that she didn´t want to buy the outfit but the actual doll itself and I would consider parting with her?
I just couldn’t believe what she offered and before long, we were regularly emailing each other where I was immensely fortunate to have her generous guidance and incredible knowledge of the Sasha Dolls.
So as the years went by, I would send her a photo of my latest re-root where with her canny eye, would critique the finished result. Not always her opinion came back as favorable, but that only served as an inspiration to do better and search for new procedures and develop my own techniques.
This is a no-nose which I completely re-rooted back into the original style.
I still would say I have much to learn, but that to me is all part of the fun. And as far as I know, Kendal still takes care of my re-root which she quite often displays on her blog, Kendals Sasha Brood, for me to smile over and reminisce.
Did I get the prized Ballerina? Well, no! Perhaps one day when I can find a way to stop buying up all the poorly waifs and sit on my hands for awhile, I shall acquire my dream girl.
But in the meantime, I just love what I do with the delightful bonus of making many wonderful like-minded Sasha friends across the globe, who all share such admiration of the great Sasha Morgenthaler´s creation.
I manually inserted the highlights with soft brown tones and golden blond.
Examples of My Sasha Dolls
Quality Restoration
I’ve spent years and years studying every aspect of the Sasha Doll. With many thanks to the advice and expertise my fellow collectors have kindly shared with me along the way. I believe all of us have one goal in common and that is to preserve these beautiful dolls for generations to come.
I’d like to think that every broken Sasha doll I restore, he/she is sent on its way looking as near perfect as it is humanly possible, to be forever treasured within our community.
Connect with me
I love connecting with other Sasha Doll lovers from all over the world. You can connect with me on my SASHA BY JACKIE Facebook Page, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
If your interested in purchasing your very own SASHA BY JACKIE, signup an account on my website here and you’ll be the first to know when I have completed a new Sasha doll restoration project. You will need to Login in to your account to comment on any of my Sasha dolls, blog posts or photos.