A ooak collectors doll of a selkie,
inspired by the Scottish and Irish folklore surrounding this mysterious and truly melancholic sea creature.
The Selkie is a seal in the water, but when on land she can shed her animal skin and morphs into a beautiful, dark haired woman.
Selkies were often found by fishermen, when the woman would bath her human skin in the sun light.
So enchanted by her beauty, the fisherman would take the seal skin from the Selkie and hide it somewhere far from her sight.
With no place else to go, the Selkie woman would agree to marry the fisherman and live on land, not too discontent, however always yearning for her wild ocean home.
And indeed, would a Selkie wife find her seal skin again, there is no stopping her from returning to the salty waters.
Most, if not all Selkies, do return to the sea when they get the opportunity.
Having lived on dry land for years, raising their families there, they will never be quite at home in their human skin and land house.
The pull to their wild salty sea nature is always strong, and when given a chance, they return to the deep, mysterious seas, leaving land and family behind.
This Selkie doll is shown in the stage where she morphs between seal and woman.
A bird, symbol of land but also of freedom, rests on her seal tail.
This handmade doll is available in my shop
