I’m finishing a new porcelain costumed doll to be available for sale this summer! 

She is Princess Tuvstarr, from John Bauer’s iconic illustrations of the Swedish fairy tale “Skutt the Moose and Princess Tuvstarr”, by Helge Kjellin. In english it is known as Leap the Elk and Little Princess Cottongrass.

It’a a story of a vulnerable but adventurous young girl leaving her sheltered childhood home to explore the world with her protective, but conflicted friend, encountering dangerous strangers, making costly choices and losing everything along the way, including her own agency and identity. The story is sad, but compelling because loss is a fundamental part of the human condition.

This doll has been in the works for over 3 years, but was interrupted by a traumatic loss of someone I loved, and it changed me. I felt a fracturing of self and a loss of agency over my life as I was paralysed by grief and existential terror.

Like the trapped Princess Tuvstarr, who endlessly searches for her lost heart in the dark forest pond, I was stuck replaying the chain of events that transpired on a horrible, continuous loop inside my head for many months until it felt like I would surely go insane. I questioned all my choices and decisions that had lead to this irreversible outcome, as if obsessive rumination could somehow unlock a door to the past, change a moment in time, and create an alternate present where my heart is not broken.

I began working on Princess Tuvstarr as one person, but finished her as someone different, and this doll and this fairy tale have gained a new symbolism and meaning to me. Perhaps one day MY Princess Tuvstarr will find her lost heart again, regain her identity and be able to leave the forest.

This Forest photoshoot was a part of the journey. Next week I’m heading back into the forest to shoot the completed Princess Tuvstarr-Cottongrass in full costume. Stay tuned for costumed photos and purchase info.