Skeljaverur - the Shell Dolls - Authentic Local Craft at Þingeyri in the Westfjords

In this travel-blog I want to tell you about a multi-talented artist who lives in the Westfjords of Iceland, Marsibil Guðbjörg Kristjánsdóttir, nicknamed Billa.

I got to know Marsibil in the summer of 2024, when I visited Þingeyri village in Dýrafjörður fjord twice in the fall and fell in love with her work, the beautiful Skeljaverur dolls.

Top photo: With Marsibil at her atelier

One of Marsibil's many Skeljaverur artwork

My husband, who is a comedy magician, was booked for the annual Act Alone festival at Suðureyri in the Westfjords, and again at the Kómedíuleikhúsið - the Comedy theatre in Haukadalur valley in the Westfjords.

The founders and organizers of the festival, Elfar Logi and his wife, the artist Marsibil, invited us to Þingeyri, and we stayed in a guesthouse opposite their home for 3 nights.

We were invited for breakfast at their home every morning of our stay and dinner in the evenings. A lovely gesture and we had a great time together.

At their home, the multi-talented artist Marsibil - Billa showed me her atelier where she creates the beautiful Skeljaverur - Shell dolls or Shell babes from various types of shells and conches from the Westfjord beaches.

Marsibil with a selection of her shell dolls - they were ready to be transported to an exhibition

This was the first time I heard of these beautiful dolls and I was in awe of Marsibil's intricate artwork.

This is what Marsibil has to say about the making of the Skeljaverur dolls:

"Skeljaverur are a long time in the making. The dolls are made of porcelain and can be found at second-hand markets or are presents from friends and relatives.

I soak them in scolding hot water to remove their hair and change the elastics. I sometimes have to glue together broken dolls. I then pick the shells, cook them, dry them, and sort them by colours, shapes, and types.

Then I glue the shells onto the dolls with glue and glue the dolls onto the bottom that comes with the glass cupola. I buy the cupola in various shops, and I am especially fond of the cupola in AFF in Laugavegur street in Reykjavík".

One of the larger dolls - aren't they elegant?

The dolls come in various sizes, from small to very elegant larger dolls.

In Marsibil's atelier, you will see a myriad of shells. Marsibil cooks all the shells that she collects to make sure that they are 100% clean.

She told me that she uses the shiny part from the inside of the blue mussel (bláskel) and makes beautiful skirts for her Skeljaverur dolls.

As, during the boiling of the shells, this shiny part of the shell fractures is easy to remove from the shell with a paperknife.

It takes Marsibil a long time to make each Skeljaverur doll, so she works on several dolls at the same time. Sometimes she leaves unfinished dolls for a year until the spirit moves her to finish them.

Various conches and shells in Marsibil's atelier

The Icelandic shells are more fragile than other shells, Marsibil told us, and it is difficult to remove the glued shells from the unfinished dolls, if she changes her mind.

She is filled with ideas, as she gets bored of creating the same things over and over again, so you will see a wide selection of various dolls in her collection.

This is pure mindfulness and she makes her dolls in between her many other projects, sits down, puts on an audiobook, and starts creating. 

But this is also hard work, as it takes Marsibil at least a whole week to finish the smallest dolls.

This is for sure not mass production, but real authentic artwork.

Skeljavera in the making at the atelier

Marsibil's artwork is made from various shells, conches, corals, and sand from the Westfjords, so the decorations on the dolls are made with 100% authentic local material.

Marsibil also uses sea urchins (ígulker) which break like a mosaic, so they are a good material for Skeljaverur. And she also decorates her dolls with needles from sea urchins, as you can see in the photo below.

That doll wore a piece of a sea urchin with needles on her head as a hat, and another doll wore a small starfish - yet another doll wore corals on her head. The thing is, that the headgear is so artistically made, that the dolls look very stylish in these hats, don't you agree?

A Skeljavera wearing a dress made of sea urchins - the sun was right behind the doll, so it was difficult to take a good photo

Marsibil is in contact with Hafrannsóknarstofnun - the Marine Research Institute of Iceland and sends them photos of the shells she is collecting from different beaches in Iceland.

The shells vary from beach to beach and on the Rauðasandur beach in the Westfjords the shells have a more reddish colour than shells on other beaches. And in some other places in the Westfjords, the shells have a more blackish colour.

Marsibil also uses the red sand from Rauðasandur in her work, but that sand varies from year to year. Don't miss visiting the Rauðasandur beach, it is one of the top destinations in the Westfjords:

Rauðasandur Beach & Sjöundá in the Westfjords of Iceland - Red Sands & a Crime Scene

A Skeljavera with hair made of corals

Sometimes shells disappear for a while from Icelandic beaches, and the shells from scallops, which Marsibil uses for her dolls, have all but disappeared from Dýrafjörður.

You will find scallop shells in abundance in Breiðafjörður fjord in West Iceland, as I have shown you in my travel-blog about Stykkishólmur town on the Snæfellsnes peninsula.

But there is a good amount of other shells in Dýrafjörður, Marsibil says, both in Haukadalur, on Eyraroddi, and opposite the fjord at Mýrar where she finds the common cockle (hjartaskel).

When Marsibil f.ex. first visited the beaches in Selárdalur in Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords the beaches were filled with shells, which then disappeared for quite a long time, but are now back.

A large Skeljavera wearing a stylish starfish hat

Marsibil's grandparents, Gunnar Guðmundsson and Guðmunda Jóna Jónsdóttir, were also artists, and their artwork is well-known here in Iceland.

Guðmunda made works of fine art from shells, stones, and ground rocks, which she f.ex. glued to plywood and driftwood.

And, her husband Gunnar started painting when he was 70, and in his paintings, you will often spot hidden people or elves.

A lovely Skeljavera made from various sizes of scallop shells

Marsibil owns over 100 pieces of her grandparents' artwork in her home, and she showed me a gallery by her atelier with a collection of their beautiful art.

An exhibition in Hannesarholt in Reykjavík

Marsibil had an art exhibition in Hannesarholt in Reykjavík

Later that same month Marsibil came to Reykjavík, where I live, and had an exhibition in Hannesarholt downtown Reykjavík.

This was her 5th exhibition in the 4 years that she has been creating the Skeljaverur dolls.

At Hannesarholt we, the guests who attended the exhibition, sat down in the comfortable chairs of this former home of Hannes Hafstein, who was the first Icelandic minister, and Marsibil told us about the making of her Skeljaverur dolls.

At Hannesarholt in Reykjavík

I learnt some more about the Skeljaverur dolls during her talk. She can only use dolls that can stand on their own feet, as it were, so if needed she covers their body with paper mass and some of the skirts are made from paper mass.

Marsibil used wood glue, which has proven to be the most durable glue, so the dolls can stand on the window sill in direct sunlight. The sun was shining directly at the dolls in Hannesarholt, which made photographing them a little tricky as they are inside cupolas.

In the photo below you will see a selection of her smaller Skeljaverur dolls. Can you spot the little Skeljavera toddler doll :)

The art exhibition at Hannesarholt in Reykjavík

I love taking a stroll on Iceland's beaches, most of which are black volcanic sand beaches, apart from the beaches in the Westfjords and on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. 

Now, after meeting Marsibil, I always think to myself whether she could use this or that shell or conch that I see lying on the beach, as material for her dolls :)

Some of Marsibil's other projects

Kómedíuleikhúsið - the Comedy theatre in Haukadalur

Marsibil and her husband Elfar Logi are such a united couple. They met when they were teenagers studying at the boarding school, Núpur in Dýrafjörður, opposite the fjord from Haukadalur.

They own and run Kómedíuleikhúsið - the Comedy theatre in Haukadalur valley.

Marsibil is the theatre director of the Comedy theatre, the costume designer, the stage designer, and a puppet maker. 

My husband tried to chop Marsibil's hand off

Marsibil is such a good trooper. Jonni, my husband, called her when he was getting ready for the magic show at the Comedy theatre, and said: "Come, let me show you something - put your hand in here!".

She humoured him, but I know that she felt really uncomfortable.

I flat-out refuse to put my hand in this gadget, and always feel uneasy when I see this magician husband of mine perform this magic trick on my friends ;)

Bakkabræður - the Brothers at Bakki were created by Marsibil

On one wall in the theatre, you will see the puppets Gísli, Eiríkur, and Helgi - Bakkabræður - the Brothers at Bakki in Svarfaðardalur.

Marsibil made the puppets for their play Bakkabræður and allowed me to use a photo of the Bakkabræður puppets in my travel-blog about their footbath in Svarfaðardalur:

The warm Footbath of the Bakkabræður brothers in Svarfaðardalur valley in North Iceland

Beautiful artwork by Marsibil on the outside wall of Kómedíuleikhúsið theatre

If you visit the Comedy theatre, check out the shell decorations on the outside of the theatre, made by Marsibil.

When I joined a guided tour by Elfar Logi of the homestead of Gísli the outlaw Súrsson, 10 Icelandic friends had booked the tour.

I found it so cute when they (all male) pointed in the direction of Marsibil's artwork on the theatre building and said: "Look, how pretty!" :)

That is the same thing I said when I saw this artwork made of shells for the first time and I took photos of every part of the artwork, so pretty.

Kómedíuleikhúsið - the Comedy theatre in Haukadalur is run by Elfar Logi and Marsibil

I have by now written 320 travel-blogs about various locations in Iceland, various tours and activities, the Vikings, the hidden people etc, but this is my only travel-blog about an Icelandic artist.

I think that Marsibil deserved a special travel-blog, don't you agree with me?

We said our goodbyes to Marsibil and Elfar Logi at Þingeyri

See also my travel-blogs about about the annual festival Act Alone and the Comedy theatre:

The 20th Anniversary of the Act Alone Festival in Suðureyri in the Westfjords

Kómedíuleikhúsið in Haukadalur in the Westfjords - the smallest professional Theatre in Iceland

In my next travel-blog I am going to show you the most beautiful Northern Light show I have ever seen - the show happened here at little Þingeyri village.

Have a lovely time in the beautiful Westfjords :)