A medical doctor who gave up her job as an obstetrician to pursue a childhood dream of making princess dolls says she found customers from across the globe due to her unique crafting skills.

Oksana Dadiadi, 49, from Novosibirsk, Russia has had a lifetime’s worth of experience in creating elegant puppet dolls.

Growing up in a household with military members, her infatuation began at age 5, when she received her first dolls from officers returning from missions abroad.

She began to sew clothes for her prized possessions, knitting away at caps and sweaters to broaden her collection of only three dolls.

However, her childhood hobby was soon replaced by transitioning to adulthood.

She started her education, moving on to become an obstetrician and starting a family of her own.

In 2008, Oksana had a change of heart, she was inspired to take up her childhood passion and create dolls again.

She told local media: “I became a puppet master quite by accident.

In 2008, I was at an exhibition fair near the opera house, I saw textile dolls there – they were Tildas. I was so inspired that I came home, took an old sheet and shreds, and tried to sew such a doll.

I was overwhelmed with joy and inspiration, I began to look for patterns and sew the first dolls – textile and otherwise”

She quickly set up shop in her home and began to knit her own creations. She soon learned to create complex patterns and sculpt faces.

Her work, which can take time from 3 days to 1 month to complete, became focused on creating intricate princess dolls.

Oksana revealed that Soviet cartoon fairytales were the main inspiration for her craft.

She told local media: “Inspiration came from [My] childhood – [From] fairy tales, Soviet cartoons: “The Golden Key”, “Cinderella”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “Alice Through the Looking Glass”.

Her ‘portfolio’ of crafts now has hundreds of dolls she has sown over the course of 15 years.

She revealed that collectors from all across the world have taken an interest in her work, most of her come from Italy, France, America, Saudi Arabia, and Germany.

Apart from characters from fairytale cartoons, Oksana is skilled in crafting custom-order dolls.

“Many dolls have replenished private collections, sometimes people order a doll with the appearance of a particular person as a gift for friends. There were orders to make the whole family complete. It is always very nice and interesting to make every member of the family look like a person” – she says.

Oksana has managed to turn her lifelong hobby into a steady source of income.

Collectors are known to pay as much as RUB 84,000 (GBP 865) for a single doll.