About ART DOLL

I started ART DOLL in 2021, around the time I fell pregnant with my third child. I'd left my job as an undertaker to be a stay at home mum.

I've battled with my mental health ever since my Mum died in 2017 and I found doll making helped me through this. 

I decided I wanted to start a business making dolls and also helping others as much as possible, particularly those facing mental health battles or experiencing loss.

It was hard at the beginning. I was bullied by another dollmaker who used her platform to humiliate me. Posing as different social media profiles she described me as "sub human", "a fraud" and implied I was lying about my mother's death, it hurt me so much, I wanted to give up.

But I didn't. I decided to stay true to myself and found some business mentors to help me build my self back up again. I changed my business name from "love from Penelope rose" to "ART DOLL" and started from scratch.

Beginning with sketches, I hand craft everything myself. The doll pattern I use is adapted from the doll pattern my mother and I used when I was a child. The pattern was originally inspired by my toy barbies, and you can still see that influence in the design today.

I'm inspired by art. I love art so much, I took a BTEC art degree many years a go and even designed dolls for one of my projects. I lost the photos and I am so upset I did, because they looked awesome. Inspired by war, I'd used newspaper clippings, bullets and barbed wire to construct the outfits! Now I think about it, that is probably where some of the inspiration for Pan's corset came from!

All of the dolls I make are limited edition. I do not partake in wholesale or mass production. I see each individual doll as a unique piece of art.

Thank you for choosing me and becoming a part of my story.