Dear ones,

In this blog post I wanted to take you on a little journey through the creation of Pantovola Petit;
the fabric friends of my ever expanding Pantovola Petit family

The wonderful thing about creating these wee critters for me is the way they come to life in such unique ways,
always surprising me with their quirky, whimsical personalities.
Because they are such spontaneous beings, I never sketch them out,
I draw my idea directly onto the fabric and dive straight into
the sewing, filling, painting and decorating of the dolls.

I began creating these little figurines some years ago and in a way it was like returning to the origins, the roots, of Pantovola.
When I started making my fabric dolls in 2015 on the canal boat I lived on at the time,
the designs of the dolls were fairly ‘simple’ and lived in the realm of a ‘remembered childhood’.
As I grew and developed my arts practice, the dolls became more complex and more sculpture like,
with new materials introducing themselves, many of them antiques and of an ethereal quality.
Obviously the creating process of this kind of work asked more time and thus the pieces started to move into a different realm of pricing too.
At some point I started to realise that a large group of people who enjoyed my artworks would not be able to ever adopt a piece.
It made me think of the affordability of art for a wider audience and I decided to introduce Pantovola Petit;
small fabric dolls, less complex, yet unique, with their own stories and made with the same amount of passion and love I have for all of my other art pieces.

 

The materials I use to make these dolls are fairly straightforward:
calico cotton, fibre filling and Winsor and Newton acrylic paint.
The sewing of the shapes is done by machine, all the rest is done by hand.
Then for decorating I like to dive into my collection of beads, trinkets, lace and buttons

I love collecting materials to use in my dolls and sculptures and they are mostly secondhand or antique.
Natural stones and beads are favourites, as well as antique lace and embroidery.
When the doll is finished and named, they travel in their own gift box

I aim to create small collections of Petits every other month or so, especially with the changing of the seasons.
They have their own dedicated page on Pantovola Petit instagram where I post about them and this is also where I announce their release.
The dolls can be adopted via my shop, but as they usually find new homes soon,
I advice to keep an eye out for them via instagram.

Well dear ones, I hope you enjoyed this wee blog post, the Petits and I send you many small hugs to warm you up this chilly autumn

x Anouk x