Artist Insights: Regal Rocking Horse

Tom Best
Keepsake Artist

Last year, the Keepsakes team decided to produce an offering of traditional blown glass ornaments. This idea came about due to a recent partnership with a traditional, old world glass company in Poland. Our first idea was to reproduce one of Linda Sickman’s popular Rocking Horse ornaments, one of our longest running Keepsake series.

I knew this would be a neat assignment. First, I studied the piece that would be inspiration for the 2017 ornament design. In the first picture, you can see the 1987 ornament in its original packaging.

Next, I provided the concept sketch and color scheme for the ornament design. In the second photo, you can see the original sketch details and some of the iterations along the way.

From there, one of our long time sculptors, Jim Kemme, sculpted the horse and the gifts underneath the horse. In the third photo, you can see the first prototype of the ornament. You should be able to see the design changes we made along the way, if you compare the prototype to the original sketch. You also will notice that the gray mold of the horse does not have a tail. Due to Poland’s production techniques, the horse’s tail was molded separately and attached later in the process.

With Jim’s prototype and my direction on paint color and glitter finishes, the Poland factory created the first glass mold for approval. The final product is now available in the 2017 Keepsake offering. It represents the combined effort of many hands and has traveled to the other side of the world and back. Hopefully, it will land in your hands this fall.

– Tom Best