JustNettie's Nursery - All about the Artist

A Baby Fills A Place In Your Heart That You Never Knew Was Empty
This is on the sign my mother got for my sculpting station!

Well, I am JustNettie! That's it—just plain ol' Nettie! I wear many different hats: daughter, wife, sister, auntie, cousin, niece, friend, student, caregiver, and artist; but most importantly, I am a proud MOM with two beautiful children (a boy and a girl)! I met my husband when I was 14 and we married shortly after graduating high school. We will be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary in October of 2010!

I grew up painting signs with my dad in his sign shop in Colorado Springs and have enjoyed art all of my life, particularly painting children's furniture and murals in homes. I have always had a love for babies, children, and dolls.

I began sculpting in August 2004 at the urging of my older sister. All of my life, she's always said, "I bet you can do that" in regard to anything that has to do with art, painting, crafts, etc! Well, she fell in love with (and was outbid on) a OOAK, life-size, sculpted baby on eBay. She called me and said, you guessed it, "I bet you could do that!"

I had never touched clay before and had no idea how to begin or what to do. I decided to give it a try anyway and found myself at the local craft store trying to learn about clay. ("What the heck is polymer anyhow?") I had no idea whether or not this whole clay adventure was going to work out so, being an at-home mom pinching pennies everywhere I could, I decided not to buy any clay-working

tools but I splurged and purchased my first bar of clay! With newly bought clay in hand, I went home and began my baby-making adventure! I made my own tools out of a cuticle pusher and a toothpick (still my favorite tools to date). Soon, I had formed a head, then I had a hand, and then two, and then a foot, and soon two! Oh my goodness, I was doing it!! I put it all together and voilà! A little preemie baby that looked like a little old man!

I kept at it, figuring that with time and practice my babies would start looking like babies and not elderly people. I soon found the most success when I attempted mini babies between 1 inch and 4 inches! And, in mid-2009, I introduced my very first soft-bodied baby, so now I'm able to enjoy creating and offering both poseable soft-bodied babies as well as full-bodied sculptures! Through trial and error I think I have finally found what works best for me. I have never

been to a class, watched a video, or read books on sculpting, but I am always trying new techniques just to see what happens and what will jump out of my clay! Every artist has their own style that truly comes out in their work. In early 2010 I began wood-working using patterns for the scroll saw that my dad and I have come up with, so far I have only made cradles and rocking horse chairs but there will be more to come!

JustNettie babies have become a family affair, everyone likes to get involved! My mom spends so much time with me at the craft stores choosing fabric and shopping the town for supplies, my husband and children offer their ideas and thoughts during the whole "birthing" process so each baby has its own special memory in my life, from the baby with a million piggy tails because my daughter just wanted to see one like that to the two headed "punk" that I sculpted for a special order that my son sat next to me and talked the whole time as I sculpted it, to the very first baby that I put in a cradle that I had made from a pattern my dad created!

In March 2010 my husband purchased a scroll saw and a sander for me as a gift so that I could build cradles from the pattern that my father made for me, and since then I have been creating not only cradles of all sizes, but, rocking ducks, horses, bears, watermelons, bumble bees, moon story chairs and many other items for my little ones! I enjoy every aspect of sculpting, woodworking and painting and I hope that when you adopt a baby with all the extras you enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed making them! Many loving hours are invested in each baby and their "things" and nothing makes me want to create more than knowing that there are hundreds of my creations out in the world making people smile!

As of May 2010, I have sculpted and offered 448 truly OOAK babies that all have their very own personalities, and I look forward to seeing more creations coming from my heart, into my clay, and straight into a loving family who will cherish them always! When I began my journey with clay in 2004, nothing could have prepared me for some of the really heartwarming, touching, tragic, and personal life-changing e-mail messages I have received from some of the people who adopted my babies, I would be lying if I said tears were not shed on my keyboard as I read. It is during those kinds of moments that I realize that my gift is bringing happiness, peace, closure, a memory, and a tiny palm full of love to so many who truly appreciated what I have created.

1. The very beginning: A ball is rolled, forming the head.	2. Cheeks and nose are formed first.
3. Details for the eyes are pressed into the clay	4. Fingers (and toes!) are separated on each little hand (and foot).
5. Tiny wrinkles and creases are pressed into the hands and fingers (and later, the feet and toes).	6. That lump of clay is how every baby starts. These are some of my favorite tools.

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