The History of the Rasbubby Hill Nursery

When Jenna Suppes, nicknamed Bubby, was a child, her father built her a pink gingerbread playhouse that sat on a hill in their backyard surrounded by wild raspberry bushes. The sign outside her playhouse read "Rasbubby Hill". She would spend a lot of time in this playhouse with her baby dolls. Her love of baby dolls started when she was about a year old and received a Madame Alexander doll for Christmas.

Jenna later spent most of her early teen years at the Denver Children's Hospital where she was being treated for Anorexia Nervosa. At times, she was so ill that her parents would get a call from the doctors stating that they didn't expect her to make it through the night. During her hospital stays, which could be up to six months at a time she learned to sculpt clay to pass the time. The love and support of her family, prayer and her new hobby of clay sculpting helped her through this difficult time. She has since made a full recover of over 5 years and is doing well.

Jenna credits her cousin for helping her discover the world of clay babies. Her cousin knew of her love of baby dolls and clay sculpting. She gave Jenna a book and showed her different websites about clay babies. Jenna picked up a lump of clay and started to create. She has never had any formal training and soon discovered her own techniques to creating these OOAK (One-Of-A-Kind) hand sculpted polymer clay babies. She makes the majority of the extras for her dolls such as clothes, diapers, blankets, bottles, etc. Occasionally, her mother will make an outfit for her little ones or her cousin will make hand stitched OOAK animals for them.

ProSculpt Polymer Clay is her medium of choice. It can take Jenna between five to seven hours to complete one piece, from sculpting the baby to adding the last embellishment on the accessories. Jenna said her head is filled with ideas for creating babies. She says, "I usually don't know what theme or idea I will go with until the baby is sculpted and it's little bald head has hair. Then I will look at its little face and usually know right away...it's going to be a girl with a lady bug theme, for example."

Jenna offers advice to those new to clay sculpting. "Don't get discouraged and give up to quickly! I can see improvement with each baby I make and I am still working on improvements! Also, books can be helpful for some, but don't be afraid to experiment! You just may find your own little method of building a baby!"

Jenna's adorable clay baby creations reside at "Rasbubby Hill Nursery" until they are adopted and placed in personal collections. You can find her pieces for sale on eBay and she also takes special orders.