Keepsake Artist Julie Forsyth reveals her inspiration behind The Bare Necessities ornament.

Were you a fan of “The Jungle Book” growing up?

“I remember seeing it in the theater when I was a kid, but I re-watched it because it had been so long since I’d watched it—and I was surprised at how much went over my head as a kid. I was definitely a big fan of Kipling stories when I was a kid. My mother used to read several of the ‘Just So’ stories to me.”

What challenges did you face while sculpting this ornament?

“This ornament is from a scene where they’re floating down the river singing ‘The Bare Necessities.’ The challenge was to make it look like they were floating in water without chopping off the entire bottom half of their bodies, because you’re going to see it on the Christmas tree.”

What’s it like transforming a two-dimensional character into a physical 3D object?

“I had to watch the movie a lot…over and over and over. Sometimes you have to watch the entire movie just wondering what his (Baloo’s) ears look like from the back. Nowadays, licensors can sometimes send us digital images of all the characters, but this one was all frame by frame.”

Did you have anything to work off of other than watching the film?

“Disney has color guides that tell us what color to use. I just have to take that and make it match molecule by molecule for the whole ornament.”

Anything else you’d like to add?

“There were a lot of technical challenges we had to address with this ornament. We had to figure out how the wiring for the sound could appear without showing through the bottom. In the end, our engineers did a really great job.”