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Inspired by a Hallmark card illustration, the Frosty Friends phenomenon officially started in 1980 with the introduction of a new Keepsake Ornament series. Beloved by fans and cherished by collectors, Frosty Friends is now the most successful and longest-running series in Keepsake Ornament history. So, as the spring season is just around the corner, let’s take a look back at this popular winter series’ history.

Illustration by Ruth Moorehead

Stylist Ed Seale is the sculptor most associated with Frosty Friends, but it was Designer/Supervisor Jim Mahon who introduced the concept. Jim was inspired by Master Artist Ruth Morehead’s Christmas cards – featuring two Eskimos rubbing noses together – and began toying with the idea of bringing her illustrations to life.

The series began in 1980, about the time Keepsake’s dedicated art studio was being formed, and Ed Seale joined its small, exclusive group of sculptors. Ed sculpted his first Frosty Friends ornament in 1982, shortly after Jim retired, and created all but a few of the series’ ornaments until his own retirement in 2003.

The characters in Frosty Friends usually include an Eskimo child – whether the child is a boy or girl has always been up for debate – and a charismatic group of animal friends – polar bears, huskies, penguins, reindeer, seals or other enchanting arctic animals.

The ornaments’ artistic style is simple and whimsical, and the theme is always the same – the warmth of fun and friendship in an icy, cold place. It’s something Ed can relate to. “We lived on a farm in Canada,” he recalled. “And the pond was the biggest source of entertainment. When the air was still and the water froze fast, you’d get this clear, perfectly smooth ice. And that was the best.”

Frosty Friends
3rd in the series.

But sculpting ornaments to look like ice didn’t start out so smoothly. The first Frosty Friends ornament Ed made in 1982 shows the Eskimo kid scaling a big icicle. Back then, everything was sculpted from brown clay. “It was really hard to look at the hard brown clay and visualize an icicle,” Ed laughed. “It was all but impossible to work in the subtle little details to make it look like ice.” But craftsmanship means solving problems. Ed solved this one by having a plaster cast made in the rough shape he wanted. And from the plaster, he was able to sculpt the icicle’s details.

After his first Frosty Friends success, Ed would go on to sculpt a lot more. He credits his active boyhood for many of the ideas that kept the series going – though he admits it’s often hard to tell where good ideas come from. “An idea can start anywhere,” Ed said. “Part of it can come from walking through a hardware store. I might match that up with an old memory from childhood. The freshest ideas seem to come from several sources, and you just put it all together.” (more…)