Sketches in Clay
By Heather Gaghan

Cecile Baird was born in Tennessee and moved to Ohio as a child. She remembers, “from the time I was little I was drawing and I was fortunate to have parents that supported that.” She now resides in Hillsboro, Ohio, a small town between Cincinnati and Columbus. She attended Ohio State where her life was full of art classes and where she received both her Bachelor and Master degrees in Graphic Design. After graduating, the soon-to-be artist lived in St. Louis and Los Angeles for awhile working as a corporate identity consultant. She didn’t feel at home in the City of Angels so she decided to take a trip home to visit and never left.





Cecile Baird talks about the creation of her miniature clay wonders as some people speak of the birth of their first child. She started out with Christmas ornaments—little polymer clay miniatures of clowns and animals. She sold them at craft shows and eventually became involved in a local co-op. It was at this co-op that destiny lent a hand and two very important men made their entrance into Cecile’s life: Reuben Sakes and Richard Carson. The late Mr. Sakes and 93 year old Mr. Carson are owners of Karen Carson Creations, and when they saw Cecile’s miniatures they knew they had to get a “tiny piece” of the action. They were interested in selling her products wholesale through their company and Cecile agreed to the idea. Cecile says these two men were absolutely influential in every aspect of her business, “They became a huge part of [my] life and [my] business.” They taught her everything she knows, especially to go with the flow.

In his golden years and brimming with wisdom, Richard Carson is still providing priceless wisdom to this growing artist. It seems to be sinking in as she wisely stated, “When you are in this business you need to find your nitch.” And that nitch was found when they began to sell the miniatures to vendors who had booths at dog shows and “(it) has evolved into my sole business today,” states Cecile.

Cecile creates all the designs herself with the help of photographs and live observations of her four legged subjects. The one challenge for the artist is to “try to bring out the whimisical side of the animal with the clay.” For a product so small, her design process is bold, as Cecile creates without drawings, but goes straight to the clay. She explains, “The sketches are in the clay!” After the clay model has been completed it is ready for production. The process begins by making only the body of the model into a mold. Then the head of each one is sculpted and shaped entirely by hand. Creating one-of-a-kind figurines are one of the joys of this process for the artist as she describes, “No two are exactly alike. Each has its own little expression.” After all the sculpting and shaping, a sparkle is painted in the eye of each dog. Her miniatures are sold wholesale and are available in gift shops throughout the country and at dog shows.


Oven baked polymer colored clay is the key to these “whimsical and fun” creations as Cecile calls them. Some accessories are included in the production of the figurines to capture their uniqueness such as baskets, flags, strings of lights, and cushions. But it’s in the clay where all the magic happens. In fact, after 22 years in the business, Cecile calculates that her company uses almost a TON—at least 2000 pounds of clay each year to satisfy her ever-increasing customers’ love for the miniatures.













Fifteen years ago, Cecile began to dabble in fine art painting, using oils and colored pencils. She has become very accomplished and has been published in such magazines as: American Artist, International Artist, and The Artist. Cecile is a member of the Colored Pencil Society of American and has just published a book on art instruction with North Light Press, “Paint Light with Colored Pencils” which is coming out in June. Her staff is also very supportive of her colored pencils ventures.






Cecile’s newest products of the printed kind are proving quite successful as well. Combining the whimsy of the figurines with her brilliant colored pencil work, they are the perfect combination of the artist’s best loved mediums. Some of the new products include gift bags, Christmas and all occasion cards, and pedigree evening purses.













“I’m a little dog person.” She has an 11 year old Yorkie who answers to Sansom and two cats—15 year old Zoey and a new arrival, Louie. Observing her own pets is very influential for the artist, inspiring the personalities of each of her creations. Cecile says everyone at the office has pets with emphasis on the plural and “they never get bored with dogs.” Which is a good thing since dog lovers everywhere can’t seem to get enough of these little clay miracles.