Beach jewelry and seashell designs meticulously sculpted from blocks of fimo clay. Introducing a Tofino based artisan who calls herself the Beadcomber:
Although this beads-and-beading blog caters more to the beginner polymer clay artist, there are a few ‘seasoned’ veterans who pop by now and again to leave a comment and share their insights.
Tina Holden of Beadcomber Fame is one of those amazing jewelery artisans and I thought it would be nice to give her some recognition today.
Tina lives in one of the most beautiful and rugged beach communities in the world… Tofino, British Columbia. It’s a small town on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, where the winds blow, the surf pounds and it pours rain a lot!
I know Tofino very well because my Father is a commercial salmon fisherman who often docks his boat there. As a teenager I worked with my Dad as a deckhand out on the open water. We and would come into Tofino regularly to sell fish and to seek shelter from a storm.
Even though I have not yet had the opportunity to meet Tina personally, I already feel connected to her because of her love for polymer clay and because of where she lives.
As a child, me and my family lived on Vancouver Island too (in Nanaimo), and we spent many hours beach combing. Looking for pebbles, sea shells and beach glass. Anything that may have washed up on shore.
I think Tina must spend a lot of time beach combing as well. Her company name is Beadcomber (clever isn’t it) and her work has the spirit of the sea. Like the Scallop Shell Pendant in the photo above, she also creates polymer clay pebbles, sea urchin beads, starfish pendants and fish necklaces. She also creates some large and intricate beaded jewelry pieces. Much of her work is sold on Etsy.
Tina Holden describes herself as being fortunate to have a bead making job that she absolutely loves. “What else are you going to do in a place that gets as much rain as a rain-forest should!”
Even though Tina lives in a fairly isolated community, she is not hidden from the polymer clay world by any means. Starting back in her teens she has gone from making her first bead to having a full-time career as a polymer clay artist.
Her work has been showcased in Canada, the US, UK and in Germany. And she has written articles and tutorials for several magazines including PolymerCAFE. In fact, one of her tutorials was just recently published in the April 2008 issue with another one coming soon. Way to go Tina! You are very much appreciated. And thank you for your comments on this blog. Hope to keep ‘seeing you around’!
A few weeks back I started this meet-the-artist series, starting with Irish Mishly [Polymeri Online] and then Lisa Clarke [Polka Dot Cottage]. If you enjoyed those articles along with this story about Tina Holden and her beautiful Scallop Shell Pendant Jewelry, then please let me know in the comments section below. Your feedback is very important to me.
Cindy,
I for one do enjoy seeing what others are doing. Today I went to the link Tina had on her site; could not understand one word (Don’t speak or read French) but I sure enjoyed some of the beautiful finished beads. That technique looks interesting and maybe some one can translate into English. Any volunteers? I’ll take a copy please.
Thanks for the feedback MJ. In regards to translating foreign language text, Google has an online translation tool that works well.
I actually use them all them time since there are so many wonderful polymer clay artists in so many different countries of the world that I follow regularly.
Many of those artists come to this site too. According to my web server logs, visitors from over 80 different countries have been here already this month.
By the way, if anyone has a problem typing comments in English, feel free to leave a message in your own language. I’ll gladly translate it for everyone.
Wow..I have been everywhere tonight thanks to your blog. It seems every artist has a distinct look with their polymer clay work. It is unbelievable how many different looks there are with the clay. Some artists when you see their pieces, you can immediately tell who they are. Oh, that is so and so’s piece. Even if someone makes pieces similar to theirs. like at classes or with tutorials, you can still tell who the artist is.
Yeah that is cool isn’t it Marianne! That is called an Artist’s Voice. The ‘voice’ is very clear for most successful artists, though sometimes it can change over time.
It can take a short time or a long time to find your artist’s voice, but when you do, you need to revere it. It is a precious thing!
Cindy Lietz’s last blog post..Scallop Shell Pendant Jewelry by Polymer Clay Artist Tina Holden
Thanks so much for the recognition Cindy! :) You made my day! Maybe someday you’ll come visit Tofino again and we can chat about PC real-time.
For those clicking on the French blogs I’ve linked too…when using Firefox (Mozilla) browser, there is a great little add-on called “Fox Lingo” where one can translate whole webpages, but as Cindy already mentioned Google has a great translator too.
You’re very welcome Tina! I will give you a call, next time I’m out your way. Thank you for the Firefox tip… I didn’t know about that one!
Cindy Lietz’s last blog post..Jewelry Photography Tips for Etsy | Cheap Homemade Lightbox Tutorial
NEW PHOTOS JUST ADDED:
Hello to Everyone,
Some new Spotlight project pictures that relate to the topic of this page (Tina Holden Polymer Clay Projects), have just been added in another post. They were submitted by Lupe Meter. The link by my name will take you to where you can see them, along with a bit of a write up. Hopefully they will inspire you to achieve great things with your own polymer clay projects.