Ponderosa Designs : Elaine Bohm

Sea Stars and Rock.  Leave them where they are for others to enjoy.

Elaine has been creating Star Fish since 1995 to help connect visitors from around the world with our ocean. It is our hope they will enlighten visitors to leave the creatures in their natural habitat and not take them home. Many end up discarded when they discover a strange smell in their hotel room. Thus the motto: “Leave them where they are for others to enjoy.”

Clay is used as a medium for the Star Fish and the bright colours of the glazes closely resemble the natural colours of starfish.

Elaine started the business five years before retiring from a long career as a Registered Nurse and she and her husband have now been working together for twenty years.  

I learned the craft of mold making from an elderly "master" gentleman living in Victoria BC, who was responsible for making the very large molds required to replace the lions at the entrance to the Chinese Market in downtown Victoria.

My biggest creative influence was a fascination for the ocean shoreline with its many creatures and unique volcanic rocks. I also take photos of sea stars that can be seen at the lowest of low tides in the spring which I sell as photo art cards. Elaine and her husband comb the beaches at low tide and travel to small islands in their boat called Heartbeat to photograph sea creatures on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. 

Our jewelry incorporates fascinating volcanic stones. Each one has been collected from our beaches then cut, ground and polished to make one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces.