The Blog — choose handmade

In a world filled with mass-produced goods and fast fashion, I love being able to make jewelry by hand, using traditional tools and techniques. Jewelers like myself usually take the slower route, working step by step, hour by hour, bringing our visions to life. For the most part, we use the tools that have always been used to create sterling silver and gold jewelry, or ones similar to them. Meticulous attention to detail, the personal touch of our hand, and time-honored traditions all go into creating each piece. These are some of the elements that make handmade jewelry a statement of sustainable...

Happy New Year to all my wonderful customers and followers! If you're not already a subscriber, head over to Le Chien Noir Jewelry to sign up to be the first to hear about new work and specials - and get a nice discount while you're at it! I finished off the year with a big sale that helped clear out much of my inventory, so now I get to create new work to fill the gaps! This is without a doubt the best part of jewelry-making: the actual making! It's very inspiring to be able to design new pieces around my...

As much as I love most of the older pieces I've created, at a certain point, I want to clear them out if they haven't sold. That helps make way for new work. At the end of the day, I don't want to have too much inventory. To that end, I've got a Sale section on my website with a good assortment of items, all of them top quality. It's a great opportunity for you to save 30% on all kinds of my handmade jewelry. You don't even need a code - the discount is applied automatically at checkout. You DO...

You might not know that I only became a full-time jewelry-maker when I was 51. At 18, I took a course and was seriously bitten by the metalsmithing bug. Then I did an apprenticeship with a local jeweler one summer. Working with metals is so addictive! I got sidetracked into journalism and ended up writing and editing for about 30 years, which worked well when my kids were young. But I'd always hoped to get back to jewelry. I finally took a refresher course when I was 50 and that was that! I started with a tiny studio in a little porch in Toronto. And more courses....

What makes you really happy? For me, it's always been making stuff, laughter, and color, to name a few. And one of the things I love about growing older is realizing it's OK to do the things that make me happy.  About 10 years ago, at 52, I also realized it's never too late to make changes, so I gave up my writing/editing work to do what I always had loved - making jewelry. Then, I got the chance to move back to my native Quebec and set up a studio.  I found my jewelry mojo, developing my own style of jewelry. If you've seen my work,...