The Story of Orange Avocado Jewelry...

  • Orange Avocado Jewelry Spring Show: A Refreshing Peace of Mind

    Published Apr 14 2016 in Events

    Orange Avocado Jewelry Spring Show
    Thursday, April 28th 2016
    Derrick Golf & Winter Club   3500-119th Street
    Banff Room, 10 am to 7 pm

    Preparations for my Orange Avocado Jewelry begin months before the planned date.  I always make sure that I have enough jewelry for everyone to choose from.  To make it extra special I create a collection of limited edition pieces that are not available anywhere else but my show.  This year I'm focusing this collection on semi-precious stones that I have collected one by one over the past year.  Many of these stones are from my travels to Kailua, Hawaii where my sister lives.  Little ceramic bowls filled with one of a kind cuts of semi-precious stones fill my hands.  I look for clarity, interesting cuts and facets in the stone and beautiful colours that speak to me.  I have to admit that I am always drawn to watery tones that reflect the colors of the ocean:  peruvian opals, chalecedony in shades of soft greens and blues. Citrine, my birthstone, has caught my eye as well. I love how its meditative meaning is to remove stress and negativity from the body and replaces it with quiet and refreshing peace; so needed in our world today.  

    Sharing my love of jewelry making
    one by one,
    from my hands to yours.

  • A Mother and her Child

    Published Apr 01 2016 in Custom Pieces

    Julia loved the "otolith" bone earrings that her partner, Neil, had made for her.  Right after receiving them from Neil she contacted me and made a request for a custom set of earrings.  She sent me a picture of a Celtic design which symbolized a mother and her child. Julia wanted me to create a pair of fine silver earrings to be given to someone who has been a much loved lactation consultant in the NICU in Edmonton for 35 years. She wanted to mark the significance of her friend's contribution to the field that she was an expert in.  This was a challenging and rewarding piece of jewelry to make. The challenge was to try to make each earring the same in size and dimension with each curve. I always let the client know that the pieces will not be "perfect" but "imperfect" at the same time.  In the end the piece turned out to be a statement and clearly revealed the image of a mother with her child.  Thank you Julia!


  • "Otolith" Bone Earrings - Feathers of the Sea

    Published Mar 29 2016 in Custom Pieces

    Neil requested a custom set of earrings for his partner Julia. He had collected these beautiful "otolith" bones from the Yelloweye snapper, caught in Haida Gwaii off the coast of BC, just south of Alaska. These fragile bones looked like delicate feathers or angel wings.  After various attempts at wire wrapping and drilling holes (luckily Neil had a quite a collection of these bones), I decided that the safest and securest way was to use an epoxy on a set of earrings from my current collection. Well, Julia loved them, and now she requested a special custom set of earrings for her friend...stay tuned for the story behind those. Thank you Neil for entrusting your beautiful artifacts to me.


  • It's Personal: A Love Story

    Published Feb 07 2016 in Custom Pieces

    It's always interesting finding out how people discover my work. Sandy found my website on the internet and contacted me about a custom piece for him and his girlfriend, Bregane.  Bregane requested a Coordinates Necklace signifying a special location in Montreal where she first met Sandy. She then wanted to layer it with another longer necklace with her boyfriend's initials on a hammered circle pendant. She wanted something sweet and simple that meant a lot to her. Sandy's nickname for his girlfriend is BELLA, which I made in a fine silver pendant with black shiny onyx beads. I loved the thought that Sandy and Bregane put into creating this set. Thank you Sandy and Bregane!  Young love; so sweet.

  • Working on some Beautiful...

    Published Jan 03 2016 in New Collections

    Of beautiful things to come for my SS16 Collections. Just finished metalworking these freeform bronze beads and pendants. My work day begins with some pencil sketches and then bringing those sketches to life. My daughter Erin, looked at my plans and said "that's a lot of work".  Making individual beads, by hand, one by one, is a long process.  I actually scale out how much bronze each bead will take.  I like to vary the sizes which gives me more freedom in the end to create whatever I want. I pulled these bronze pieces out of my kiln at 2:00 am because I was excited to see how they would turn out.  Okay, I'm just a little obsessed.  Now time to execute my plans, which always change in the end.  That's the beauty of creating something by hand; one by one.  Things change and evolve just like my jewelry. I love it.

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