About my art and jewelry

Hello, this is just a post for information and clarity sake.

if your wondering where the flowers, fern, mushroom and other items come from that I use in my work, they come from my yard and from the town I live in on the sides of the road. I do not gather from national parks and I do not take more then I need to, I leave enough of everything so it can reseed and continue healthy growth.

Update

If you are wondering about my findings, the chains are made of stainless steel, I use a sturdy chain so it does not easily break, I also offer rope as another option, just specify what you would like. For earring hooks I use brass plated in silver. Everyone reacts differently to findings, if you you are having a reaction let me know I’ll send you new findings to try, also if you know you will react let me know when ordering and I’ll make your earrings with different findings.

UPDATE

if you are wondering about the resin I use, I use high quality casting resin that takes 72 hours to cure, I then sand and polish it with two high quality polishes. In all it takes up to 5 days or more of work from start to finish resin pieces. And they are still not perfect but I endeavour to do my very best.

Resin is in fact a plastic, so there are environmental concerns. Most crafts have an impact on the environment, weather it's metal work, resin, acrylic, even wood, these all have an impact on the environment. I am very aware and conscientious of this. Uncured resin poses the higher risk, but once cured it is recyclable like any other plastic. I take careful precaution to make sure I use all of what I mix, and dispose of left overs carefully once cured. I make in small batches for the specific purpose of preserving plants to create jewelry. Resin jewelry once worn out (5+years) it can then be recycled. I do not do large pours.

If you are wondering about a return policy, if you receive a broken item or your item breaks within two weeks of receiving it contact me and I will gladly remake and resend your item or reimburse you. other wise there are no returns.

If you are wondering about the size of my jewelry it can be found in the description tab of each item, I’m also available to answer any questions or concerns you may have, and I usually answer pretty quickly 😊

if your wondering about feedback and reviews. I am always open to kind hearted feedback, I prefer not to give an option for reviews as I’ve seen it used to drag businesses and people through the mud. My work is not perfect, it is handmade, there will be flaws, but if you find my work is very poor please feel free to inbox me and let me know so we can work things out.

If you are wondering about my paintings or drawing, I have limited time to do large amounts of my art but I do periodically post my art in my shop. I usually work with high quality ink and high quality watercolour on 100% cotton paper. The size of each piece of art will vary but will be noted in the descriptions.

About my prices, pricing has been very challenging for me, each piece takes a different amount of time and a different amount of material. I try to keep my prices fair and low. Things are priced according to time and materials.

packaging and shipping

I’ve changed my packaging is plastic free, the envelopes are made from recycled paper grocery bags, and the wrapping to keep my pieces safe and unscratched is a simple brown recyclable tissue wrapped with brown twine. I stamp each package with an ink made from oak trees and voila no plastic, much better looking packages and much better for the environment 😊

I have had to add a $5 shipping fee (untracked) because to package and ship is quite expensive, and most of my packages are larger then the basic mail. I have made it a flat fee to keep things simple. If you need express shipping with tracking please message me to arrange it. It costs $12+ for tracking. Most packages arrive within 14 business days within Canada, I do not ship outside of Canada unless you are family. If you do not receive you’re package within the 14 day time frame please let me know so I can either refund or resend. I have had packages get lost in the mail, only a handful of times, most packages find their way back to me eventually. It is sooo important you check your address is correct and include an apartment number if you live in one BEFORE you place your order, the time it takes for a package to return to me because of a wrong address is quite slow, and not guaranteed, so check your info, and I’ll check to, I have made mistakes in addresses as well.

Prices

Recently many of my materials have risen in price, so I’ve to raised my prices. I still try to keep my prices as low as I can, and will continue to work to keep my prices fair.

I apologize if this a challenge for any of my customers. But as always I will have sales so there will always be opportunities to get things at a lower price.

Finally a note as an artist and maker, I am a real person and I am really grateful, It is such a joy to get to create and I am incredibly thankful to all those who have taken the chance and bought anything I’ve made. Allowing me to do what I love, to grow, to learn is a blessing and I’m so thankful to those who have been on this journey with me as I’ve stepped out and shared what I love. Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏

My love/hate for markets

I first started doing markets 17 years ago, above are photos of that market and the jewelry I started making to sell way back then, I’ve actually made jewelry since childhood, it was exciting to sell what I made. Before being a vendor I frequented local markets in Windsor Ontario. I bought ALL of my families produce at the market because the prices were so much less then the grocery stores, it made feeding our family good food so much more affordable.

I was a vendor in my current location for several years until I started seeing a shift. The markets became less and less about local produce and art and became more and more about luxury items for the wealthy. When I saw this shift I stopped attending them.

Markets played two roles when they first began, they gave opportunity to vendors who may not be able to afford to put their items in stores, it gave opportunity for those with less to be able to buy food direct at a lower cost. When luxury becomes the focus those with less, those with disabilities always get pushed out, it was hard to see peopke get pushed out of one of the few places meant to help those on a budget. I started to really dislike what I was seeing at markets. Vendors who were independently wealthy serving the wealthy, less and less poor, minority or disabled people vending and attending. The cost for vending became unreasonable $150-$200 per venue.

We are living in a time where food is becoming a luxury and it’s really disheartening.

Markets arent meant to be luxury events, they were meant to help LOCAL people thrive.

I was never a food vendor, I sell art amd jewelry, and I believe these things should also be accessible, art has become snobby and overpriced. I’d rather have my art in the hands of someone who loves it then in the hands of someone fancy. We need to get back to making sure those with less have space and are cared for.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/60855c_0102a9914c5b4012b558f59986986a1f/file

I went on a Facebook rant…….

I’ve done it before and deleted, when I have to say something I bring it here. A place for posts that are a little longer.

I went on a rant about the butterfly population in the region I live, which is Muskoka, we have lived here 10+ years and from year one one I have spent summers taking photos of the butterflies in the meadow in our backyard. I sent all my photos to inaturalist and my photos were added to the butterfly migration map for our area. The first 5 years we lived here there were so many butterflies, a large number and a wide variety, but every year after there have been less. Last summer I saw one monarch, and this year just a couple. My sons girlfriend said she has seen a few on her walks, they are around, but there aren’t as many. I saw a post locally saying we need to protect milkweed and that is true, milkweed is vital to monarchs. We also need to wait to mow our lawns, many butterfly eggs hide beneath fallen leaves and under wildflower leaves. We need to stop using harmful pest control outright. We need to bring our yard trimmings to designated areas to prevent invasive plants from spreading, plants that kill things like milk weed and jewel weed and goldenrod.

I miss photographing the butterflies, an aesthetic garden and yard is great but it’s nothing without the butterflies. Imagine a world without butterflies, I don’t want to.