5 magpies jewellery

"five for silver..."

The name of my site originates from an English nursery rhyme about magpies; black and white birds known to have a love of shiny objects. As a child, whenever we saw a magpie we would recite the rhyme which, as the story goes, would predict our future!

"One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl and four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told."

My love of shiny objects and jewellery, especially silver, has been with me for as long as I can remember which is why the name 5 Magpies seemed so appropriate!

I am a crafter! I have always dabbled in any thing crafty; making jewellery & soap have been the ones that stuck!

Jewellery can articulate a feeling or create a mood without saying a word!

Jewellery is an extension of what I have done as a makeup artist for the last 25 years. It's about using an accessory to enhance who we are or who we’d like to be for that moment in time! Our jewellery box can hold day-in & day-out favourites that we rarely remove – crazy unmatched pieces that make us feel happy or carefully chosen collections to pull together a specific look and feel. Whatever your style, mood or inclination, I can create on-of-a-kind or limited edition pieces to suit.

I predominantly work in silver and semi-precious stones but flirt with copper, Swarovski crystals and up-cycling costume jewellery. I enjoy the contrasting textures and how the various elements can be combined. I’d like to say I spend hours designing a piece but more often than not the individual elements tell me how they should be combined or what form they should take. Sometimes a stone can sit on my bench for months just waiting for inspiration to hit. And when it does I’m happily lost in time at my bench carefully hand-crafting each piece.

Originally from the UK, I began making and selling jewellery as a teenager. I now hand craft each piece in my home studio in Canada. I have enjoyed living, as well as designing and selling my jewellery & soaps, in several Canadian cities but currently reside in rural Ontario. My artisan pieces have been sold across Canada, the United States as well as the United Kingdom.

The unique nature of artisan means that there are slight variations from piece to piece. This is normal when working with natural materials & in fact one of the things that makes each piece unique and special!