Danielle Tchao was born in Shawinigan, Quebec but moved to Toronto at an early age. She attended the University of Toronto for electircal engineering and graduated in 2004. After developing a keen interest in jewellery design she began her online boutique Beadmarket.ca in November of 2007 while continuing to work full-time as an engineer.

Danielle often has several different jewellery or sewing projects on the go and you can read more about them on her BlueTuque blog.

In the fall of 2011 I started taking introductory night courses at George Brown College for goldsmithing, silversmithing, lost-wax casting, gem setting, and enamelling. I completed a number of projects during this time and describe most of them (with much excitement!) in my blog.

Here are a few signature pieces that I created to wear myself. It's no surprise that I wanted a few shiny items to show off when the tools and raw materials are right at my fingertips!

When I was growing up my mom taught me some basic sewing skills on the industrial sewing machine she still keeps in her basement at home. My mother and aunts are all very skilled with the sewing machine and have each made wonderful pieces of clothes from scratch, no patterns or books necessary. I've always thought sewing to be a very handy skill to have but it wasn't until the spring of 2010 that I really started to take an interest in it. And what better way to get practice at sewing than with this 1958 Singer Featherweight machine? It was built in Scotland and given to my husband from his grandmother who was happy to find a new home for it.

Beadmarket.ca was pleased to participate in its first craft show at SpeakEasy's Annual Holiday Sale on Thursday, December 2nd, 2010. Thank you to everyone who came out and showed their support - it was a fun and successful evening!

I'm not much of a potter but enjoyed the few workshops and opportunities I've had to make or paint pottery. After trying a session on the pottery wheel I have a new respect for all things round and concentric!