Yarmouth woman expresses creative side through Parrot Jewelry
Butterworth focuses on creating jewelry with hand-painted crystal glass gems
Lynda Butterworth says she's just a proud Canadian citizen who feels privileged to have found a home in Yarmouth. Her story, however, only began in Nova Scotia 22 years ago.
In fact, Butterworth hails from Australia.
In 2000, Butterworth was a manager for the restaurant Edna's Table, located in Sydney, Australia. She calls it a uniquely Australian restaurant that catered to many cocktail parties for the Andrew Lloyd Webber productions.
One such party was for the musical Rent, to which 1,200 people attended, she says. The event was held in a park overlooking the Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Opera House, while some of Australia's most famous bands played on two separate stages. Ticket prices, she says, ranged from $800 to over $1,000 per person.
When the Olympics were held in Sydney in 2000, Edna's Table was the onsite inter-nation press restaurant. Greece, she says, also leased the restaurant for the duration of the Olympics as a headquarters to entertain. This was a great honour, she says.
It was then that Butterworth says she had reached the pinnacle of her career as a restaurant manager.
She decided to take some time off and packed her bags and went on a trip to Ireland to visit her sister.
Lynda Butterworth moved from Sydney, Australia to Yarmouth where she now operates a jewelry making business called Parrot Jewelry.
While in Ireland, she made a detour trip to Nova Scotia, as something, or someone, was pulling her in that direction.
Butterworth says she met a man in Yarmouth through an online chat platform, and he and his family convinced her to incorporate a visit into her trip.
She stopped first in Yarmouth, went to Ireland to visit her sister, and returned to Yarmouth.
“I am no longer with this man I first met 22 years ago; however, I am still friends with the family and him,” says Butterworth.
Although she may not have fallen in love with the man, she did fall in love with Yarmouth and has lived there ever since.
Ten years ago, feeling a need to be creative, Butterworth joined the Yarmouth Craft
Guild. At that first meeting she met other members but did not know what craft she would take up.
Researching on the internet, Butterworth discovered the art of marbling nail polish onto glass cabochons or gemstones.
“I knew I wanted to learn how to create these colourful and beautiful pieces,” she says.
After making them for a while, she decided to sell the finished pieces.
She either glued the marbled cabochons into jewelry trays or hung them on chains using bails to finish them off for sale. Then, she started to sell the pieces to friends. Encouraged by those friends, she then sold them to the public.
Needing a name for her fledgeling business and coming from Australia, she named her business Parrot Jewelry in honour of the beautiful parrots from her homeland.
Today, Butterworth focuses on creating jewelry with handpainted crystal glass gems in imaginative findings and bails.
Each crystal-clear glass cabochon is hand-coloured with nail polish using a method known as marbling, she says. Then, the newly dipped nailpolish pieces cure for a week. In the last step, she applies a crystal-clear coat of epoxy resin. This process protects the nail polish from chipping off and removes the smell of the nail polish.
From start to finish, each cabochon takes two weeks to produce before it is then glued into a pendant tray or has a bail attached.
“Like the birds, each handpainted glass piece is a stunning swirl of sparkling colour. They become a unique pendant or the centrepiece of one of the many necklaces designs I have carefully selected to use,” she explains.
Returning to Australia in January 2020 for her mother's 80th birthday, Butterworth met a cousin for the first time who also makes jewelry. "Cousin Lorrain taught me how to make pendants using washers and special paint. I have now introduced this new line to Parrot Jewelry," she says.
Being a tall redhead, born under the sign of Aquarius, Butterworth says she is a free and independent thinker whose personal fashion and jewelry have always expressed both her love of colour and her individuality.
This creativity comes naturally to her. She says she has always painted, drawn, and designed.
She says her grandmother was a blue-ribbon competitor in many competitions throughout her life, engaged in all sorts of arts and crafts. As a result, Butterworth developed a deep appreciation for fine, handmade goods through her.
When not making jewelry, Butterworth has immersed herself in Yarmouth life by volunteering – joining some of the many active groups and currently working in a transitional home where she says she is privileged to care for our elderly residents.
Anyone wishing to purchase Parrot Jewelry can do so through her Facebook page, or Etsy.