Dec 17, 2007

Lady Serena's Jewelry opens store in Virginia

Lori LeTourneau went to her first Renaissance Festival in 2000 and fell in love with chainmaille jewelry.

She said to herself, “I can make that,’’ which would soon come to fruition.


She and her husband Tom LeTourneau have had an active website (www.ladyserenas.us) for two years and she has been making the product for four years.


And they have just opened a new store, Lady Serena’s Jewelry on Fourth Avenue in downtown Virginia.


In addition to the chainmaille necklaces, earrings, bracelets and more, Lori LeTourneau also makes leather roses and other leather items.


The new storefront will enable the couple, who now reside in Eveleth, to expand on their sales via the Internet and at some past Renaissance Festivals.

“I think there’s a market in this area,’’ Tom LeTourneau said. The store has already been seeing some sales in its first few days and has received good feedback on both the jewelry and leather items.


The unique chainmaille jewelry is originally from the 11th Century, Lori LeTourneau said, where it was mostly used as armor.


She now hand crafts the different types of metal rings (from copper to gold) into the jewelry and even shirts and vests.


It is “literally weaved out of metal,’’ Lori LeTourneau said.


The average necklace, she added, takes about eight hours to craft, and longer if the metals are softer.


Her other specialty is hand-formed leather roses in a variety of traditional and other colors.


“It will last forever,’’ she said.


The unique roses have proved to be quite successful. “We have sold a lot of these over the Internet,’’ Tom LeTourneau said.


Other leather products include belt pouches and family coats of arms on request.


They said Lady Serena’s is currently not a leather repair shop, but that is something they are looking into.
Source: virginiamn

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