About the Artisans
About the Artisans
As Canadian artisans of Catholic items, we believe in the value of prayer. We design our handmade originals to be cherished. We build them to endure.
The Artisans
We value quality and creativity.
All of our items are made by hand in the tradition of Christian artisan design.
WHO WE ARE
We are father and daughter artisans with over 25 years of experience.
WHAT WE DO
We make handmade Catholic items: rosaries, chaplets, Crucifixes, and more.
WHY WE DO IT
We make prayer items for you and use our proceeds to help the poorest of the poor worldwide.
Our Stories
My Dad's Story
My Dad has always enjoyed working with wood. He made us countless gifts over the years that we treasure. For example, he made us all memory boxes like the one in the photo. Each one has a carved lid with a different design.
In the Netherlands
My Dad’s story began with a story about his parents.
It began with a love story...
Engagement Gift
In 1929, as they were walking together, his mother admired a Crucifix in a shop window. Later, he gave it to her as an engagement gift.
Canada
After World War II, they packed the Crucifix and their other belongings into a shipping crate when they emigrated to Canada. Once they arrived in Quebec City, they transferred to a train.
From there, they went to Winnipeg. In 1950, the Crucifix was packed in the same shipping crate onto a train to southwestern Ontario.
Despite several more moves, it always hung in their home.
Busy in the Workshop
After they had both passed away, it could only go to one of the descendants. My Dad had the idea to make new ones like it for his siblings and his children.
He enjoyed making them, so he showed one to the local store owner. When it sold quickly, she asked him to come up with more designs. Since then, he has made thousands of Crucifixes, Crosses, stands for Bibles, rosary dishes, nativity stables, and more.
My Dad donates all of his creative efforts to help the poorest of the poor worldwide.
How My Story Began
I made my first rosary with my maternal grandmother (pictured here) when I was 11 years old.
How She Helped Me
Since she made strung necklaces like the one in the photo, she had some beautiful blue beads for me to use. We didn’t have a center or Crucifix, so there were knots in their place. I prayed with it until it fell apart and I lost the pieces. Since photos were with film and a flashcube, we didn’t take them very often. Otherwise, I would have had a picture of it to share.
My First Pliers
About 20 years later, one of my necklaces broke, so I asked my parents for a pair of pliers for my birthday in the hopes of fixing it. They talked to my sister-in-law’s mother, Angela O’Neil, who made rosaries. Then, they decided to give me rosary pliers.
And So It Began...
The rosary pliers came with a note that said they are for making rosaries and not for other repairs. There was an address with it to order rosary supplies. It wasn’t too long before I made a rosary and gave it to my brother Bob. I have made thousands of rosaries since then.
I also donate the profits from my designs to help the poorest of the poor worldwide.
Weaving the Stories Together
These roots led to a family business.
More than 25 years later, we still enjoy creating new items for prayer.
As Christian artisans, we believe that prayer is at the root of our faith because it is our connection with God.
History of Our Business
We began with faith and family roots. Click on the dates for quick access.
1993:
My first pair of rosary pliers were a birthday gift from my parents. I started making rosaries for family members and friends as gifts. One day, something changed when I prayed in our church by the tabernacle. Over it stands a statue of Our Lady of Grace with a peaceful expression on her face. An inspiration came to my heart to put as many rosaries in as many hands as possible. Yet, it seemed like too much because I had just learned to make them. When it came time to choose a business name, there was one easy choice.
1999:
When a new local Catholic store opened, we decided to support them by selling our items on consignment there. At first, I brought them rosaries, and my Dad brought them Crosses cut in the shape of the name of Jesus.
2003:
My Dad made his first Crucifixes for the local store. He began with the design made from his family’s heirloom Crucifix.
2004:
We started to sell to stores in London, Windsor, Calgary, and Vancouver.
2006:
My brother Paul designed our first website. The URL was www.rosaries.wordpress.com. He looked after it until the Fall of 2019.
2010:
My son, Martin, created our business logo. I asked him for an image of Our Lady of Grace holding a rosary. He has also designed our business cards since then.
2020:
On Thanksgiving weekend, 2019, my nephew, Matthew Payne, offered to help me get started on a new website. It soon became a COVID project because of extra free time to set it up. In 2020, we launched the new website.
CREDITS
The LOGO image of Our Lady of Grace is original artwork by Martin Lariviere in 2009. We have the artist’s permission (my son). It is our exclusive trademark logo image.
A beautifully photographed sky by Donald Tong inspired the website’s colour scheme. Cropped portions of it are the background for the footer Bible verse. He shared it as a free download on pexels.com.
Raphael painted The Sistine Madonna circa (1513-1514). We made circular cut-outs from the original image.
Our information is from general knowledge, experience, and shared internet resources. We’d like you to use it as a starting point for your research to verify facts and build a reference list.