They say diamonds are a girl's best friend - but not in the case of jewellery designer Jacqueline Lohan's exquisitely crafted coils of silver studded with an array of colourful gems.

Sitting at a workbench in her Euclid Avenue showroom and studio - Atlantic Jewellery - Mrs. Lohan said she predominately, and by choice, works in silver and semi-precious stones.

The end result are pieces that are not quite like anything you have seen before - whether it be a design with green amber from the Baltic, a tassle necklace with peacock, black and slate Mobe pearls from the South China Sea or something done with Australian opals that remind Mrs. Lohan of Bermuda's coral reef - and reasonably priced too.

Mrs. Lohan said: "I have got away from gold and diamonds. It is not that I cannot do that or will not do that but I am downplaying those pieces. My style has changed... I have become much less conservative with my designs."

Although a desire to work in silver and semi-precious stones is the motivating factor, Mrs. Lohan added the lower cost factor affords people the option of buying a number of pieces for less than one piece of gold jewellery.

A visit to Atlantic Jewellery, with access from Woodlands Road, also enables one to catch a glimpse of the work that goes into the jewellery.

On the back of the showroom, which is open by appointment, is Mrs. Lohan's workspace where one finds the stuff that jewellery is made from; including a soldering torch for use with either propane gas or oxygen, trays of materials, files for sanding down the pieces (with the precious metal scraps collected in coffee cans) and a buffing machine to polish the metal.

Mrs. Lohan's studio collection, which changes every year, this year focuses on an Island theme with "a lot of pearls; pearls are popular this year" and designs reminiscent of the ocean and water.

The showroom is however not the only place you can see Mrs. Lohan's creations: she has a booth at Wednesday night's Harbour Nights. But the wares she carries at the ever-popular Hamilton street festival are again, different from the pieces at her studio.

Mrs. Lohan describes her Harbour Night collection as "fun, but not junk" with pieces, including toe rings, anklets, bracelets and necklaces priced below $65. She added that these pieces are made from semi-precious stones and precious metals.

Mrs. Lohan, who studied goldsmithing and silversmithing at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario, got an early start at jewellery making.

Although initially starting out with beading projects, Mrs. Lohan began working with metals as a teenager with her introduction to the soldering torch at age 14.

Mrs. Lohan, who grew up in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario, started soldering under the tutelage of her step-father. And she said at that time she worked with whatever materials were readily available whether it be brass, copper or glass.

She recalled the first piece she made - an eight inch brass tree with brass leaves that to this day sits in her grandmother's house.

That early start at working with metal has stuck: "I am really into metals; I love working with metals," she said.

Despite an early love of jewellery making, Mrs. Lohan initially decided on a career in science and was studying at the University of Guelph. To support herself while going through school however, she made and sold jewellery.

Mrs. Lohan said: "One day I woke up and smelled the coffee so to speak in that I realised that (jewellery) is what I loved."

Mrs. Lohan then transferred to Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario where she enrolled in their four-year jewellery and metals programme.

Fast forward a few years and Mrs. Lohan found herself working in Bermuda after a former professor recommended her for a job as a goldsmith at local jewellers Crisson's. Later Mrs. Lohan would also work at Walker Christopher's but marriage to a Bermudian and the birth of her first child prompted her to take some time out from the field.

But the urge to be making jewellery kicked back in a short time thereafter and prompted Mrs. Lohan to set up a studio at her home. And if motherhood and a budding career of creating her own jewellery designs was not enough, Mrs. Lohan also set up a metal-working programme at the Bermuda College - with sponsorship, including the purchase of equipment, from former employer Peter Crisson. She is however currently on sabbatical from teaching after the birth of her second child and with a desire to spend more time on her own designs.