About Cleopatra/Dorothy LeFave

Dorothy LeFave is a gemstone jewelry designer based in Southeast Michigan. Her company, Cleopatra's, Incorporated, produces necklaces, earrings, pendants, eyeglass "gem chains", rosaries, rosary bracelets, and angel pendants from gemstone beads and freshwater pearls.

For years Dorothy pursued a journalism career, which "was interesting, but only in a fair-to-middlin' sort of way," she says. "I'm actually much happier designing than I ever was writing and editing."

Dorothy recovered from multiple chemical sensitivities that left her virtually homebound for years, and she cites working with gemstones as a significant factor in her healing. "Knowing you can still do something that is marketable rebuilds self-worth. I'd like to share that feeling of accomplishment."

She shares her home studio with Roy, her husband of some 45 years, and two large American Eskimo dogs. Cleapatra, her late Sealpoint Siamese cat and namesake of the business, "actively helped" for over 20 years.

Dorothy hopes to generate enough business to employ several individuals with physical limitations to help produce her designs. "Although the material in my designs is real, beads are affordable and the variety seems endless, so this allows pricing to be realistic and reasonable by today's standards." Cleopatra's has sold to about 100 stores in ten U.S. states, and has a growing retail clientele.

In her designs, Dorothy uses beads much like artists' colors from a palette, but, she says, "I never really feel a design is complete until it's in someone else's hands."