SLC Designs Journal
What's happening at SLC Designs? This 'Journal'; is designed to keep the reader up to date with what's coming up and what's going on; this part of the site will feature news, photographs, musings and general information. The plan is to update this a couple of times a month....(subject to anything interesting happening of course!)
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16th March 2008
Today I loaded up new bracelets, earrings, necklaces and vintage items.
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14th March 2008
How time flies. I am sort of wondering what I have been doing in the past month! Acually I have been really busy - I have lots and lots of new work to go on the site soon AND a huge revision of the antique and vintage section which was starting to look a little neglected...but all in due course, and as the new work will probably be released with a newsletter/offer its still a work in progress......but just to give you an idea of what is coming, I have some new pieces on silk, lots of earrings as normal, various necklaces and an armful of bracelets....
Style is the hallmark of a temperament stamped on the material in hand ( Maurois)
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16th February 2008
Loaded up new earrings, bracelets, necklaces and a set. I've been doing lots of work 'behind the scenes' on the site and you may notice that I have had to put some prices up...why? Well - the precious metals market has just about gone through the roof in the last 12 months or so - I have managed to hold prices until now because I was working with existing stocks of metals but because of the huge increases in the market, I am having to reflect it in the stock on the site - unfortunately the metals market is showing no let up, and I am seeing increased costs in Swarovski crystal and just about everything I am using in my jewellery....so...(sorry)...but blame the American housing crisis or something like that!
When I work, I have no concept of time.
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11th February 2008
It is so lovely to see early spring sushine and the flowers starting to come out. I'm tidying my studio, clearing out old clutter that I don't use any more and generally putting life and work in order. I think people have 'seasons' which are different to those of nature's in many ways - for instance our progress through age, and maybe I have been thinking of this a little more of late as I am coming up to a 'significant' birthday in March (ok, ok, I am going to be 40).
I have always veered away from this journal from becoming too personal, but time is like seasons in the way that things change and there are some big changes happening right now in my life. Yesterday I went to see a wonderful demonstration by a gentleman whom I have long admired, Monty Roberts, also known as 'The Horse Whisperer', and I took my lovely god-children Natasha and Nicole as well as their mum, my friend Adele with me - we had such a great day. Mr. Roberts is now 73 and he trains horses (or maybe he trains humans) to understand each other by speaking the same language. It seems that his background was a tough one, and he was born into a cycle of violence which he has turned right around - he has made a huge difference to many people and many horses all over the world - the way is seeing something from the horses' perspective and understanding. The thing is that to come to that understanding, we need to be prepared to listen.
So in-between the work in the studio, and the cleaning and the change of the season, I am trying to make time to do other things like the writing, photography and the painting I have so long wanted to pursue but felt guilty for doing because I should be working - (though working for me is such fun in any case), and I am hoping that doing some new things will perhaps take me and my work in some new directions... it's not called 'Spring Cleaning' for nothing.
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3rd February 2008
Today I loaded up new bracelets, earrings, necklaces and a set - AND did all the technical work myself (so all mistakes are down to me). It took me several nights to carry out the work that Mark usually does so effieciently and I kept asking him stupid questions but in the end I managed it (hopefully!).
January whizzed by - for me, I was busy making new things and learning how to do the tech bits of the website which has been both frustrating, educating and enlightening - I appreciate Mark doing my tech work, but I needed to know how to do all this myself.
January was a wet and windy month for the horse and I - his field at the livery stables flooded so he had to stay in every other day and I was trying hard to find things to amuse him with - I did find out he likes malt bread one day as I like to take him a little treat now and again (oh, OK, every day!). Its lovely watching him on the days he IS able to go out, seeing how happy he is to be out of confinement . And then yesterday - SNOW - well, I woke up to a light dusting of it (for some reason this area just never seems to get a lot of the white stuff) (probably I will wake up to being snowed in tomorrow,...ugh). Even better than snow though are the snowdrops coming up in the garden - I am trying to get photos without lying in the snow.....
Merlin wonders if he can eat it.....
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12th January 2008
Happy New Year! Today I have loaded up new bracelets, earrings and necklaces - AND I have done much of the website work myself with the help of Mark - its incredibly complicated trying to get to grips with codes and photo sizes and I am trying to write myself an idiot's guide how to (being the idiot concerned) but I guess it is something I will get better at over time as I do it more and more - I have a book with lots of jottings about how to do things, and even looking at it now, its practically incomprehensible.
Below is the jewellery I gave my Mum for Christmas and Birthday (her birthday is the 1st of January) - in the first, the focal piece is an enamelled sterling plaque set with a large freshwater pearl cabochon and Amethyst cabochons, to which I wired faceted Peridot and Amethyst briolettes - the strung portion of the necklace is made from tiny Amethyst briolettes and faceted Iolite rondelles with tiny sparkles of Swarovski crystal - this piece took about 14 hours to make as the tiny Amethyst and Iolite beads were difficult to string.
Mum's Birthday Present
Below is Mum's Christmas present - sterling crocheted brown-black freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystal - in the spirit of recycling, this previously was a necklace I'd made for her strung with using silk which had stretched over time (because she had worn it so much) - so there you go, you CAN give a present twice over and get away with it....
My Mum's Christmas Present
I started work on updating the horse and cat jewellery sections, and over the Christmas/New Year period I made the necklace below thinking I would put it up for sale in the horse jewellery section....unfortunately, I dropped the darn thing on the studio carpet and the tail on the horse broke (though I glued it back on)...and now, I am just going to have to keep it myself!!
Click Image for Detail View
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25th December 2007
Wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year, I am taking a short break over the Christmas period from today and I will mail out any orders which come in over this period on my return on the 3rd January 2008.
All Content, Design, Text and Photographs Copyright Stephanie Lewis-Cooper, SLC Designs, 2002-2008
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