SLC Designs; Artist made jewellery journal blog; thoughts on handcrafted jewellery and life.

More Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4

SLC Designs Journal Page 4

5th June 2007

Today added new bracelets, earrings and vintage items. I have been busy with a commission - a bracelet was requested for a little girl of three and a half who loves pink - in the end, I decided on making something with her name - I made the piece below with sterling and swarovski, making the bracelet with a safety chain so it would stay put on her wrist - technically it was quite difficult making the letters, strengthening them and making them work - but I think in the end this piece worked and I finished it with a heart charm and more swarovski crystal; as she grows, this piece can be converted to an adult size, or even changed completely to wear as a choker - as you can see, her name is Abigail. If you are interested in a similar piece, please enquire.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

22nd May 2007

Today loaded up bracelets, earrings, a necklace and a vintage items; more to come in due course as always. I have had a bit of a slow period creatively, perhaps because I am spending time and effort thinking about an entry for the Swarovski Crystal 2007 competition - the first time I have ever contemplated entering a piece - I know what I want to make and have been spending time drawing, colouring, making swatches with colours that might work....anyway, nothing done is ever wasted - and I started making this piece only to have realised I had in fact wire crocheted a cuff, which truthfully was not at all what I started out to make - an interesting thing about working with wire, and in this case with sterling, is that it seems to curve gently all of its own accord - this means the cuff will curl round the wrist comfortably - photos below. I have been working on tiaras, wedding jewellery, a number of commissions and pieces ordered from the site, some of which were ordered in multiples. Thank you to all keeping the site going in this way, it is appreciated.

Crocheted cuff made from sterling silver, tiny glass seed beads/rocailles and Swarovski Crystal; the double clasps are magnetic.

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break."
Ancient Chinese Belief

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th May 2007

Been working on lots of photos for the site for new jewellery - hopefully should have the site updated next week, subject to the technical department doing their bit....there will be some new crocheted pieces too - I have been wearing crocheted jewellery in copper, Swarovski and freshwater pearls - it seems to have a gorgeous fluidity and strength and feels so gorgeous against the skin that I cannot wait to start working with sterling.

Above and Below: Wire Crochet work - my first attempts

Above: The bracelet I gave to my friend Sharron - copper wire with Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls and American-artist-made glass bead as the closure.

Above; Necklace of Freshwater Pearls, Copper Wire, and Swarovski Crystal. Wire Crochet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th May 2007

A hectic couple of weeks just whizzed by - Mark went to France with his Mum for just over a week whilst the business went haywire work-wise, then I got my own back and left him to it, though I did get an afternoon whilst he was away to drive up to the National Trust property Dunham Massey near Altrincham in Cheshire and enjoy the beautiful gardens there - I was very lucky to see the bluebells which were in full bloom alongside some other gorgeous plants, the place was at its most beautiful as it always is at this time of year, but I was very taken with the bluebells which were breathtakinng.

Then visited London and then Birmingham via the Lake District....yes, you can imagine that was quite hectic can't you...whilst Mark was away went to the Lakes with my Mum and Dad for a day over the weekend and had a wonderful day - as always it was so beautiful up there - went to the usual haunts, Ambleside, Windermere, Grasmere (Gingerbread Shop obligatory), climbed up the Bouderstone (ok, I didn't but I enjoyed watching other people do it) and had a scrumptions cream tea in a gorgeous little village called Grange before walking downstream and watching the world go by - a truly perfect, happy day.

Then I whizzed to London on the train with a friend, spent a couple of days there (whilst she was working) just looking around - unfortunately started with a flare-up with my rheumatoid arthritis which became progressively worse, then headed to Birmingham as we had arranged - went to Stratford upon Avon as we always do, then clubbing in Birmingham before coming home on the Sunday, by which time I was well and truly finished in terms of my arthritis and unfortunately only managed one dance in the nightclub before I had to give up - its lovely to go away but its great to come home for a rest! I have not been idle work-wise though and managed to do some great visual research in London (particularly round Covent Garden, then up to the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham where I purchased more photographic props for the website) and whilst away took an enormous pile of beads and tools etc to work with - its always the way though, as much as I take, I never have the right thing, and I was amused that I drew a crowd when I decided to work for an hour in the reception area of the hotel when I was crocheting a necklace and putting it together....I did contemplate auctioning it but really wanted to wear it that night.....

Anyway, finally got the wire crochet thing sorted out - I did explain to my Mum that my childhood must have been neglected in some way as she failed to teach me to crochet, but I had become fixed on learning to do so, and no, not with thread, but with wire and beads....so she tried to teach me over the phone, and between that and messing about with bits of cotton I managed to pick up how to chain stitch....so now you can expect that all my jewellery will be crocheted and made from chain stitch - I began with copper which of course is the 'metal-du-moment' and managed to find some nice stuff that doesn't tarnish or rub green all over skin (always a plus point) and did a few pieces...ready to progress onto using sterling silver soon.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

24th April 2007

Still waiting for Mark to put these new pages on the site (he is the technical person, you see) but at least you will have something to read when it does eventually go live....I have been busy with the bead side of the business which needed a bit of work and have been ordering new beads and componets, books and tools and working on designing new kits for Beadaddict - anyway, that has kept me fairly occupied however I have had time to design some new pieces - bracelets and earrings mostly, and mostly involving the new design for kits that I have to bring online for Beadaddict - I could not stop making these, and now I have a great pile of them in various colours - I seem to be attracted to lots of blues and greens or bright things right now and have suddenly taken it into my head that I need to know how to crochet as I feel I could make some nice jewellery using crochet and beads - I seem to be struggling a bit, but I am sure a little work and trial and error should rectify this.

In the past couple of weeks we had a visit from Swarovski crystal (we are Swarovski crystal retailers for beads on the other site, Beadaddict) and we had the new area Manager and the UK Manager here for tea and biscuits and a lovely afternoon of looking at their new colours and shapes...they also took a look at some of my jewellery and were very complimentary which was lovely and made me feel very pleased - they were terribly helpful too with suggestions as to how to help the business along.

Latest Kit Designs for BeadAddict - once I started making these, I wanted to make them in all sorts of colours....

Earrings to match the bracelets as above.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14th April 2007

"Show me the horse, and I will show you the man"...(or woman!)

Had a fun day washing my horse, Merlin - here are some photos, taken by my Dad.

Above - Merlin needing some reassurance - his ears say he really does not like having a bath - though he was bribed throughout with food and lots of Polo mints.

The Half Clean and Shiny Front End Result!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13th April 2007

Finally got on with editing some studio photos to put on the site - hope you like these pictures of where I work....

The Studio is filled with pretty things....

Below: My Desk, with the skylight above, a perfect place to work - and my fabulous new jewellery task lamp that I just don't know how I ever did without.

Below: Freshwater Pearls and Silk Cords waiting to be made into jewellery

Below - Seed Beads/Rocailles Beads and Spools of Silk Thread:

Below: Stacks of Beads, Freshwater Pearls, Swarovski Crystal, Silver and Jewellery Making Necessities..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th April 2007

An expansion to SLC Designs website with new pages - 'How to Care for your Handmade Jewellery', 'Questions', and 'Current Trends'; I plan a 'Glossary' (to explain the metals, stones and glass used in my jewellery) in due course. Today I added some new earrings, bracelets, necklaces and vintage items to the site.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9th April 2007

Just returned from the USA - a couple of weeks attending bead shows and looking around bead shops and meeting bead people (so just your average sort of trip away then). The weather was generally awful though I did get sunburnt one day....the rest of the time it was chilly....and one night it even snowed!! (I so wished I had taken my thermal underwear....) I am hoping to return to the States later on in the year to attend another bead show and take some more classes - just seeing other people's work and the way that the other students interpret the same instructions is fascinating - I used to do some teaching for Hobbycraft and Craftworld and enjoyed it as a way of keeping in touch with other people keen on making things, but I have not done that for a while.

Whilst away I took a jewellery making class to learn a new technique which involved a piece of wooden dowelling - I will be making some pieces using this wonderful new 'tool' in due course, went driving in the wilds somewhere or another (got hopelessly lost for a while), visited a fantastic aquarium, went to a butterfly farm and some gorgeous gardens which were in full bloom with spring azaleas....here are the edited highlights of my travels....