Uh Oh!

Does this freak anyone out but me?!?!? I remember a couple summers ago silver prices soared over $19/oz...OUCH! When I started ordering silver in bulk over 5 years ago it was a $7 market. What happened?! This is definitely hard on business. It's hard to afford to buy the needed supplies and it's harder to sell the finished product because you've got raise prices to compensate. What's a jeweler to do? Thankfully I don't work in gold (yet)!

It's been a busy month. Unfortunately my BRAND NEW computer has been acting up. Have you ever heard of the "blue screen of death"? Well, it has become my arch enemy. After several troubleshooting tests, many many hours of my studio time, and some cuss words we found out that the problem was in the memory. So Dell sent us brand new memory cards and a prepaid box to send the computer out for repair incase the new memory didn't fix the problem. The new memory seemed to fix the problem. All the diagnostic tests passed and we were in the clear...until this morning. My husband went to start the computer and there was that damned blue screen again! GRRRR. So, now it's back to doing hardware diagnostic tests and crossing fingers that everything passes. So far so good, we'll see. We may have to use that prepaid box afterall. What a pain!

Other than that life has been pretty good. I struggled through the entire design/creation process for my early fall line but it's done and delivered. To be completely honest I haven't been that impressed with my past two lines. I always try to make things that I would love to have and that's not the case with late summer or early fall. So all weekend long I pondered the design rut I've been in. I was prompted to go back and look at all of my old inventory pictures. I figured I've had a lot of success with all of those designs and maybe it's time to try and stop reinventing the wheel with every new seasonal line. I'm so glad I did that because I realized that I've been trying to fix something that isn't broken. My old designs are still some of my personal favorites and they've all sold very well. With a little tweeking they are fresh and lively! This will sound very cheesy but I feel alive again! Working in the studio has been the pleasure it used to be. So, lesson learned: stick with what works and build off it as you go. Sooner or later those time-tested designs will naturally transform into something new and exciting. I just think I was trying too hard.

Anyway, I suppose it's time to go check the progress of diagnostic tests. This last one takes a couple of hours but it should be done soon. I am anxious to try to restart my little "green machine" my computer is a lovely green color and she if she's in working order again. Wish me luck!