Slate & Silver Jewellery

We have a gallery shop, Strands, in Dumfries town centre where we have been trading for the past seventeen years.  We have been making and selling our 'Slate & Silver' jewellery to other retail outlets and galleries for the past seven years.

The heart of our jewellery is the slate which is sourced from the Lake District of Cumbria which is close to us and visible across the Solway on a clear day - there is no slate being quarried in Scotland at the moment.  The jewellery is handmade from raw cut slate to finished pieces in our small workshop in southwest Scotland.

The different quarries in the Lake District that we buy from produce dark (black) through to green (often naturally patterned) and silver-grey slates.  Our ranges use these different hues and qualities of the slates.  The slates we use are:

•  Black : sedimentary slate laid down in the oceanic period about 300 - 350 million years ago
•  Green : slate formed from volcanic ash about 450 million years ago -  sometimes with patterns from different periods of eruption
•  Silver-grey : volcanic slate formed approx. 400 million years ago
  
  

Once we have polished the slate to a smooth, tactile finish with a soft lustre, we cut and inlay individual pieces with silver (sometimes bronze - to give a rose-gold colour) to enhance and accentuate these natural patterns and colour hues of the slate.

The jewellery we make is surprisingly lightweight but strong and easy to wear.  The ranges start with small pendants and earrings through to stylish and dramatic necklaces and bracelets.

We also make a range of mens' cufflinks that have proved very popular.