Interview with a Star - Lena (SFBeads)

Please, welcome our teammate Lena who runs SFBeads shop on Etsy.


- Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was born in the wonderful city of Kharkov, Ukraine. Like any girl, I loved jewelry- not only wearing it, but even holding jewelry made me happy. (Back then, I had no idea that one day I would make jewelry myself!) I graduated from the Polytechnic University, majoring in chemical engineering, and began working in my field.
In 1999, my life changed a lot! My husband, daughter and I moved to the USA. It was a new start and a new life, so I decided to do something new too. I began making my own jewelry!


-What is currently inspiring you?
Inspiration comes from everywhere ( lace, ribbon or haute couture dresses..). I like to explore combination of beads and glass with gems and pearls. I try to combine intricate design with different forms and shapes to add to the originality to each piece.


- Any sales or promotions?
In honor of my Birthdays I am holding a sale this week that will let you save 25% on all jewelry. This also includes all tutorials/books. So if you've been thinking about picking up a handmade jewelry piece (or tutorials) for your, now is the time to celebrate with me and take advantage of savings. Coupon Details: To save 25%, simply use coupon code BDAY25 during the checkout process at www.SFBeads.etsy.com The sale starts on Sunday 12th and ends on Sunday 19th at midnight PST.


-Do you take custom orders?
Customer orders are always welcome. If you need any special accessories, let me turn your ideas into beautiful piece of art with utmost care for quality, details and style.


-What is the best reaction you have gotten from one of your pieces?
Last year I sold a necklace “Orchid” and when the customer has received it, she wrote to me: «Fantastic! I want one in every color!! »



-Name 3 things you can’t live without?
My family
My friends
My beads



And Lena has Birthday today! We'd like to wish her the best! Happy Birthday!

Interview with a Star - Maria (CallOfEarth)

Please welcome Maria. Maria is a jewelry artist who owns her shop on Etsy. Her shop has a very unique name – CallOfEarth. Maria makes her creations by threading the smallest beads on one by one till a masterpiece emerges.

Here is what she said about herself:

I didn’t expect writing for the blog of Russian Etsy Team (that I am a proud member of) to be such a difficult task. I was very excited about it at first, but then my excitement was replaced by confusion. I postponed writing until the last possible moment. I didn’t want to write another bio in the style of “Me and my family” English grammar exercise :) You can find that kind of a "masterpiece" in my profile text on Etsy and some more facts about me in my blog.

Words today are like the shells and rope of seaweed which a child brings home glistening from the beach and which in an hour have lost their luster - Cyril Connolly

I didn’t know where to begin, so I decided to take a break from just thinking about it (“OMG how I’m going to do it?!!?”) and started to make a “treasury” (Etsy term for a collection of 16 items united by some mysterious ties known only to the creator of the collection). As I added one of the items, I looked at the profile of the artist. I was stunned by its simplicity and depth at the same time. When I was reading that short bio, where in simple words were described the feelings, dreams and wishes of that person, I felt the presence of that person beside me. I call this feeling the "feeling of Life". This meeting with a "gypsy" (the nickname of that person included the word "gypsy") stirred up my gypsy roots.

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” – The Alchemist

I reminisced and realized that the chain of events in my life consisted of some random (at first sight) but really nonrandom (as seen later) encounters - just like I create my necklaces - bead to bead. When you look at beaded artwork from very close up, you only see dots of different colors but when you looks from the distance you can see a beautiful pattern.

The beauty of the Life continuously inspires me and this inspiration is expressed in my creations.

Yours,

Maria

Turkish beads crocheted necklace

Tools &Materials :

Yarn
Crochet pin #0.75
Beading needle
20gr- seed beads (size 9)
15gr - bugle beads(7mm)

String the beads onto the yarn in this pattern:
4 seed beads , 1 bugle bead, 4 seed beads , 1 bugle bead

For 40cm necklace you need to string 2,5m beads

Follow this video instructions:

The ready necklace:

Using this technique and different materials you can create wonderful jewelry:

Good Luck!!!

Tutorial by Svetlana (Lirigal)