Stylish things, Anastasia lightkeeping

Have you ever taken a walk in a birch grove during the summer? Bright sunshine pierces the lacy birch foliage. Small white and blue wildflowers are flirting with each other. Ripe berries of wild strawberry are playing hide-and-seek with sunrays. A light breeze brings with it the aroma of wild grasses and flowers. You get the same wonderful feeling when you visit the 'lightkeeping'.


The owner of the store is a charming lady named Anastasia. You can definitely tell a lot about a person from looking at her works. Looking at Anastasia's creations, you can immediately see that she is kind cheerful, and her store radiates happiness.


Anastasia is a talented jewelry designer. Most of her pieces are made with lamp-work beads, which she complements with Swarovski crystals, genuine precious and semi-precious gemstones, pearls, etc. Earrings, bracelets, pendants, necklaces, hair clips – everything made by Anastasia - immediately attracts your attention. All her creations are simple, elegant and original.


Anastasia keeps her relationships with her customers very personal. She respects her customers' taste and does her best in listening to their wishes. She says: «Custom orders are always welcome; if you see an item in my store that you like, but would like it better if it were put together in a somewhat different way, I'll be happy to accommodate! And if you like my "style" but don't see a particular color you'd like, I may be able and will be glad to put something together for you.»





Tomorrow is Anastasia's birthday. Rusteam would like to congratulate Anastasia and wish her to always remain her charming self and keep amazing us and her customers with her wonderful works.



Happy Birthday, Anastasia!


Story by Lana (FineEmbroidery)

Translated by Alla (FleetingStillness)


The story is also available in Russian there.

Topaz - the mineral of the month for November.

Topaz is one of the most beautiful minerals attracting you with its beauty: the glow, transparency, shine and numerous color shades. Topaz is the color of the blue sky, golden sunshine, sparkling shades of wine, lightness of the dew in the morning. Topaz is a stone of friendship, prudence, happiness and clear spirit.


Topaz helps you to develop your intuition, protects you from curses, helps to keep you young and beautiful. It also stimulates your mind, that’s why philosophers will find it very useful. It gives you the ability of being honest, objective and liberal.


The mineral also helps you find friends: it attracts people’s affection. It brings you wealth and people acceptance. Topaz stimulates your optimism and opens your eyes for a goodness.


Topaz of any color for a man is wisdom, generosity and intelligence. For a woman - beauty and fertility. The stone protects you from people’s lies and helps you to be able to discover the liar.


The mineral is used for a good luck, material wealth, professional success. The gem is a talisman for a scientist, a businessman and a traveler.

The other stones, associated with the calendar month of November are

pearls

citrine and chrysoprase

chrysoprase



Story by Irina (BeautyLand)

Introducing Lightkeeping and Lampwork

Wouldn't it be nice to find out more and see the faces behind the amazing work of Etsy Russian Team members? Now I do not attempt to claim that my creations are half as amazing as the art created by other members, but I would love to humbly set an example of introducing ourselves.

My name is Anastasija (or Anna for short and for easier pronunciation) aka Lightkeeping. I am originally from Lithuania, however, I come from a Russian family and have a very strong Russian identity. And recently I also chose to be an immigrant of love by coming to Ireland. A couple of years ago I was studying arts in Cork and met this guy with hair like a raven, cheecks like blood and body like snow straight from "The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu", one of the most stunning sagas ever written in Irish. So after finishing my studies in literature back at home and quitting my day job in the media, I flew back to Ireland on the love wings of Airlingus.

As long as I can remember myself I was crafting something all the time. It used to be sawing outfits for dolls first, then I moved on to knitting for myself and family members. I was always very disappointed that I cannot draw as visual arts are a passion of mine, I just love visiting galleries and exhibitions as well as taking art history courses and was delighted to discover the media of lampwork as it fully satisfies my hunger for color, texture and form.

Lampworking is a type of glasswork that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with a variety of tools and hand movements. Lampwork beads can be very colorful and highly detailed and they are an instant mood lifter. I just love working with them: matching them with Czech glass beads, colored jade, pearls, Swarovski and other beads to make bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

My next step will be learning to make my own lampwork beads and I am looking very much forward to being able to afford learning lampworking and getting all the equipment. Meanwhile, I want to show you the work of another member of the Russian team - Nina, who runs an Etsy shop Britanika. She makes gorgeous lampwork beads in her home studio in Israel. All her beads are cleaned and annealed in digitally controlled kiln for added strength and durability. If you love color and unusual form you should definitely visit her shop.

Here are a couple of examples of the lampwork beads that are currently for sale in her shop.