My sister's wedding

Last month we celebrated wedding day of my dear sister. They had a professional photographer and while she was picturing them posing in front of that beautiful and old church, I sneaked in and made this shot.
I have also decided to take "Blogging your way" e-course, that's why I decided to breathe new life into this almost abandoned blog :)

Our new office after IKEA visit

So, this is how our office looks now. I like the smell of fresh wood, and we have plenty of it now. We haven't moved in yet, we need to set up more shelving units and hang office curtains. We also plan to buy small sofa, so the Director (me!) could have a nap and observe working employees :D



It looks oh so nice without endless boxes and empty shelves!

On your marks.. get set.. GO!

Here's a photo of the room which is going to become a new home for our bead shop. It looks so lonely and empty now, but good boys from IKEA will come and make this place better with their cute EXPEDIT bookcases, VIKA and GALANT tables, and.. well, we havent't decided yet.



So we have pretty much work now!

Craft show preparation thoughts

As a sole proprietor I have to be jack of all trades (master of none). I have two office employees and one courier and still in rush days I pack some orders myself. I answer countless emails, I order new products, I make sales contracts (how I hate that!), and finally, I am trying to figure out how to set up the booth for the very first big craft show we're attending. It is going to be next week and I still have very few ideas about everything. What to sell? How to display? It is such a headache!

Every single corner of my apartment looks like this. Finally we've started to look for some kind of office to move all this stuff from our home. It is even worst headache, because affordable rooms look so ugly, and because we can't decide which area of the city to prefer. We're thinking about renting a room in some modern business center with all those fancy glass walls, pass control and everything. I want to waste my life in some nice place.

Well, I opened my blog to complain about awful customer service of some wholesalers, but I'd better do that next time.

BeadFest-2009

Here are some photos of BeadFest-2009 which took place in Moscow, Russia couple of days ago. We held a competition for our customers, 3 winners received $300, $150 and $90 gift certificates which they can spend on beads.

Here are the winners, Guzelle Bakeeva, Natalia Pechenkina and Ekaterina Kakinina, the first, second and the third places:

So many talented artists from Russia and Ukraine attended the show. Just take a look at those designs - they were very hard to judge!

Spring Beads

Today my boyfriend asked me a question which he had never asked before. God was I surprised when I heard him saying 'Do you want me to make a necklace for you?' I stared at him for five seconds trying to make sure I'm not dreaming and then answered, 'Of course I do!'
I gave him a lot of beads, tools and ribbons. I also demonstrated how to use crimp beads, and went to another room leaving him alone (he wanted to make me surprise). After an hour he brought me something really amazing, 'Spring Beads':



Can you believe this is his very first attempt to make a jewelry? And here's the backstage photo. What a messy place! :)

Rare Pyrite Ammonite Fossils

Today I created my very first listing on eBay. Then I thought a little bit and listed the second item. I sell hundreds of items in my bead store here in Russia and I think I have enough local customers and local postage problems. I can't explain that, I just need to sell something on eBay not because of money, but just to sell something. I want to receive my very first feedback as a seller (positive, of course! :)) I've listed two fossil slices which I bought at a gem show here in Russia. These fossils are truly unique because they have a metal shine caused by pyrite. They say there's only one mine of pyrite fossils found in the world, and it is in Russia. I don't know whether it's true or not, but all similar items on eBay have note they're from Russia, and there aren't many of them. Just take a look at one of these little beauties - they shine gold!


Of course these pyrite fossils may be wonderful addition to any fossil collection, but we beaders buy them for only one reason: to use them in our beadwork! Just take a look at some beaded pieces of my friend Guzelle Bakeeva. Her 'Star Explosion' necklace, 'Dark Side of the Moon' necklace and bracelet feature these little fossil beauties. Aren't they stunning?

Well, back to eBay. As I said I just feel the need to sell something, so I listed them for only $2.99. The biggest problem with eBay is PayPal don't work here as it works in US or other countries. I can send money using my PayPal account (from my credit card associated with paypal), but I cannot receive funds to my PayPal account. Just can't, and PayPal support doesn't answer the question why that and when it will be possible. Just like firemountaingems ignore questions why they ship everywhere in the world except Russia. Just try to find that out and you'll se that's impossible! To deal with that PayPal issue I asked my friend from USA to receive my payment if somebody will overcome their fear and buy something from Russian seller. She said she could help me with that, but I understand that's not the best idea, because if my sales grow, she will have to pay taxes for my profits. And she will have to spend her time dealing with my problems which is not good either.

My another idea is to receive payments as gift certificates at Amazon. But this is also kind of suspect and looks like fraud. Really, who cares I cannot use PayPal? Amazon gift certificates, isn't that look strange? If you were strangers on eBay and found my listings, what would you think? Seller is in Russia and accepts Amazon gift certificates. Please tell me all the hard truth, that will be really helpful to me.

Handmade Chocolate Soap

It was quite easy to make.. And it smells like cocoa :)

Summer Ring

Couple of days ago I took another ring finding which I received from my friend temporary living in Japan. I like making Japanese-styled rings. It's very quick and sparkling project! And I like how green looks together with pink. It's my favorite color combination at the moment. It looks like summer! :)

Black Sea Beads

Beads I made this summer just before going to Black Sea. That's why I called them Black Sea Beads :) This photo reminds me of Christmas, I think that's because of the soft yellow lights.

My own beadwork website, finally

I am very pleased to announce that my website about beadwork and beads was finally put on the web. It is in Russian, but hopefully, beading patterns and photos are things that unite beaders from different countries.
You can find interviews with my favorite beadwork artists like Robin Atkins, Vicki Star, Sherry Serafini and Jeannette Cook there, and browse free beading patterns.

Welcome! :)

P.S. I will appreciate any feedback, thanks :)

Meet Holga, my new toy

I'm a bad photographer. When I see something really beautiful I try to take a picture of it, and every shot I make looks dull. Holga¹, my last chance to become a photographer, arrived in a bright box a month ago, and we headed straight to Black Sea (Crimea, Ukraine), 'cause it was a vacation time.

A 'toy' camera is very fun & exciting thing to use. It's like a bunch of presents under a Christmas tree: you never know what you get, even if you see the boxes with presents :) Light leaks, shadows of the battery, vignetting, oh my god, they all are so amazing! Send your perfect digital photos with dozens of photoshop effects to a trash bin. It's time to think analog!

I really like my new toy. You can find my vacation Holga photos here.

¹Holga is a cheap plastic camera which uses professional medium format film.

What about my own online beads store?

I decided to make 6x6 cm pages for my unofficial Bead Journal Project, and then join them into one 24x18 cm beadwork. I make them so tiny just because I don't have experience in bead embroidery, and I almost don't have time to bead. So, 6x6 cm is optimal size to me. Unfortunately, my digital camera is broken, so I can't post picture of my work in progress, and I can't scan it either - because it has dimensional grass area. I'll photograph it later.

I'd better post a page from my visual journal - I created it when I graduated this winter.



Don't you know I have a degree in economic risk analysis? :) I studied mathematical methods in economics for 5.5 years, and I'm so happy it's over! I have humanitarian mindset and it was very hard and uninteresting experience.
Now I've started to think how to connect my job with my passion - beads. I've come to idea of online bead store - we don't have enough of them here in Russia. As a matter of fact, there are only 3 bead stores in Moscow, 4 or 5 online stores with quite poor selection, and there are no bead stores in other regions at all. So we have here the same situation that was 15 or 20 years ago in USA: 3 bead stores, no beadwork communities, fery few books & magazines and growing interest to beads - a large business & creative field to explore.
I can't explain how enthusiastic I feel about making my own business! I'm so tired to work in big company - mostly because I can't see the results of my work. I make sales contracts of goods I've never seen, how stupid!

So, my own online bead store. I'm trying to find beads manufactures (mostly in Europe, esp. Czech Respublic, to minimize shipping costs). Do you have any experience in beads business, or maybe you do have friends who know advantages & disadvantages of running bead store?
I would be very grateful if you could give me some information about beads business & manufactures.

I'm 23 and I'm a blood donor

27^th of April was a very special day. I became a blood donor. I realized that I live in pasteboard world. It's not real, I can't feel it. I can't feel myself. I'm not sure I do the right things every day. People live on Earth not just for going to work to make money to buy things and then go home to rest because they're tired of making money. I realized that being helpful to other people, making good deeds is the key to happiness. I can't find the right words to explain my feelings when they took 450 ml of my blood. I wasn't scared at all, it wasn't painful. It took only 15 minutes and than I became the happiest girl in the world. Only 15 minutes and 450 ml of blood can save somebody's life. I felt like flying, I felt so alive! My doctor was more utilitarian and said my euphoria could be caused by anoxaemia :) Anoxaemia or whatever - but I liked this feeling a lot. I can help other people. My life is not senseless.

And one more thing I want to share - on May, 12^th I celebrated my 23^rd birthday. I'm a big girl now! And I'm frustrated I missed Robin's Beaded Journal project. I think I should organize my own Beaded Journal project, with only one participant. Myself :)

What do Logistics Sales Coordinators do in weekends

Here's my another 1,5-hour project. I don't remember when I did something "serious" for the last time - it seems like I always make rings, earrings, pins & sometimes bracelets. This is because I want to see the results of my work immediately, and because I always get bored doing the same thing for a long period.
I've been promoted 2 months ago, now I'm a Logistics Sales Coordinator, lol. It's very funny - I said I hate doing the same thing every day and at the same time I do the same things at work. You should really see me - I make sales contracts and when I have free time I browse collage & beadwork books at Amazon.com. I have an economics degree, but I dream about being a designer.
I've started to think about going to USA. First of all, I want to take a collage class, and a lampwork class. Second, I want to visit some concert.. Death Cab For Cutie, for example. I'm so so so in love with them and I'm not sure they're going to Russia ))
Life is so strange.
And I am so young ans stupid (:

Princess Ring

This is my second brick stitch experience.
I usually make such beadworks using 2 needles, but this time I had only one needle with me and Diane Fitzgerald's Beading With Brick Stitch book helped me to make the first row around the central blue bead. I realized that lack of supplies could be useful somehow. If I had 2 or more needles with me last weekend I wouldn't explore this new technique (=
I like the result.

A Farewell to Arms

This girl won Miss Unsorted title 2 months ago. Unsorted is the name of our local online forum, a place where young people living in my town share interests, blog and so on. I shared the second prize with a girl temporarily living in Tokyo, Japan. Miss Unsorted is very cute, you can see it in the picture above. They say that we both who shared the second prize are smart and have interesting blogs.

I don't know what happened next, but I suppose that someone has told this girl aka Miss Unsorted that I don't like her and think she's stupid and ugly, and that the first prize should be mine, and so on. As a matter of fact, I was happy with my second prize and I didn't even think about her. Anyway, a few days after that competition I received a lot of unpleasant words about me. In fact, there was a great scandal after that contest. I was very surprized and frustrated with that all.

Well, to make a long story short, I don't like her since that event. But I'm tired of this disintegrating feeling and I decided to make something that could help me to get over my dislike of her. So, this is how this piece was born. A Farewell to Arms is my try to forgive and forget. I'm going to present this collage to her. I don't want to meet her or talk to her, I think I'll just put it into her mailbox with a couple of words. But I'm not sure what I should say her in my letter. . I'm tired to hate you? How stupid. I really want to get rid of this feeling.

This is my last piece which was created in December. I think I have an artistic block (or I'm too tired to make something after a day spent in the office). Every day I apply gesso to another page in my sketchbook and I draw nothing, I just leave it blank. This will save my time in future (=

Well, I think this is my best work, lol))
My second photoshop collage is about my happiness.
About being together.

Well, I've finally received some books I ordered at amazon.com in November. Yesterday I was reading Collage Discovery Workshop by Claudine Hellmuth and I was so inspired that I created this self-portrait. I couldn't make paper collage because I don't have enough supplies, but I was sooo exited that I decided to make my collage in Adobe Photoshop. Voilà! Here's my very first creation. I'm going to buy paints next weekend and create something real.