Hand embroidered jewelry by Skrynka

Many countries have deeply routed traditions of folk music, art and dance. It's amazing to look into how people used to live centuries ago and how they tried to make their lives bright and beautiful by decorating their homes with traditional ornaments. I find Eastern European folk art quite unique and inspiring. I've recently come across a fantastic artist Natalka of Skrynka who creates distinctive and beautiful hand embroidered and cross stitched jewelry and home decor pieces.



Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Natalka. I live in Ukraine. I've been sewing, knitting and hand making items since I was a child. However, embroidery is my main passion. I may occasionally fall in love with a different technique or fiber but I always come back to my main obsession which is embroidery and cross stitching.

I'm a mom of a 2 years old and try to share time between my family and my business of making folk inspired jewelry. I dream about developing my business into something feasible one day. I would love to travel, see the world together with my family or even move to a place next to the sea. It's all in the plans for now. I hope one day I'll be able to combine my dreams and aspirations with my business and family life.



How did you start?

I started embroidering and cross stitching when I was a small child. I used to embroider large images but my true passion was always unique Ukrainian folk ornaments and patterns. I dreamed about combining folk embroidery with contemporary art and craft.
Soon after I had my son I decided it's time to turn my hobby into a business. I started making cross stitched jewelry and home decor items. Most importantly people like what I create. It's such a great pleasure to make items that actually inspire other people and make them happy.



What are your main sources of inspiration?

My main source of inspiration is traditional Ukrainian ornaments and patterns. I collect pictures of old traditional folk dresses such as blouses, skirts, festive towels, etc. I often visit our local museum of ornamental and folk art. I also collect books about old and traditional home decorations, designs and Ukrainian medieval clothes.

Each region has its own distinctive patterns and colors. I've noticed that nations living on different continents sometimes have somewhat similar ornaments and patterns. I keep finding similarities between Ukrainian folk embroidery and embroidery of native Americans and Mexicans.



What fibers do you work with?

I mostly work with natural and eco friendly fibers. I prefer to work with linen fabrics, wool felt and rarely with eco-friendly manufactured felt. To create my jewelry pieces I use lead-free and nickel-free jewelry making supplies. I take it seriously and have an equipment set up at home to check levels of different metals in my supplies. It's always better to double-check suppliers and make sure items I use for jewelry making are lead and nickel free. I myself have very sensitive ears and, thus, always use only non-sensitizing ear hooks for my earrings.



Our planet is suffering from over development and over use. I believe that we should all be concerned about the future of our planet. Even small improvements we could do to make our life more eco-friendly will benefit our planet and us as a result. I strongly believe that by buying hand made items people not only get high quality and unique things made with love but help individual artists and their families to keep their creative process alife. It makes a big difference for everyone!