Hand embroidered accessories by Galaborn

I'm sure many of us own one or two hand embroidered pillows or wall decorations inherited from our grand mothers. Often times hand embroidery brings memories of the past and something old fashioned. However, nowadays hand embroidery got a new twist. A few very talented and creative artists made hand embroidery fashionable again. One of them is Gala of Galaborn who lives in São Paulo, Brazil.



Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

I'm originally from Russia. Some time ago I moved to Brazil with my husband and that changed my life completely. I feel like I belong to the whole world now and can pretty much live in any place. I started my on-line shop a few years ago. Having an on-line shop gives me a lot of flexibility. I can plan my own day and yet I'm able to do something I really love.



How did you start?

I started with making gifts for my friends and family. People I know really loved my items and started ordering not only small hand embroidered accessories but home decoration pieces as well. The word spread around and before I knew it I was hand embroidering items for my clients. The time has come to open my own shop. I believe that each piece should not only be beautiful but unique. It has to have its own character and style. I've graduated from an art and design school in Russia and my training helps me a lot.



What inspires you?

Folk ornaments and crafts inspire me a lot. Sometimes my friends come up with a new idea and share it with me. I very much love what I do and this positive attitude somehow makes me very creative and productive. I know that eventually every piece will find its owner and will be mailed to a place far away.



I really like to work with natural fabrics and yarns like cotton and linen. They are so great to work with. They basically radiate positive energy and are a real thing. Most of my embroidery is done on thick cotton by cotton threads. I try to use only natural and eco friendly supplies. My buttons are made of wood or coconut shell. They have unique designs and shapes as I pay a lot of attention to details. I very much believe in handmade and in every item being totally unique and special.

GIY Tutorial How to make felted bracelet with buttons

I still have some buttons left from my crocheting adventure. I don’t like nice items to rest idle on my working table in my studio so I came up with an idea of a felted bracelet with buttons.

To make the bracelet we will need undyed felting wool, buttons of different colors and sizes, bubble plastic wrap, a needle and a white thread.



I first started with felting a bracelet. If you don't feel like felting today you can always buy a prefelted wool in any of craft and supplies stores. If you decide to go with a prefelted piece just cut a rectangle shaped piece out of a prefelted wool. The measurements could be about 2 and ½ inch by 9 and ½ inch.



I prefer to felt a bracelet myself as, thus, I’m able to make it as soft and thin as I wish.

On a bubble wrap piece of paper I lay out pieces of wool to form a rectangle. The rectangle will later turn into the bracelet. Since the wool will shrink I make the rectangle about 30% bigger that the original size. I’ll go with about 3 and ½ inch by 12 inch shape this time.



Once the rectangle is formed I wet it with clear water and add soap. Liquid soap should be fine. Once the piece is all wet and soapy I cover it with the rest of bubble plastic paper and start the process of felting. I stroke and rub the plastic helping wool fibers to bind and felt. When the wool has felted I rinse my bracelet in clear water and let it dry completely.



On my bracelet I lay out buttons of different sizes and colors. I can color coordinate them and add some extra buttons here and there for the pattern to look the way I want it to be.

I sew on buttons one by one with a needle and white thread. It makes sense to sew largest buttons first. It will help you preserve the original pattern and distribute buttons evenly on the bracelet.



Once all the buttons are on the bracelet it’s time to make a snap. One of the buttons can easily be used as a snap. Just make a cut on the opposite side of the bracelet for the button to fit in.

The bracelet looks bright and unique! It can be a great gift for someone who loves buttons. One can always substitute simple buttons with vintage ones or use dyed wool instead of white one as a base.

Happy crafting!

DIY How to make city style felted bracelet

I have recently received beautiful wooden beads as a gift. They are of a cylinder shape and dark tan color. I don't have anything like that in my beads collection and I felt instantly inspired to create a summer themed piece of jewelry or a light and bright accessory using these beads.

The color combination of pure white and brown is my favorite. Accessories in white and dark chocolate look stylish and classy. They go well with business or casual outfits.

To create a bracelet we will need felting wool in white and brown and wooden beads. We will also need a piece of bubbled plastic wrap paper, soap and clear water.

I first start with felting a white bracelet. On a bubble wrap piece of paper I lay out pieces of wool to form a rectangle. The rectangle will later turn into the bracelet. Since the wool will shrink I make the rectangle about 30% bigger that the original size.

Once the rectangle is formed I wet it with clear water and add soap. Once the piece is all wet and soapy I cover it with the rest of bubble plastic paper and start the process of felting. I stroke and rub the plastic helping wool fibers to bind and felt.

When the wool has felted well I rinse my bracelet in clear water and let it dry completely. With a piece of brown wool I make a felted bead by rolling a wetted and soapy piece of brown wool between my palms.

Once my bracelet is ready I needle down brown wooden beads. The color of wooden beads matches the color of the brown felted bead nicely!

The bracelet turned out to be very soft, thin and light. It's made of all natural materials and is very pleasant to wear. The felting technique is very eco-friendly as to felt an item one just needs some water and a bit of soap. No chemicals are used in the process of felting. To wear the bracelet one simply has to fasten the brown button.

Ginkgo hand felted yellow leaf brooch

Ginkgo tree is an amazing plant. It is a true living fossil which means that its fossils date back 270 million years. The plant survived all major planet Earth's cataclysms and extinction events. At some point of its history Ginkgo trees were widespread all over our planet. In our times they have long been cultivated in Asia where its seeds are widely used in local cuisine.

Ginkgo leaves are of a very peculiar shape. They look like fans with veins pointing towards an edge of a leaf. During the summer leaves are of a regular green color but in the fall leaves turn canary yellow making Ginkgo trees excellent ornamental yard and street plants.

Ginkgo leaves have long been used in medicine. Some studies suggest that extracts of Ginkgo leaves improve blood flow and enhance memory. Seeds of Ginkgo trees are considered by some Asian nations to have aphrodisiac properties and are sometimes offered at special occasions such as Chinese New Year or weddings.

A unique shape and bright yellow color of Ginkgo leaves in the fall are very inspirational. I always wanted to create a brooch that would remind me of these canary yellow fans. There is something really ancient and pre-historic in the way these beautiful leaves look.

According to The Sibley Guide to Trees "four Ginkgo trees about a mile from the 1945 atomic blast at Hiroshima, Japan, were among the very few living things that survived, and soon regained their full health".

Summer Wedding Essentials contest results

Russian Artists team on Etsy just had its Summer Wedding Essentials contest. Fifty six team shops took part in the contest submitting their hand made wedding-themed items. All of the entries were fantastic! They can be checked out at Russian Artists Facebook Page.

Although all of the items submitted were amazingly beautiful, creative and unique, I picked up a few of my personal favorites. All of the wonderful items presented will make any wedding an unforgettable experience!

1. Dog Crochet Wedding Floral Collar by mailo


2. Event Decor for the Wine Glass by MamaTita


3. Tea Set, Original decorative painting by Yury Tarler


4. White earrings with pearls by HoneyCase2

Tutorial How to make hand crocheted necklace with buttons

I've recently came across a large bag of multicolored buttons in a crafts store and just could not stop myself from buying one. The buttons are of different sizes, shapes and hues of blue and green. They are great for a hand crocheted summer necklace.
To make a necklace we will need a mercerized cotton thread, a toggle clasp, a crochet hook and about 30 buttons of different sizes and colors. To make crocheting simple and to safe us some time we will start with beading all out buttons on a thread first. Once all our buttons are ganging there nicely we can start crocheting.

I'll crochet a simple foundation chain adding buttons with 1 or 1 and 1/2 inch. intervals. In case you would like to make your necklace longer you can add some more buttons or make a space between them larger. I like to mix and match hues of green and blue so that the necklace looks unique and stylish.

I plan on crocheting 34 inch. necklace so that I could wear it either on my neck or my arm. Some people wear crocheted necklaces on their waist instead of a belt or on their ancle.
The necklace crocheting shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. When the thread is ready we will attach toggle clasp to it and our summer bright necklace is ready to wear. It's a perfect summer accessory and will make you look beautiful and special!

Water lily felted flower brooch in purple violet

Flowers come in different shapes and colors. The diversity of nature always inspires me. This time I've decided to make a felted flower brooch that will look like a water lily.

First of all I hand felted a large number of purple colored wool pieces in shapes of flower petals. I tried to make my petals long and somewhat narrow. At first I planned on making two-colored flower brooch and hand felted pieces of white wool as well. Later I changed my mind and created a purple colored brooch adding a few white shiny beads instead.

After my wool petals dried up I started arranging them into different patterns to find the one I liked the most. It's easy to do it while they are not yet attached and turned into an actual brooch. It's always fun to lay out different designs with different pieces of felted wool.

After a while I figured out what exactly I wanted to do with my wool. I attached all my numerous purple colored felted wool pieces to a hand crocheted base. To accent the color I added tiny white beads that look like small flower stamen.
The brooch is ready to wear now!

Summer wedding decorations white acorn wind chime

This year summer is all about weddings! It's not only about Mr. and Mrs. Wales' one but about all those wonderful couples that are having a moment of their life this summer. Interestingly the color scheme is not always white. This summer purple, lilac, green, pink, turquoise and aqua colors are en vogue. Even yellow and orange somehow fit into the perfect wedding color palette.

The selection of decoration ideas and wedding gifts offered by numerous on-line shops is outstanding. I thought I would share with you one decoration idea that came to my mind and that I created using felted acorns, wire and cotton thread.

Wind charms and mobiles look great as garden decoration. Why not to use them as a wedding ornament? White acorns with real acorn tops are attached to a round base. They quietly swing and wave in the wind adding style and elegance to wedding arrangements.

The acorns could be of any color. Bright blue acorns would accent white of the bride's dress. Lemon yellows would play well with bright green of the surrounding landscape. Not too overriding acorn wind chimes will add flair to any summer wedding.

Blue and chocolate felted flower brooch

I continue experimenting with hand dyeing. It's such a fun process and I just love the colors that turn out at the end. To create my chocolate blue flower felted brooch I first hand felted flower petals in white and dark brown. I had all three types of wool available at home.

To add color to my brooch I hand dyed each felted petal with blue drink mix which contains food coloring. As the result my petals have spots of bright blue to contrast their dark brown color and they smell like raspberry. My pieces of hand felted wool look so different now. Bright blue color makes them vivid and summer-like.

After assembling all my hand dyed pieces into a flower and attaching petals to a hand crocheted jute base I've got an exotic flower brooch in blue, dark brown and white. It will go well with any neutral or white outfit and will add color to a business casual dress.

Flower brooch hand dyed in burgundy

I keep experimenting with hand dyeing. It's such a rewarding and inspiring process. So many new ideas come to life when one starts mixing colors. The end result is always a surprise and the whole process is much fun!

I hand felted many many wool petals for my flower brooches and dyed them in my freshest color mix. The final dye color is more like a burgundy with hints of red and even yellow. It's such an interesting color that is not eye popping bright but rather stylish and elegant.

I've assembled my petals into a flower brooch with a hand crocheted jute base that I had made earlier. The brooch looks like a flower and will no doubt decorate any outfit. It will go well with any office neutral colors especially the ones with hues of light green, dusty pink and pale blue.

My Red Rose brooch featured on Etsy Front Page

It's so cool that my Red Rose brooch was featured on Etsy Front Page today in a beautiful red and white treasury curated by Baronyka. Thank you so much for creating such an amazing collection and featuring me in it!

How to dye in green with blue and yellow drink mixes

Since I bought Kool Aid brink mix in blue raspberry I now have all prime colors I need for dyeing. I am eager to start experimenting with mixing different colors and creating new ones. My first experiment will be in mixing a bright green color. We will need one pack of yellow drink mix. For that we can use lemon Kool Aid. In addition we will need a blue drink mix and blue raspberry Kool Aid works just fine.

I mix both drinks in a plastic container. It makes sense to first make a yellow mix and start slowly adding blue drink mix into the container with yellow water. Keep stirring for colors to mix well. I suggest you do it slowly so that you can control the hue of green and stop when you think the color of the mix is the one you are looking for. I've noticed that for a pack of yellow mix I used about 2/3 the blue one.

I dyed my hand felted white wool pieces in the mixture of two drinks and got brightly colored green stripes.
Now it's time to turn them into something nice and beautiful. I assembled white and green pieces of wool on a base that I hand crocheted from jute earlier. The green color turned out to be even better than I've expected. It's a true positive and happy green. The brooch is bright and vivid making it a great accessory.

How to color with green lime drink mix dye

I've been looking for a green drink mix for a long time and finally found it! Unfortunately Kool Aid doesn't come in green. If it did it would make out life so much easier!!! I came across this lime green drink mix in our local super market and decided to try it out. It worked out pretty well!

To dye wool with the green drink mix I took two cups of the mix and mixed it with half a glass of water. The water turned the color of the bottle label. That was exactly the color I was searching for a long time. It's the color of lime, lettuce and fresh spring greens.

I hand felted a piece of white wool using soap and hot water. To learn about hand felting techniques please refer to my earlier post about hand felting. While still wet I placed my felted piece into a plastic container with the green drink mix and heated it in a microwave. Be careful not to overheat the wool as it can get burned. Normally I'll just wait for the whole thing to start boiling and take it out of the microwave. Then I let the piece dry somewhere.

When all my pieces of wool are dry it's time to turn them into something wearable. To create my brooch I first hand felted white wool, dark green wool and wine colored bead. Then I hand crocheted the base and colored white wool with the lime green drink mix. When all the pieces were dry and ready to use I assembled the brooch and attached a pin at the back. The lime colored wool looks beautiful and bright. I'm now anxious to hand felt a scarf and color it green!

Red Berry summer bracelet

I love bright colors of the summer: red as a berry, blue as the sky or the ocean, yellow as a sunflower. They bring so much positive energy and create a happy attitude. Besides we usually wear bright and airy dresses in the summer and it's always nice to complement them with equally vivid accessories. Bracelets are wonderful additions to any outfit as they are non-distractive and easy to wear. One can put a few of them to experiment and mix of colors.

I usually make my bracelets of wire and Czech glass beads. I should admit the Czech beads are the best as they are of very good quality and come in huge selection of shapes and colors. This time I created bright red berry bracelet that looks fantastic on one's hand. It's not flashy but stylish, elegant and fits one's hand just perfectly. It could be a great wedding accessory or something a woman or a girl could wear every day.