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!

Crochet and plush toys by RomeoShop

I came across bright and cute toys by RomeoShop looking for a gift. They look very cheerful and radiate a lot of positive energy. That's exactly what we are look for in toys. We all want toys to be fun, to make our children happy. Helen who makes these amazing toys and is originally from Ukraine talked to me about her own childhood and the art of toy making.



Helen: I love toys! I don't remember if I ever played with toys but I remember very well as I actually made them with my own hands. My mom had a sewing machine that I mastered by 8. For inspiration I used patterns from a magazine Burda that was available in Ukraine back then. If for some reason I couldn't use my mom's sewing machine I would crochet my toys using a simple thread and a hook. My mom still owns a few of my first handmade toys.



At some point of my life I abandoned toy making and led a life of an ordinary person. I had my full time job and all the corresponding routines. But when I gave birth to my son Romeo something has changed. I'm making toys again and that's how it should be!



My main inspiration is my son Romeo. We explore outside world together looking at butterflies, chasing cats, reading beautifully illustrated books, watching cartoons. It all helps me to come up with new ideas. Inspired I draw a picture first and then transform my picture into a toy. If for some reason I cannot sew my toy I crochet it.

I've got a lot of plans for the future. I'm a realist and perfectly understand that probably not all of my ideas will turn into real toys. I sometimes regret that I don't make enough toys for boys. That's why I plan to make a set of bugs boys could play with. When we think about bugs we have a picture of something not very attractive. My goal is to make my bugs cute and funny. I plan on making a toy chain saw and a drill.



I love bright colors and simple forms. All my toys are funny, happy and cute. Children are exactly the same. That's why children really like my toys!

Art clock by Anna Gaponova

We all put a lot of effort into making our homes look beautiful and cozy. There are so many ways to add color and style to our living room or our kitchen. I’ve recently come across a very talented artists Anna Gaponova from ArtClock. Anna hand paints wall clock to create unique and special art objects.



Q: Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Anna and I live in Kharkiv, Ukraine. I’ve always been into drawing and painting. It all started as a hobby but later painting became my profession. My clocks are not just art objects. I paint on wooden plates and turn them into real clock that can serve both as a functional decoration and a piece of art.



Q: How have you come up with an idea of painting on clock?

I’ve painted my first clock two years ago. I had an old vinyl record at hand and decided to turn it into a wall clock. The process of painting and creating new clock-faces turned out to be so exciting that I’ve been making clocks ever since. Within time I substituted vinyl to wood and all my clocks have a wood base now. Since every painting is different and unique I hand cut all wood pieces myself. I don’t want to outsource anything and make sure every part of the clock is done the way it should be done.



Q: What inspires you?

I find my inspiration in folk, native ornaments and decorations of different peoples living all over the world. African, Mexican, Indian patterns and color combinations always serve as a huge source of inspiration for me. Everyday encounters can make me start thinking about a new image for my clocks be it a unique color combination or music accidentally overheard in a street.

My stylized drawings of elephants, turtles and fish serve as symbols of peace, love and happiness. I very much hope these images truly bring positive energy and luck to homes they settle in.

Thank you, Anna!