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Amber and felt

Amber
I have neglected my blog a little bit but there is a very good reason for that -- we have started a new business -- me and my husband have helped one of our friends with her felting shop for a while and now it is fully ours! Some of the beautiful things that you can find in it, also very much related...

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Traditions of amber

Amber
I have mentioned previously in my blog, that my grandfather was a national artist working with Baltic amber. I used to spend long evenings inhaling the smell of amber dust and watch him work on amazing pieces of jewelry or home decor. Some of those pieces I managed to save from being sold or handed away and can share with you here. Unfortunately...

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Summer blues and greens :)

Drop of Amber
Summer is reflecting on my posting frequency to my blog -- so much sun and lovely things outside it is hard to stay in and sit by the computer. I do however  work on new things from time to time, when I have a free minute in the evening from cat grooming, making and packaging orders (yay! :) ) and eating delicious fresh...

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Amber teething necklace review

Amber
This week has been a bit of a run :) but as I have settled down for the weekend I received great news -- one of my Baltic amber teething necklaces has received a review! Thank you Monica! http://www.mommyandlove.com/product-review-drop-of-amber-teething-necklace/ DropOfAmber Baltic amber teething necklace All the pictures are taken by me unless mentioned otherwise. If you fancy a piece of jewellery -- leave...

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A short vacation in Rome

Borghia
Everyone needs time off. I'm no exception, and this short vacation was amazing -- decided to go on Saturday and was on the plane Sunday evening -- three days packed with wonderful food and sights! Great photos courtesy of Simona. Narrow streets and cozy courtyards with ancient churches in them. ...

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Lithuanian Post strike two!

Lietuvos Paštas
Woohoo! It seems we did it again. RRT (the government agency that supervises LitPost) has just published and official reply to their policy/price change request and it's NEGATIVE! They say, that LTPost's request at the moment does not have sufficient merit and will not be upheld. Way to go! The official text can be found here (in Lithuanian) http://www.rrt.lt/lt/pranesimai-spaudai/rrt-teikia-nuomone-hc2y.html All the pictures are...

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Lithuanian Post Saga continues

Lietuvos Paštas
Those, that have followed this blog remember, that we had a fight with Lithuanian Post office last year over some legal questions over pricing last year. This year the Post office strikes again. It seems that they have learned at least somewhat from their mistakes, as now they are trying to get the new prices and sorting rules approved by RRT (Regulatory authority...

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Natural amber doppelgangers

Amber
So by now we know what amber is, how to recognize it, what kind of amber modification exist etc. Let's see what else is there of natural origin that quite often "pretends" to be amber. I will talk about two things today -- Copal and Kauri gum. They are both tree resins, that have solidified or partly solidified with age. The term copal...

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Silver cat pendant

Amber
I missed to post last week -- was preparing for Easter and visiting my brother in Greece. Also, I was finishing this beauty: Sterling silver cat pendant ...

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Amber teething necklaces

Amber
Amber teething necklaces by Drop of Amber Moms and babies love amber teething necklaces. However there is a lot of questions about the healing properties of amber. Which amber has the most healing power, whether that depends on the colour and so on. Let me clear some of that up for you. 1st statement: Any amber works the same. FALSE The main reason...

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White Baltic amber

Amber
White amber Picture taken from http://www.ambergallery.lt White amber is quite rare it accounts for about one to two percent of all baltic amber that is acquired in various ways. It has a rich variety of textures and markings in it. It is also called royaland bone amber and sometimes mixed up with ivory. It can have inclusions of other colours of amber --...

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Silver Amethyst in tracery

amethyst
I like to learn and advance my skills. For about a month I have been learning metal crafting and namely how to make more advanced jewelry using fire and tools like silversmiths hammer, metal saw and lots of others. First thing I made was a textured silver ring, but that went back into scrap silver pile -- wanted to try out different textures...

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Etsy European Team Captains' Summit

Amber
Last weekend I had a great opportunity to visit European team captains' summit. ...

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How amber is "made"

Amber

My new logo!

Amber
Ok, I'm cheating a bit :) it was new 2 months ago. A great designer Lisssa has been super fast and made me anew logo in a week! And not just any week -- Christmas and New Year week. She is brilliant! I have seen a new logo on my friends shop and asked her for some pointers. She gave me Lisssa's contact...

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Easter home decor -- egg ornaments

Easter decoration
I love kimekomi technique -- it is so versatile and fun to work with. I played with Christmas decorations in December and gave a lot of great gifts -- my family and friends loved them! Three of them are now in Canada and making their owner happy. At the moment I am playing with Easter decorations -- decorating Easter eggs. I have made...

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Blue amber

Amber
For a long long time the only kind of fossilized resin that was allowed to be called amber was Baltic amber. Then along came the second world war and Germans lost their access to the Baltic amber mines. Enterprising companies started looking for amber elswhere and found it, lots of it in fact in Dominican Republic. The original company became so successful that...

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Types of Baltic Amber

Amber
Amber is a naturally occurring fossilization of Pinus succinifera resin. The age of Baltic amber is estimated at 40-60 millions years. It is used for jewelry and medical/beauty purposes. The majority of the world's amber is found in the Baltic Sea region (hence the Inclusion in Baltic Amber (picture from Wikimedia) name -- Baltic amber). Other kinds of amber, added to the classification...

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How to tell if your amber is really amber

Amber
As most people know, amber is a fossilized resin from coniferous trees. It has many amazing magical and healing properties. Copal is "immature" amber. It's softer and easier to damage, but has most of the same qualities as amber, just to a lesser degree.   How to test your jewelry to see whether it is really made of amber: Light test True Amber...

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Lithuanian legend about Amber

Amber
Lithuania is an Amber country, we call amber Lithuanian gold, wear it on all occasions, consider it our national stone. There are historical facts about Amber trade road starting in this region. So I wanted to start from the very beginning -- the legends, folklore. The most known one is a legend about Jūratė and Kastytis: A sculpture of Jūratė and Kastytis in...

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Etsy Christmas swap

Felt slippers
 Now this took me a while :) We had a Christmas swap in Lithuanian Etsy team and this is what I received:  I was sooo happy! Felted slippers are perfect for my constantly cold feet and even colder floors in my house in the winter. Thank you so much Egle!Check out her Etsy shop for more lovely felted slippers. ...

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Warsaw Cat show 2014.01.11-12

Cats
Last weekend I took my little girl Zerika Karmino Cat to Warsaw. We had great time there, made a lot of new friends and got some nice pictures taken. See for yourself: ...

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Air hardening clay

ceramics
I have been looking at air hardening ceramic clay for a while and thinking it would be nice to try it out -- it is so different to all the other things I already know, should be fun! But you know how these things go :) -- I never found time for it. Then during one of my visits my mother was showing...

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