How it started

Fair warning: if you do not want to get addicted like me maybe you should not read this...

Amber is addictive, I compare the love for amber with acquiring a taste for something, once you have it you will truly love it. A bit like Jazz, Single Malt whiskey, olives.

When I first got in contact with amber it was through Jagna, who really loves it. And I was like, huh?'
What's so special, to me it was like coloured plastic or something. So I put up with her getting some chunks which were, to me, horribly expensive. Actually she got very good deals :-)

And then we got the chunks. And I had a magnifier. And touched the damn things, and really looked at them. And was lost. Forever cursed with the amber addiction. The stones below are all ours, and not for sale. No way I'm going to part with these.

Now here's the second warning, do not open the photo's to look at the big version.

Amber is really, really nice to touch, the stones are slightly warm always, quite light, and anti electrostatic. In Greece they call Amber Elektron because of this. Each stone is unique and hold a private garden inside. Complete with leaves, animals, moss, air. Each garden is 40 million years old. Each preserved leaf and bug is also 40 million years old. Each stone has a different colour, different texture. And every single one of them is beautiful. There is large variety in colour, transparency, hue, hardness, and of course in what is inside. I love the irregularities, small cracks, bubbles and inclusions, and taking a magnifier can stare at a stone for a long time. There's whole solar systems inside!

And then there are the poor bugs, caught in the sticky raisin 40 million years ago, trapped forever, but beautifully preserved. Tiny beasts. Discovering one of these is an additional bonus. We get many of our stones raw and crusted, finding out what is underneath by carefully sanding and polishing is half the fun of the addiction. Also they will not be so damn expensive, I am selling amber for the main purpose of being able to afford to buy more. Getting the hue and structure slowly visible is the coolest, finding spiders and bugs is a wonderful surprise, a bit like winning the lottery. It's the same feeling as getting a surprise egg when you are 6 years old, and finally finding that really cool little plastic toy you wanted for months already. Boys & toys, this never changes, only the toys get more expensive.

So, this is how things started years and years ago...forever addicted now...
Do you want to support my addiction, or are you looking for your score? I have some goodies for sale on Etsy...Visit my shop here..

Monday morning mood board

Well, it finally started to freeze in Belgium.
Not good, as our little crocussus and other spring flowers in the garden decided to come and take a peek.
I should be making a black board, but have decided I need some colour input instead, and a warm colour for that.
What better as the colour of the year, which I love anyway: orange.

Hope you get some wamth & positive vibes from this..

1. Vaisto
2. Azulado
3. JagnaB
4.ShebboDesign

More moodboards of the Europeanstreetteam are HERE >>>

Sneak preview for the pop-up shop

Finally the opening of the pop-up shop is near, Jagna & me have been working very hard over the last weekend to get everything finished and ready.
Since I did not want to empty my Etsy shop I have made another line of amber jewelry to sell exclusively in the Pop-Up shop, did end up with putting some of the shop items in there, like my big raw Baltic bracelet which is just too unique to remake..
And here is a sneak preview of some of my new creations you can expect:

It also shows some of the diversity of Amber. Most people still associate amber with the clear honey/cognac colored plastic looking stuff. Which is beautiful and warm, agreed, but personally I go for the raw or yellow.
Also the very dark is stunning, and I find a bit harder to find than the honey/cognac.
Anyway, in the end I love it all, to touch, feel & play around with.

Come and see for yourself: from January 21 till february 25, tuesday till saturday form 11-18h (tue and thursday till 17) at the Lolly Pop-Up shop in the  Aalmoezeniersstraat 22, Antwerp.
Many other Belgian-based Artisans are present, really worth a visit:

Monday morning mood

On Etsy there is a great community of people, and I am proud member of the Europeanstreetteam.
To promote these, and at the same time show my monday-mood I made a little mosaic, as some others do too.

What better topic than coffee on a freezing monday morning?

Featured:
Vintage Peugeot coffee mill, French country decor - Lapomme
20 Vintage Coffee Bean Wine Colored Buttons - Ruth Crean
Coffee mug handpainted ceramic Cappuccino Cream Coffee Swirls - Brown, white, cream coffe mug - Sanja
Finished Cross stitch Woman with Cup of Coffee - Natalka

More Moodboards on the EU team see http://star-of-the-east.blogspot.com/

About Amber

I love Amber. Baltic Amber. There's Amber in the Dominican Republic as well, I even have some pieces, but these will not do. It has to be Baltic Amber.
And how does it work? If you love something the whole world should know!

I made a site about it: http://www.heyme.nl/amber/
I have a shop where I sell some, so I can afford to buy more: http://www.heyme.nl/amber/shop/index.php
And opened an Etsy shop, as my own shop hardly gets any visitors: http://www.etsy.com/shop/HeymesBalticAmber

And now I started to blog about it.
Amber is just beautiful. It feels nice, always warm & light. And if you work with it, sand, polish & drill, it gets even warmer, and gives off this great resinous smell, like you are walking in a pine forest on a sunny day.

Then there is the colors. It's like a warm fire is living inside of the amber pieces.
Not 2 pieces are the same. It's amazing. And every piece burns different :-)
And if you take a real good look and have a magnifier you find some surprises.
I can watch for hours anyway, but in the piece above it's pretty obvious what is the eye-catcher here.

And imagine how difficult it is to hold this little magnifier and the camera and get this photo out :-)
You must love something terribly to go through the effort of getting this picture.
This is what this blog is about. The love of Amber, and what I do for it..