Saraswati.Bookmark in 24 Karat Gold-Plating

Bookmark Luxe by Anand Prakash. “Luxe” is a limited edition of chic and trendy range of stationery, invitations, gift bags, journals, recipe books, gift boxes, letter writing sets, scrapbooks, photoalbums, telephone diaries and business cards.  Each piece is handcrafted from recycled brass metal and is avant garde in its look and feel.  All items can be customized as per your specifications.
 https://www.facebook.com/anandprakash.page


Saraswati  is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts, wisdom and learning.She is a part of the trinity of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. All the three forms help the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to create, maintain and regenerate-recycle the Universe respectively.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a goddess is in Rigveda. She has remained significant as a goddess from the Vedic period through modern times of Hindu traditions. Some Hindus celebrate the festival of Vasant Panchami (the fifth day of spring) in her honour,and mark the day by helping young children learn how to write alphabets on that day.The Goddess is also revered by believers of the Jain religion of west and central India, as well as some Buddhist sects.
Saraswati who is revered as a goddess of knowledge, music and arts is also found outside Nepal and India, such as in Japan, Vietnam, Bali (Indonesia) and Myanmar. More...

 Many thanks to my friend Aurelija :)

Paris

Many thanks to my friend Marina :)

Golden feather

Golden feather is a symbol of honor and respect .

Many thanks to my friend Marina :)

Dubai

Dubai  is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is one of the seven emirates that make up the country. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the country's legislature. The city of Dubai is located on the emirate's northern coastline and heads up the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Dubai is to host World Expo 2020.

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai

Many thanks to my friend Lina ;)

Pallet for color

Many thanks to my friend Egle :)

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia and once known as the Khmer Empire, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Its total landmass is 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. With a population of over 15 million, Cambodia is the 70th most populous country in the world. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, practiced by approximately 95 percent of the population. The country's minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams, and 30 hill tribes.The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, the political, economic, and cultural center of Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving non-royal leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years. More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia

Thanks,Jurate ;)

Metal black feather classical bookmarks from China.

Feather stands for hope balance and good luck :)

Thank you very much, Ilona :)

Cat

Dragon - the symbol of Wales

The bookmark from Abergavenny.


Abergavenny (Welsh: Y Fenni), meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles (24 km) west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles (10 km) from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches. The town contains the remains of a medieval stone castle built soon after the Norman conquest of Wales.
Abergavenny is promoted as the "Gateway to Wales". Situated at the confluence of a tributary stream, the Gavenny, and the River Usk, it is almost surrounded by two mountains – the Blorenge (559 m) and the Sugar Loaf (596 m) – and five hills: Ysgyryd Fawr (The Skirrid), Ysgyryd Fach (Skirrid Fach), Deri, Rholben and Mynydd Llanwenarth, known locally as "Llanwenarth Breast". It provides access to the nearby Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons National Park. The Offa's Dyke Path is close by and the Marches Way, the Beacons Way and Usk Valley Walk all pass through the town. More history...

The Welsh Dragon – appears on the national flag of Wales. The flag is also called Y Ddraig Goch. The oldest recorded use of the dragon to symbolise Wales is in the Historia Brittonum, written around AD 829, but it is popularly supposed to have been the battle standard of King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders. Its association with these leaders along with other evidence from archaeology, literature, and documentary history lead many to suppose that it evolved from an earlier Romano-British national symbol.During the reigns of the Tudor monarchs, the red dragon was used as a supporter in the English Crown's coat of arms (one of two supporters, along with the traditional English lion).The red dragon is often seen as symbolising all things Welsh, and is used by many public and private institutions. More...

Thank you very much, Jurate :)

Dear my Blog friends, a warm, bright, cozy and a healthy New Years. Let Gods mercy fill your heart and home in eternal happiness.

Lizard

Kokopelli

Kokopelli is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player (often with feathers or antenna-like protrusions on his head), who has been venerated by some Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. Like most fertility deities, Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture. He is also a trickster god and represents the spirit of music. More...

Thank you very much, my bookish friend Jurate :)

Alhambra - Generalife

The Alhambra the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra, is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was originally constructed as a fortress in 889 and later converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada.
The Alhambra's Islamic palaces were built for the last Muslim emirs in Spain and its court of the Nasrid dynasty. After the Reconquista by the Reyes Católicos ("Catholic Monarchs") in 1492, some portions were used by Christian rulers. The Palace of Charles V, built by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527, was inserted in the Alhambra within the Nasrid fortifications. After being allowed to fall into disrepair for centuries, the Alhambra was rediscovered in the 19th century by European scholars and travelers, with restorations commencing. It is now one of Spain's major tourist attractions, exhibiting the country's most significant and well known Arab-Islamic architecture, together with 16th-century and later Christian building and garden interventions. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the inspiration for many songs and stories. More...

The Palacio de Generalife  was the summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid Emirs (Kings) of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, now beside the city of Granada in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. More...

 A wonderful place ♥ I will definitely be back there again :)

Flamenco- Mosaic Ole Espana

Flamenco  is a genre of Spanish music, song, and dance from Andalusia, in southern Spain, that includes cante (singing), toque (guitar playing), baile (dance) and palmas (handclaps). First mentioned in literature in 1774, the genre grew out of Andalusian and Romani music and dance styles. Flamenco is often associated with the Romani people of Spain (Gitanos) and a number of famous flamenco artists are of this ethnicity.
In recent years flamenco has become popular all over the world and is taught in many countries: in Japan there are more academies than there are in Spain. On November 16, 2010 UNESCO declared flamenco one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. ^More...

^{This beautiful bookmark I brought back from my holiday in Andalusia :)  ♥}

Photos from my own archive:

 

Murano glass masters - Art of Venice

 

History of Murano Glass

Since ancient times man has paid an almost mystic- attention to glass, attributing something magical and supernatural to this transparent material. Magicians of legend could predict the future by gazing into a crystal sphere, chemists and alchemists studied prisms in search of a stone which would turn metal into gold, magic that was born in flames and like that fire that gave life to the popular belief of the Phoenix, the mythological bird with the golden plumes, glass is synonymous with beauty. Still today, for the visitors who come to Murano, the same scenes which inspired writers and legend are represented. In fact the furnace structures have remained unaltered over time and new technology is seen only in small details. All this is because of the attachment the master glass-blowers have towards tradition. Like a clock, they seem to have stopped time in the more than one thousand years of history of glass-blowing in Venice. The glass masters "battono" (beat, i.e. use) the same glass-blowers pipes and the same instruments which were knowingly forged in the machine shops which were built up over the island which, together with other small activities, has made Murano one of the centers of Venetian commerce. The origins of the art of glass blowing in Venice go back to before the first millennium. This is confirmed by a document written by a Benedict monk, Domenico called "Fiolario", who manufactured phials for use in the home. There is no certainty as to the shape of this phial since not one, neither whole nor in pieces, survived to the present day. We can only hypothesize as to the aspect of the phial from some iconographic documents. The technique used to make the phial was that of blowing into glass using those instruments that the late Roman glass blowing activities had passed down through the ages. It is presumed that later the technique was refined in Venice more than any where else in Europe because of the trading contacts that the Venetians had with the Orient and above all with countries that already had an ancient tradition in glass blowing such as the Fenici, the Syrians and the Egyptians. Such traditions, renewed in the celebrated furnaces of Islam, were an occasion to reconstruct both Western and Oriental knowledge and techniques there by giving the Venetian production a particularness that made their glass so important throughout the world over the course of centuries. Today Venetian glass production is at it's pinnacle, and is world renowned for it's quality and form.

 Venecijos meistrų - Murano stiklo dirbiniai

 Šio nepaprastai gražaus stiklo gamybos technologija buvo šimtmečius slepiama venecijiečių. Amatininkai Murano stiklo karoliukus pradėjo gaminti ketindami imituoti brangakmenius, tačiau rezultatas buvo toks unikalus ir tuo pačiu taip skyrėsi nuo imituojamų brangakmenių, kad laikui bėgant išsivystė į atskirą meno šaką.
Kiekvienas Murano stiklo karoliukas yra individualiai gaminamas rankomis, todėl jei pirktume daugiau vienodų to paties gamintojo karoliukų, jie nebus identiški - turės nedidelių spalvos, formos ar dydžio skirtumų. Kad šie nuostabaus grožio karoliukai būtų dar elegantiškesni, amatininkai įlieja sidabro, platinos ar 24 karatų aukso folijos. Šia folija užkloja iš stiklo padarytą pagrindą ir užlieja skaidriu arba spalvotu stiklo sluoksniu. Kai kuriems dirbiniams yra sukuriamas matinis efektas, kuris juos daro dar įdomesnius ir paslaptingesnius.
Nors pavadinimas yra kilęs iš Murano salos, ilgainiui šis garsus stiklas tapo visos Venecijos įvaizdžiu. Venecijoje stiklo liejimas menamas nuo seno, tačiau pasaulyje pagarsėjo tik tryliktame amžiuje. 1291 metais visos gamyklos buvo perkeltos į Murano salą Venecijos lagūnoje, esančioje už 16km nuo miesto centro.Egzistuoja keletas teorijų dėl šio persikėlimo. Dažniausiai sakoma, kad taip buvo norima apsaugoti Veneciją nuo gaisrų, kuriuos neretai sukeldavo stiklo liejimo krosnys, kita vertus, kai kurie istorikai tiki, kad perkeldama gamyklas į atokią Murano salą, vyriausybė stengėsi išlaikyti paslaptyje stiklo gamybos technologijas.
Daugybė Europos stiklo gamintojų bandė kopijuoti venecijiečių naudojamus metodus, medžiagas bei dekoracijas, tačiau tai buvo itin sudėtinga - sindikatas ne tik draudė išduoti taip saugomas paslaptis, bet ir stengėsi užkirsti kelią savo darbininkams už šios stiklo karalystės sienų. Deja,
vienas garsiausių to meto amatininkų Antonio Neri 1612 metais išleido knygą "Stiklo menas", kurioje atskleidė visas Murano stiklo gamybos technologijas.Po šios knygos išleidimo, daugelis šalių išvystė individualų būdą kaip pasigaminti šio nuostabaus stiklo patiems. Tačiau nedaugelis sugebėjo atkartoti tikrąjį Murano stiklą, kurio didžiausia vertė yra ta, kad susilietęs su oda įgauna gilią spalvą ir ryškią šviesą. Pasaulyje venecijiečių amatininkams yra vis dar pavydima šios detalės, kurios paslaptis nebuvo atskleista iki šiol.
http://www.farwater.eu/murano-stiklas.htm

Thank you very much,my friend Lina :)

London's best loved sights

This bookmark features fun interpretations of some of London's best loved sights: a guardsman soldier,  a black taxi and of course a London bus.

Thank you very much, my bookish friend Zita ;)

Nestling

Bookmark from the flea market in Lithuania.