Flowers.

    On this page you can see the most elegant of our works - flowers out of stones. The starting point for making such things were bouquets created in the workshops of the famous Russian jeweler Karl Faberge. Stonecutting master Victor Vasiliev first saw those bouquets in the beautifully illustrated book of Gez - fon - Gasburg named "Faberge". "Faberge's flowers belong to his most attractive and elegant creations, in which every possible register of surprising nature imitation was manifested", the author of the book wrote. After studying this book the stonecutter Vasiliev made up his mind to create his own bouquet. Not a copy, but that of his own.
    The first bouquet of the stonecutter was a floral composition with violets. "Violets": in a small vase out of agate - "perelivt" with the ground imitated by brown aventurine grows a small bush of violets out of charoite, with leaves of green nephrite. Three vases were made and tried for this composition, but only the fourth one matched it according to its colour and ornaments. On this object ways and means of cutting and polishing stone leaves and flowers were chosen. The fact is that even the smallest details of the object should be made with maximum of perfection.
    Then a sketch of another flower was prepared "Orchid - Falenopsis". An elegant shoot of an orchid is located in a vase of rocky crystal. The orchid's flowers are made out of the white cachalong. Cut circones sparkle in the center of each flower. Nephrite leaves of a tender green colour are finely curved. The most crafty detail about this work is the transparent vase rather than the flowers. From the first sight it looks to be half - filled with water. The vase is carved out of a separate piece of rocky crystal in the technique of "trompe l'oeil", which creates this effect. Karl Faberge often used this technical means in his works, due to which his bouquets looked alife and practically didn't differ from natural flowers.
    The third floral composition became the flower "Orchid - Paniofedilum". A large orange flower with corrugated petals is made out of bright red carnelian. In the central part of the flower there is a rosette formed by a few tiny cut circones. The flower is surrounded by five narrow leaves of bluish-green chrysoprase. The flower is placed in a glass of rocky crystal, made also in the technique of "trompe l'oeil". A copy of this flower was presented to the president of the Russian Federation during his visit to Nizny Tagil.
    The fourth floral composition - "Currant" - continue a series of bouquets in crystal vases. The leaves of the currant are made out of nephrite and the berries - out of honey-yellow carnelian. Spots of the muddy-brown colour on the green nephrite add to the natural look of the leaves.

    Apart from these compositions stand "Snowdrops". This work is made under strong influence of the Japanese art. On a thick cut plate of dark green nephrite there is "a heap of snow". It is carved out of icy quartz, which colour and luster look like real snow indeed. The central part of this "snowheap" has smelted down and a small forest hillock appeared, for the expression of which brown aventurine was untilized. As compared with the massive lower part the thin and tiny leaves out of greenish - blue chrysoprase and flowers of rocky crystal look especially tender and smart. The petals of the flowers are treated by means of "lusterless polishing", which gives them silk shine.