? Hello! I’m Olga and this site grew from my love for stones. Here I share my collection, sell minerals and handmade jewelry, and write about geology in a way that’s easy and enjoyable to read.
I was born in Ulyanovsk — a city in Russia where Lenin was born, yes, the very one who led the Communist Revolution in 1917. Like all children in the USSR (that’s what Russia was called back then), I finished school and then graduated from university s a mathematics teacher.
In the early 2000s, I moved to Saint Petersburg, and in 2014 (after Russia’s first war with Ukraine), I relocated to Montenegro, where I still live today.
? In my life, I have three passions: pigeons, collecting stone spheres, and computer games.
We won’t talk about games here. As for pigeons — I’ll tell you about them later. I run a shelter for disabled pigeons, and there’s a lot to say about it. You’ll likely find more about them in my blog.
But the main reason for this website is stones — something that has had, and continues to have, a deep impact on my life.
About 15 years ago, at a fair in Saint Petersburg, I bought a stone sphere — a simple, inexpensive piece made of onyx. But I liked it so much that I often held it in my hands, rolled it, and admired it. Naturally, I rushed to the next fair and bought more spheres. Half a year later, it had grown into a serious passion. Today, my collection includes around 800 stone spheres, and I’m still adding to it.
? About 12 years ago, my husband and I opened our first online shop for stone spheres. It ran for several years, during which we got to know many geologists, and my understanding of geology grew significantly. I introduced many of my friends to the beauty of stones.
My husband even built a small machine to make stone spheres, and at one point, we traveled all the way to northern Russia to collect stones ourselves for my collection.
It was a lively and joyful time. The shop eventually closed when we moved to Montenegro.
? In Montenegro, we planned to open a Stone Museum in Kotor — a famous Adriatic tourist town. Cruise ships dock there, and we were confident it would work. But life had other plans. Kotor is just a transit stop, and visitors don’t need much — maybe a coffee and a fridge magnet.
We lost our entire investment and were left in a foreign country with just €200 in our pockets. Unforgettable experience, to say the least… 🙂
? But it wasn’t the first time we had to start over.
My husband found work as a car mechanic (he’s an engineer by training), and also built a small DIY electroforming setup. I learned how to make copper jewelry using electroforming, and we launched a second online store on Etsy:
? Basia’s Charm
Things went well at first — we had good sales and great reviews (614 sales, 288 reviews, only two of them with a “4”, all others were “5”).
But (yes, another “but” in my life), a couple of years ago, sales dropped sharply. Etsy had changed its promotion policies. Though it claimed to support handmade sellers, it turned out they earned more by pushing mass-market goods from Aliexpress. Our unique pieces ended up on page 6 of search results — even when there was no real competition for our keywords.
And just a month ago, we got a letter from Etsy:
our shop would be shut down on August 5, 2025, because Etsy doesn’t want to deal with small countries like Montenegro. Just like that.
✨ And now — this website.
Here, I’ll once again be offering my stone spheres and mineral specimens.
Here, you’ll also be able to view my jewelry.
Here, I’ll do my best to publish interesting articles about geology — in simple language, for everyday readers.
Here, I hope to run my blog (if I find the time!).
Of course, I couldn’t do this without the help of Artificial Intelligence — especially for translating into English, since my English is still far from perfect.
So yes, I use AI to help write and translate texts.
But one thing I can assure you of — every photo on this website is real. These are not generated images. If you see a sphere — that sphere actually exists. And when you buy something from my shop, the item you see in the photos is exactly what you’ll receive.
I truly hope this website will be useful to you. Your feedback and comments are very important to me — feel free to write to me in any language.
And whether you choose to stay or just stop by briefly —
I wish you happiness and peace in your heart.
With warmth,
Olga aka Basia
P.S. This website is currently just a draft — it’s running in test mode, so please don’t judge it too harshly. But all the items are real.
You can buy them here (and get an unconditional 20% discount as a first-time buyer), or you can purchase them from my Etsy shop (the link is above).