This is a Japanese folk pastime for the handy, called Kumiko. A couple of years ago, I wrote about a fellow St. Petersburg resident who was inspired by this craft and succeeded. Renat Kamalov recently visited me at the @Bauvogel Painting Center with a gift. Here I am, collecting.
If you're interested, visit Rinat's VK page
https://vk.com/kamalov.rinat