Archaic and Exotic

Enjoy a visit to Amore Valkyrie http://www.etsy.com/shop/amorevalkyrie where you will find fine precious jewelry with an old world aesthetic.

About Amore Valkyrie:

Amore Valkyrie jewelry strives to hint at the archaic and exotic - while being refined enough to wear every day. Pieces are intriguingly unusual, excitingly strange. There is mystery in an eye-catching piece that whispers of the old world.

About me:
For me, Amore Valkyrie is 1) an expression of ideas continuously coming, and 2) a replacement for things I've always been looking for.

As for the first thing - I dabble in art things, but haven’t committed until now - little bit of design school, fashion, creative writing, and so on. I feel art is a search - for me, it is an endless attempt to express an aesthetic idea I can't put my finger on. Thus, Amore Valkyrie is a tiny expression of artistic ideas I've always contemplated.

As for the second - for a while, I was a freelance blogger for a few fashion blogs. I wrote admiringly of the brave new endeavors of designers and drowned my laptop with pictures of designs I thought provoking and inspiring. Fashion encourages you to shop and browse ravenously, but yet I never found exactly what I wanted. Therefore, Amore Valkyrie is a growing collection of items I've always wanted, but never found.

I'm most inspired by what is ancient - really, really ancient. Still, something most important to me is letting my pieces hint at the old, while still being wearable and down to earth – therefore, I use only durable, high quality materials like precious stones, fine chain, sterling silver and gold. It would be a big dream come true for me to see others wearing Amore Valkyrie pieces day to day. Etsy Studios - thank you so much for featuring me and many other start up Etsy-ers! I am so hugely grateful to Etsy for being not only a service, but also a community that encourages me to let Amore Valkyrie keep growing.

At the moment, my workspace is a dining table and everything fits in a big white Staples file box (which doubles as my tabletop photography cube!)

Visit Amore Valkyrie:

twitter: http://twitter.com/amorevalkyrie
flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amorevalkyrie/
blog: http://amorevalkyrie.blogspot.com/

Arion

Arion's Etsy shop is named after the Greek myth. Arion is mentioned in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, where the Captain reassures Viola that her brother may still be alive after the shipwreck, for "like Arion on the dolphin's back, I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves." Arion is said to be the first and best composer and citharist or lyer-player of his time. On his return from an artistic tour in Italy, he was kidnapped by pirates. Arion sang a praise to Apollo, the god of poetry, and his song attracted a number of dolphins around the ship. Arion threw himself into the sea, but one of the dolphins saved his life. After that, he lived happily ever after and was flourished by his artistic talent. Enjoy a visit to her wonderful shop http://www.arionjewelry.etsy.com/

by Arion Jewelry

Hello, my name is Jihee Kim. I was born and raised in Seoul, Korea. I am the mother of two adorable boys and the wife of a supportive husband. Currently I live in the romantic city, Seattle. I came to the United States for my masters degree in business and worked for an international financial organization for several years in Washington D. C.. I started creating one day when I took a whole day long class of “How to make your Earrings” at the community college with little expectation. After that class, I couldn’t stop making new earrings for my family, friends and myself. The rest is history. My favorite materials are pearls, garnet, ruby, amethyst, peridot, tanzanite and so on. A lot of my jewelry is made with these semi-precious or precious stones with sterling silver.

The best part of making jewelry is creativity. Creating makes me feel great and alive, especially seeing the final creation of one of kind beautiful jewelry with one of the most beautiful materials on earth. My Studio is located in a comfortable and convenient location: my living room. My husband made my studio in the corner of our living room facing the yard outside. In the morning, the sunlight comes deep inside and shines on my studio. It gives me a lot of sunlight, inspiration and energy. Morning is my most favorite time of the day.

There are two desks for my computer and my working area. On the right side of my working area, I put frequently-used tools and materials. There is a black storage box with many small drawers and a brown open basket. The see-through drawer for the findings and brown basket are for my tools. At the back side of my work place, there are two wooden cabinets for storage, one for all my beads and jewelry. The other is for my shipping materials.

On the top of the cabinet, I display some of my creations. Most of my jewelry is stored on the stackable organizer trays inside of the cabinet as shown on the picture.

I started only a short time ago to make my jewelry. Life is full of surprises. I never dreamed to be referred to as a “Jewelry designer”. Recently, I learned how to create jewelry with PMC (precious metal clay) as well as metal smith. I am going to introduce my new jewelry line for PMC hopefully soon. I keep learning and learning. Please watch me grow and evolve through my jewelry creations. Hope to see you at http://www.arionjewelry.etsy.com/ store.

My blog is www.arionjewelry.blogspot.com. Please stop by!

Thank you for viewing my story.