Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a happy, joyful, fine time celebrating and bringing in yet another year. I happen to be nearing a two-year anniversary of Birdcage Bohemia as well as a one-year anniversary of La Caravane Bohème. Yes, both in January. Both probably a result of my earnest and fervently worded resolutions. Luckily for me, those resolutions took hold much unlike my most common one: cease the nail-biting! That one never works. Perhaps if I made a resolution of a different creature, such as “get more manicures.” That could work since one needs nails in order to get manicured, right?
So anyway, here I am, drinking a cup of tea and looking over my two shops. They both have grown so much and taken a life of their own. I am amazed every time someone chooses to “heart” an item and ecstatic when someone buys something. Each one is a celebration of its own, and speaking of minor celebrations, I feel the need to cheer for joy whenever I find a recycled box that is the perfect size for whatever I’m sending. But I digress.
What I really want to talk about here is a transition. Everyone, at this moment, is considering a transition. Whether it be of the body, the mind, the social surroundings, the relationships, the career, happiness. I’m considering one that touches upon each one of those. I’ve spent a lot of time the past few months considering my next step for Birdcage Bohemia. I love making jewelry but the blueprint I had in mind when I first brought Birdcage to life was much larger.
I purposely chose a vague name like Birdcage Bohemia with the intent to expand eventually. I wasn’t sure how exactly. One day, it would become a place where I could promote my own work along with other artists’ works, a shop of its own so to say. Then another day, I just saw myself creating scarves and sundresses and jewelry and whatever else strikes my fancy one week or another. It was confusing and I forced myself to focus on jewelry and just jewelry until the day came I would know what I would do.
There was the Caravan. My vintage shop. It became an unexpected baby. And since it started off as a joint venture, it was wholly separated from Birdcage Bohemia. Then, one day, it became part of Birdcage Bohemia and I found myself juggling the two shops, blogs, and followings. At first it was manageable, but as both shops grew, the amount of work became tremendous. However, there was no way I could just dump one. Both shops are my children and I love them both equally.
So, I’m doing what looks to be the obvious. I assure you, it wasn’t obvious at the time. When I’m joining together a brooch and clip-on earring then dashing off to model a 50’s dress, I can’t think straight for more than 15 minutes at a time. The two shops will remain separate. They both work in their own spots perfectly. However, I’m combining the blogs and followings. It’ll be something like Birdcage Bohemia on La Caravane Bohème. Basically, “Let’s go for a ride and fly free!”
I hope, at the moment, that it will just take a few weeks to get everything together and going in motion. I feel though that the Business Gods will laugh at this mere mortal of a artist and vintager playing the businesswoman. However, I’m really excited for all the changes that will be happening. A brand new blog where you can actually comment! It won’t just be about pretty baubles and vintage clothes, I’ll wax poetic about food and traveling and the whole grand lifestyle every girl and woman secretly wants. Complete with my fantasy sheep and goat farm/winery/restaurant/studio. A girl can dream right?
Also, as everyone has heard me talk about for practically forever, I’ll be debuting a line of scarves and cowls made from cool and vintage fabrics and trims. I have one listed already but there will be more to come. It’ll show up slowly but I promise it’ll come steadily. I’m also playing around with the idea of fine silver for a very small collection of tiny treasures on necklace chains. We’ll see. I’m just excited to get the ball rolling, finally!
So, I’ll see you on the other side!
Fly Free,
Beatrice
