On the Bohemian Path

At first, this post won't seem related to music......but it really is. When I decided to not pursue having a "regular job", you know, the kind where you clock in everyday and focus on whatever task the boss person tells you to focus on, I had to find something that would give me some cash flow while I focused on music.  I wanted to do something creative and something I can do at home, so I decided to start an etsy business. Besides music, my other passion is art. I love to go to galleries and support artists'; I love looking at their work, speaking with them, and promoting them; I also dabble in art myself, mostly photography and collage. About a year ago I started making pendants by printing out small circular discs of other people's art (with their permission), floating them in liquid, inserting art into pendant trays, and covering them with clear glass domes. I started posting my pieces on facebook and selling them to friends. It started to give me a little income, so after I worked out the kinks of the process, and with the encouragement of my friends, I started an online store via etsy. I loved making the jewelry, and working at home meant that if I had an idea for a song, or if I wanted to send some music out to my contacts, or make a phone call,  I could do that. At a regular job, this would be impossible. It was still "work", but at least I was at home, near my guitar, and my computer, which is where I do 90% of my music networking. I could also make my own hours.......

So far, it has been one month since my store has opened, and it is a lot of work. It is simply not enough to just slap some work on a website and sit back and think that the sales are going to come in. I have had to learn a lot and do a tremendous amount of work such as advertising, and self promotion. Selling on etsy these days is much harder as it has become very popular and saturated with sellers from all over the world. I also am constantly improving on my product details like the look of my website and my packaging. I also make and print out flyers and keep up with a twitter, facebook, and pinterest page for my shop, which, by the way is called "Bohemian Path"! You can find it here: Bohemian Path

So far, in one month, I have sold 5 pendants on my etsy site, and 1 pendant privately, which is not enough to live off of, but it is a start, and as I am piecing together an existence here in L.A where I don't have to go to a regular job every day, it is one more piece to my puzzle of: dog/housesitter, online book reviewer, on call support staff for the developmentally disabled, and booklet maker/seller.

I am coming up with some cool ideas for jewelry. I'm excited about these pendants I've created with my original photography and a hopefully inspirational lyric from one of my songs. I've created two so far, and this is one of them from my song "To the Bone". 

One of my favorite artists is Robert Soffian, and I use a lot of his work. This is a cute painting of a fox. He is a prolific and amazing artist. You can find his work here: The Art of Robert Soffian

modeling a Victor Herron hummingbird

I do all of my own photography and modeling for my pendants
which is a challenge. At first it was frustrating, but now I have gotten so much better, and since I love photography, creating these images is fun for me; after finding the perfect spot in my house where the best lighting is, and tricks of the trade for photographing glass.

Besides the pendants I make, I also started experimenting with driftwood. The first thing I started to make was hair accessories. No one seems to be that interested in them yet, but hopefully they will catch on.  You can't find anything like this online. I sell them for a very reasonable price. This one is $11.00.

My latest creation has been driftwood necklaces. You can find some shops that make necklaces out of driftwood online. I found one good place, but that is all, and not all the places have good quality. These are really fun to create, and I think they look really cool....

For all of my necklaces, I use the best quality silk from Japan that feels really good on the skin. I sand and laquer all of my driftwood, and they are all adorned with beads. Sometimes I use specialty beads made of horn, semi precious stones, or bamboo. The driftwood I collect is from one of my favorite beaches in Humboldt County. I also collect the naturally polished stones there, and sometimes am lucky enough to get an agate which goes on a lot of my pieces. The artists whose work I use get an 8% percentage of sale, and links to their websites. Sales from two artists goes into a hospice fund for Mendocino County. So far I have collected $10 to donate.

So-please check out my shop sometime, or have me make a special piece for you. I have done pieces where people have asked me to put their pet or child into a pendant. I am working on a special order now where someone has sent me their own photographs to turn into a pendant. Here is to supporting the arts!
--------Cynthia "Bohemian Path"

 UPDATE!! I'm very excited to announce the opening of my NEW COMPANION SHOP! Besides etsy, Bohemian Path now has its own website-please check it out here: Bohemian Path I also blog there about my jewelry business; go to the website and click on "blog", or here is the link: Blog Thanks so much for the support.