Do or Don't: Turning Art into Business

Hello, it's Idyllwild again! While we're deep in winter here in Oregon with snow blanketing the ground, this hasn't stopped me from thinking about flowers and working with flowers. That's the beauty of dried flowers!

I started selling my dried flower creations online earlier this fall with very little expectations. My hope for this first year was simply to cover some of the costs of growing the flowers and sustain my passion for flowers. I've been so incredibly surprised by the success of my little side hustle! My wreaths and especially bouquets sell out quickly and I've been busily working on new ones to restock my Etsy store.

New opportunities are also emerging. After seeing some of my posts, a friend of mine reached out asking me to make a custom floral crown for her for her wedding. She gave me her color palette - champagne and pastel pink - and a photo of wedding dress. I asked for more details like the size of her head and how big she wanted the floral crown to be. Then, drawing from these elements as inspiration, I got to work.

I loved how it turned out and the whole process was so fun. It was really not much different from making a wreath! This gave me an idea - why not offer Custom Floral Crowns as a product?

I've been getting many questions about custom products and while I'd love to do that, the challenge is clearly communicating a vision/idea. For example, someone would ask, "Can you make this wreath but in blue?" But "blue" can mean many things, like sky blue or indigo blue. So I came up with a solution - let the customer choose the flowers they want.

I spent the afternoon photographing each of the different dried flowers that I have and composed a gallery so that it's easy to see what the options are.

Seeing all the flowers together like this made me so happy. I couldn't believe how many varieties I managed to grow and collect during our first season at our homestead. I already have plans to grow at least twice this amount and I'm so excited (and nervous) about where to take this "side hustle" next!

A part of me wants to try to turn Idyllwild into something bigger - a full-fledged flower farm that can perhaps sustain our financial needs. And another part of me is really scared to fail, not only with the money-making part of it, but also the creative part. I've learned from my previous start-up in photography that business can truly stifle creativity.

Have you ever felt resistant to turning your art into a business? How have you overcome these fears? Or do you keep your work life and creative life separate?

I'm still ruminating on all this (after all, it's still winter) and taking it slow, allowing myself time and space for that subtle, intuitive voice to emerge. And perhaps the answer is as simple as that - to be conscious and present in both art and business. For now, I continue to work with flowers and keeping the light inside shining bright!

If you'd like to see more of my dried floral art, check out my shop, Idyllwild on Homesteaders Co-op.