Junquing and Art... for Bliss versus Biz... or both??? Personally I Junque for Bliss and I don't even know that I could Junque as a Business or not? You see, if I score a fabulous piece, I feel I would have a very difficult time "letting go" and selling it, even at a tidy profit. I'm just being real here... I REALLY admire those of you who do this as a Biz and manage to offer all of the amazing pieces that you do to the rest of us who just feather our nests with it as a Blissful Journey of creating our Dream Home. Honestly, I don't know how you do it?! How DO you part with those pieces that you Love and yet manage not to get so attached to that you can offer it up to someone else or aren't tempted to keep, if only for a while in your own feathered nest? Or do you? Do you keep those special pieces that make your own Heart sing, even for a little while, before you detach and get back down to business?
There are Shops that I go into and honestly, if I were the Seller, I'd be SO very tempted to keep many, if not most, of the amazing pieces they have acquired... whether it is beautiful Found Treasures, Architectural Salvage, Art, Fashion, Jewelry Creations or Accessories.
Not that I haven't considered going to the next level and Selling those things that I enjoy seeking out so much and so often... because truly you can only have so much before you reach saturation point... but to do it for a Living, well, I don't know that I have it in me?
Even with my Art, since I never began the Artistic Journey as a means for profit or selling my pieces, when something turns out REALLY good and I like it myself... it is SO difficult not to get attached to the outcome. I have to, and I do, but I'm just saying... I've liked every creation I've completed, because I wouldn't consider offering a piece to someone else that I didn't absolutely Love myself and wouldn't be proud to own or wear. Gifting a piece is actually easier than Selling a piece, isn't that crazy?!? I can't even really tell you why... though it could be because a Gift is often quite unexpected and not requested and so it magnifies the Joy when Given, rather than ordered or bought? I have created Art for as long as I can remember, it was something in me that always came out one way or another in the creative process and was always a Joy... but I never imagined getting paid to do it and it mattered not if I did or not... I'd create whether it was appreciated by others or not or if I never made a penny at it... the urge, desire and Joy of it is just that strong for me. Though I was flattered when the first person offered to buy a piece I'd made, it took me a while before I ever agreed to offer anything I created for Sale at any price. Usually I would thank the person for their interest and compliments of a piece but decline to sell it. I just wasn't sure I wanted to "go there" with something that had always been a Blissful past-time that I had kept to and for myself and those I'd Gifted with my creations over the years. I was also reluctant to sell something I'd made for myself and was personally enjoying and attached to because it was exactly what I wanted since I had created it to my own specifications and vision. I still struggle with that actually and have rarely sold any piece that I made for myself.
So this Post is an unofficial survey of sorts... to those of you other Junquers and Artists and Kindred Spirits in the Land Of Blog... do you do it for Bliss... do you do it for Biz... do you do it for Both? Was it easy to make a transition or did you too have some things you wrestled with in the process? And is it perhaps still an evolution of sorts?
Blissfully yours... Dawn... The Bohemian
*All beautiful items photographed today at ANTIQUE GATHERINGS in Phoenix, Arizona*