The logo of Bella Ward's Etsy shop The Floral Fool takes inspiration from her grandmother.
As a commemoration to her grandmother and a way to express her creativity, Senior Isabella Ward opened her Etsy shop The Floral Fool in February of 2020. Now, a year and a half later, business is booming and she’s looking forward to expanding her small shop into a full time career.
“My grandma, Alice Ward, died when I was 7,” Bella says. “I called her Nanny. She was great...I don’t really remember her much, but I do remember her funeral for some reason.”
Bella’s grandma, Alice Ward, played a significant role in her early life helping raise her, even though Bella was too young to truly remember the details.
“I have very faint memories of her, but I know that she really cared about me,” Bella says. “We spent a lot of time together when I was little. My parents worked when I was a newborn and she basically took care of me when I was that young. She was just a really cool lady.”
When Bella was a child, she had a lot of trouble sleeping. She would eventually fall asleep, but she wouldn’t be well-rested. When she was 11, her parents decided it was time to seek out professional help.
“I went to Charlotte and I went to see a [somnologist]. They diagnosed me with psychological insomnia,” Bella shared. “I’m on medication and I sleep fine now, but without medication I don’t sleep for like 3 days until I just pass out. The longest I ever went without sleeping was 4 days in a row in the 4th grade. I literally passed out in Social Studies.”
Before that visit, at around 8 years old, Bella had been experiencing issues with severe joint pain. Even after a few doctor visits, she had gotten basically nowhere.
“For a while they thought it might be Juvenile Arthritis, and they kind of just went with that and didn’t really do anything about it,” she says. “Eventually, it just kept getting worse and just kept progressing, so I went to a rheumatologist when I was 13.”
Finally, she got her diagnosis--Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). According to The Ehlers-Danlos Society website, “Ehlers-Danlos syndromes are a group of connective tissue disorders that can be inherited and are varied both in how they affect the body and in their genetic causes. They are generally characterized by joint hypermobility (joints that stretch further than normal), skin hyperextensibility (skin that can be stretched further than normal), and tissue fragility.” Specifically, Bella has Hypermobile EDS.
“[It] means I am..stretchy. My joints bend more than they’re supposed to and all of my tissues in my body are not made correctly,” she says. “The main cause of this is my body does not produce enough collagen on its own.”
Because of her collagen deficiency, Bella takes collagen supplements. Despite this, her skin and hair are very dry. She also isn’t able to ever get any piercings because they will become infected.
“I have to go get an echocardiogram every year because it’s very possible that....that my aorta can just rupture and tear and I’ll die because the tissues are messed up,” Bella says.
Since Bella has multiple health issues, including Hypermobile EDS and Juvenile, her life expectancy is a lot lower than most. There is a good possibility that she will not live past her thirties. She’s known about this fact for a long time and is continuing to come to terms with it.
“Dealing with your own mortality is difficult,” she shares. “I mean it’s a thing all humans have to deal with...I mean, it's a thing that I have lived with and I will always live with, but I don’t really have another choice but to work past it, ignore it, and hope that things will be chill.”
Bella doesn’t want to dwell on the future, preferring to focus on the present. What started as a simple, fun hobby has grown into a small business. She started doing resin-based art in November of 2019, and started her business that December. A few months later, in February of 2020, Bella opened her Etsy shop.
“Originally, it was titled ‘Belda’s Resin’, but in July of this year, I decided to change that to ‘The Floral Fool’,” she says. “I think it fits the brand better and, well, I never really liked the name Belda’s Resin. I wanted to have a consistent theme, and I needed to change the name for that to happen.”
Along with name-change, Bella redesigned her logo as well. She went from a simplistic design with “Belda’s Resin; Est. 2019” above a simple vine with leaves to a pink and grey Jester’s hat with three yellow roses tied together by intricate vines underneath. She has always enjoyed the concept of a jester’s hat and has a special connection to the yellow roses.
“I use a lot of floral imagery in my work,” she says. “Pink and yellow are my favorite colors, that’s why it’s the main kind of theme for my shop. The yellow roses that are under the jester’s hat on my logo are a little symbolism to my grandmother. She really liked yellow roses and I actually work with yellow roses a lot in a commemoration-type way.”
Where she used to sell mostly resin art products, Bella now sells a wide range of products, all beautiful and hand-made. She’s found ways to diversify her content while staying in the theme she originally wanted.
“I don’t do as much resin art now. It’s still obviously the main concept of the business, but I also sell crystals and other things that aren’t primarily resin art, like molds,” she says. “I’ve definitely branched out a lot more since December; I sell trays, molds, and crystals, but mostly jewelry and earrings”
When she isn’t working on products for The Floral Fool, Bella likes to read, write, and play the Dungeons and Dragons Role Play Game with her brother and sister-in-law. She does hope to turn The Floral Fool into a full-time career in the future.
“I currently have almost 400 sales throughout my one and a half years of business and I have over 100 5-star reviews,” she says. “I’m very pleased with how my business has grown so far.”
Bella’s life is a story of overcoming adversities, finding the light and humor in dark situations, and living life to the fullest. Her story is one of inspiration and following your dreams no matter what. It’s a lesson in acceptance and optimism, which is one everyone needs in today’s environment.
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