Autumn shows are here!

It's September!  That means Twigs and Heather is busy with some of our favorite Autumn shows. We will be at stART on the Street in Worcester this Sunday. It is one of the best craft shows in all of New England!  We have some new designs this year. I am making folk art sculptures. Kerry has some amazing new triple dangle necklaces with hearts, stars, and anchors. Look for us there.   

Who?  You.

Public art projects

As you know I make jewelry. But I also fancy myself as a all around art gal. When I moved back to my hometown, Nahant MA, one of my goals was to bring some public art to town. Over the past couple of years I have done just that.

My most recent project is called "Art Can" . Five local artists including myself and my twin sister Kerry Alice have painted trash barrels and displayed them around town. Mine is pop art inspired and took me around 12 hours to paint. Kerry's is so Kerry! She painted her for over 15 hours.

These barrels were on display this weekend at a Earth Day event I helped plan. Every beach and park was cleaned by volunteers on Saturday. It was amazing.

I am curating more barrels throughout the Spring and Summer. The town DPW has donated 12 more. They are the best! To be able to support the arts and local artists this way is a dream come true.

Here are the barrels. Enjoy!

New organic twig bracelets

This is the year of the bracelet for Twigs and Heather.  I have been casting a few twigs trying to find the perfect organic twig with the more detail the better.  I love the bumps and grooves of each and every twig I collect but there is something so wonderful, so sentimental about the Willow Tree.  There are a few in my town and they grow big and beautiful.  But they are also very fragile and when a big storm comes they often are the trees that suffer the most.  I picked these twigs after a big Autumn storm. 

These organic twig bracelets are cast in sterling silver and a beautiful bronze.  The bronze is a new metal for us.  I'm really liking the color.

Look for them on our website and our Etsy shop.

Handmade in Boston MA.

New ideas and old favorites

This year we will be trying some new metals. Bronze is a beautiful metal to cast with. It really lends well to the natural pieces. Our first castings in bronze are mapleseeds and acorns. Let us know what you think!

Also, this year I will be working on some enameled pieces. It's a completely different way to make jewelry. I am still getting used to the process. I am loving the splash of color though...

Please look for these new pieces on our website, www.twigsandheather.com and on our Etsy page, www.twigsandheather.etsy.com

Trying something new for 2013

Every year we love to make new pieces and try new things. This year I decided that I was going to experiment with color. Thanks to our friend Jonny we have many vintage copper and brass forms to work with. As you know " experimenting" doesn't always work out as you originally planned, so having practice pieces is a very good thing. So with a tiny kiln, some copper shapes, and a brand new basic enameling kit I am beginning my 2013 adventure into color!

Favorite pieces of 2012- Kerry Alice

Ok, if I had to choose, I'd pick a few pieces that are sentimental for a couple of reasons...

  First, lets start with my sweet sweet skullheads...
Twigs and Heather was super happy and honored to be chosen to participate in stART on the street's 10th anniversary Gallery show at Davis Art Gallery in Worcester this past August.
I made Mr. Skullhead with heart, daisies and leaves just for the show. I was also honored to see that the piece was chosen to be on the postcard promoting the show! Awesome.

Mr. Skullhead is cute, but the one skullhead who stole my heart this year is my Jonny Skullhead.
The handsome guy to the right of the picture is a sterling silver portrait of my true love (and I mean it, true love is so hard find and I was blessed to have found mine this year...) Jonathan Bradstreet.
I wear him almost every day, especially when we are apart. Love you, babe! (and by the way, he is an amazing painter and hot rod builder too.) Jonny will be showing some of his work at the Art of Speed show in Middletown CT in February.

Sterling silver  Daisy Skull head and Jonny necklaces

Next up is my sea glass pieces.... 

I'm always telling myself to incorporate more "land and Sea" pieces into our inventory. The lobster claw and green sea glass is mine all mine. It's the first of many more I want to create for 2013. I also want to incorporate more crab claws, twigs and birch bark with sea glass this year. Yes, I have said that before, but I mean it this time. Claws will be the first things we cast this year.

The sea glass piece to the right is my Lobster Buoy piece.

I started making, what I called the "sea glass swinger" piece this year. These are sea glass pieces that I make bezels for and attach them to the top of the sea glass.

I made quite a few, but kept taking them out of inventory because I couldn't bear to part with some of the amazing colors I chose. One got plucked, then a few more, then I looked in my collection and saw that I had plucked at least 10 out of inventory. Instead of trying to wear them all at once, I created this necklace to show many of them together. This one has 6 hanging from it. 

I'm not sure if I'll continue making the "Swingers" this year....We'll see.   

Land and Sea necklace and Buoy "swinger" necklace

Twigs and Heather is really excited for 2013. Happy New Year everyone!

Good times... 2012