EtsyMetal - Blog Carnival Feb. - Non metal / jewelry creativity

February Topic: Non-Metal/Jewelry Creativity
Tell us about other kinds of art and craft you do. What other media do you work and play with? How often do you get to create? Does it relate to or inspire your metalworking? 

Heather and I love to make things. It's always been in us.

Before we started Twigs and Heather, I (Kerry Alice)spent many an hour sewing. I've made pocket books, pillows, GIANT pillows, and dresses. I still pull out my sewing machine on and off, but I think everyone in my family has a pillow made by me by now (and a giant pillow). My mom has one of my favorites, a 4 foot patchwork cactus pillow.

Giant pillows!

Heather is great with projects with the girls. She is an excellent sketcher and can draw the most intricate, sweet, whimsy scenes when she makes the time (where does all the time go!). We both have been dabbling in driftwood sculptures lately. 


The craftin' really never stops in this house. If there's a major holiday or birthday around the corner, the craftin' is ON! Handmade cards, wreaths, lawn art, you name it, we love to make it.

I think our inspirations (nature, love, the changing of seasons, the craziness of life, rebellion,)  are poured into everything we do and create. Heather will put birch bark on virtually anything and I will try to make anything look like a goofy monster or skullhead) - K Alice

Lawn art

driftwood whale

K Alice and Pumkin man

pan sized crayon!

driftwood sculptures

Check out the other EtsyMetal members participating in this weeks blog carnival
1. kate jones - http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com
2. kathryn cole - http://www.kathryncolejewelry.blogspot.com
3. 2Roses - http://www.JewelryTutorial.blogspot.com
4. Twigs and Heather - http://www.twigsandheather.blogspot.com
5. Erin Austin - http://www.metalmusing.blogspot.com
6. Thomasin Durgin - http://metalriot.blogspot.com
7. Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com
8. Beth Cyr - http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
9. stacey hansen - http://wildflowerdesigns.blogspot.com
10. Nina Gibson - http://ninagibsondesigns.blogspot.com/
11. elizabeth scott - http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog
12. Evelyn Markasky - http://markasky.blogspot.com
13. Amanda Conley - http://amandaconley.blogspot.com
14. Jenny Baughman - http://ridgeschool.blogspot.com/
15. Catherine Chandler - http://catherinechandler.blogspot.com/

New year, New day rising

Kerry Alice Here!
Well it was a great year for Twigs and heather and I am happy to say that I am looking forward to making a few new pieces that people have been requesting for a while, mainly....SEA GLASS RINGS!
Heather has wanted me to make some forEVA, so this past Christmas I started by making Heather 4 sea glass rings for her gift. She loved them, but unfortunately, I made them all too small (FOR HER! They fit me just fine.) Anyhoo, I'm excited to made sea glass rings for the shows, so look for them soon.

Here's a few picks of Heather's and another that I have made. Enjoy!

 This is Gus. He's not a sea glass ring, but I just wanted to share his greatness!

Thank you 2010- Hello 2011

It's been another great year. We are so thankful for all the great people who put on another year's worth of shows, all our new and loyal customers and all of our amazing artists friends that we spent time with throughout the year. You know who you are!

We didn't travel very far but our work did. If you see a piece of Twigs and Heather's jewelry in New Zealand, Australia, or the UK tell it hi from us. Each and every piece of jewelry we make comes from our heart.

We tried new things. Some hits some misses. We are getting ready to try some more new designs for 2011. Kerry is part of RAW- Ring A Week. It's a Flickr group that will be making 52 rings throughout the year. Good luck y'all. We will have three rings from our month participating in RAD at SNAG's Ring a Day exhibition in May. Making almost 60 rings between us was a challenge and very inspiring. Can't believe it was a year ago!

We are looking forward to doing some new shows and participating in some of our favorite ones too. See you when the snow melts...

Kindly,
Heather and Kerry Alice

Blog Carnival December-Twigs and Heather's custom pieces

Today for our Etsy Metal blog carnival we are talking about our custom pieces. We do a couple of different types of custom work. First is our "natural casting". We have had customers from all over the world send us twigs, seeds, feathers, etc. to cast in sterling silver and make a special piece of jewelry that is sentimental and will tell their story. One of our most recent and favorite custom pieces was made from a "nut" that a man found while walking in the woods. The inside had a perfect heart shape. We cast in and made a necklace from it. It was big and heavy and totally one of a kind. We loved doing this project.

Another piece that comes to mind we made a few years ago. A customer send us a tiny feather from her beloved bird. We did not cast it but imprinted it into a piece of wax. That was cast in sterling silver and made into a ring with a birch bark band.

Kerry makes so many rockin' pieces. They tend to be big and heavy. But there is always someone who wants it even bigger and heavier. We love that! Some recent custom Kerry Alice's pieces have been a giant sacred heart and triple pin cushion. So cool. Kerry also works on all of our custom sea glass pieces. People can send us a piece from their collection and we will bezel it and make a pretty necklace for them.

But I have to say that my favorite custom pieces are the twigs. We have had many people over the years send us twigs from sentimental places. Many times they come from a childhood home that they have moved away from. Hearing these stories make what we do all the more special. I know that for myself, whenever I look up at the trees, no matter where I am, I think of home. I guess that others feel that ways as well. That makes me happy.

Please check out what my friends at EtsyMetal make for custom pieces. All their work is excellent.
Inbar - http://www.inbarbareket.net/2010/12/blog-carnival-december-2010.html
ES Designs- http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog
Victoria Takahashi http://vtakahashi.blogspot.com/
2Roses http://jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Nodeform http://nodeform.blogspot.com/

Blog Carnival- EtsyMetal team "What does it mean to be successful?"

Kerry and I are part of EtstMetal. It is a international collective of artisans who create jewelry and works of art in metal. This is my first time participating in our Blog Carnival. We all answer the same questions and write about it in our blogs. We can't wait to see what everyone else thinks about this topic...What does it mean to you to be successful in business as an artist?

We feel like a success because we have been sustaining our business for over 12 years. We have the freedom as artists to make what we want. We have repeat customers who love our work and want us to make jewelry for them that is special and cool. And we have never had to compromise who we are in the process.


Question 2- How do you walk the line between creativity and profitability?
When we first started making jewelry all of our organic castings were one of a kind. Now we have two lines of jewelry, our one of a kinds and our molded production pieces. We change the production pieces every year to keep them new and different. The customers still love them and we can keep them at a nice price.

Question 3- What is the best thing we have done for my business?
We have always done things our own way. Everthing from our designs to the way we display our work has always come from our clear perspective of who we are and how we want the world to see our work.
We have always followed our hearts and our guts. Being true to ourselves and our art has been good for our business. We think that when you make your own rules and follow your own path you stand out from the crowd.

Check out what my fellow members think about this topic.

stacey http://wildflowerdesigns.blogspot.com
victoria takahashi / experimetal http://vtakahashi.blogspot.com/
2Roses http://jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Jenny: http://ridgeschool.blogspot.com/
Beth Cyr: http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
Purified: http://purifiedart.blogspot.com/
Nina Gibson ~ http://ninagibsondesigns.blogspot.com/

Inspired by color

I went to America's Oldest Fair this weekend. It was the Topsfield Fair in Topsfield MA. A good time was had for all. I loved seeing all that carnival stuff...Oh the colors! I am thinking about trying to use more color in our jewelry...but how? I will let you know what I decide.

Why we love Vermont...

Nature!
Foliage!
The Peru Fair. We just got back and it was super.
The Vermont Country Store. Lots of weird and wacky stuff. Can I get most of it online or at the mall? Yes, but who cares. I'm in Vermont!
Bluegrass music. It played all day at the fair. So sweet and lonesome.
Good food, friendly people.
Chainsaw art. Especially the bears.

We want to start a artist house and studio exchange program. We love on the ocean, you live...in Vermont? We would love to. Glad we asked!