The Right Stuff

I want to be surrounded by things that I love.

Recently, I read Marie Kondo’s the life-changing magic of tidying up which gave me insights on how to deal with the physical stuff in my life.

I’ve been struggling with stuff my entire life, beginning in a childhood home filled with antiques and beautiful objects. My nomadic 20’s and 30’s gave my mother many opportunities to gift some of her collection to me in each new residence. Business was the focus of my 40’s and 50’s, topped by a happy marriage merging two households! Thus, I came to share my life with a lot of random things.

Now I am in my 60’s. I’m purging my home and studio of all the things I never wanted, don’t like or no longer need. I’m in that emotional zone where my favorite room is an empty room. But, we don’t live our lives in empty rooms. We fill them with things that help us live our lives. 

I’ve never been a “gotta have it” girl. I’m beginning to figure out what those few things are that will add to the happiness in my life. And that journey will occasionally involve making things that use my gilding skills. I’ll be “twigging it” for a burst of joy in my life as brilliant as gold, itself. 

How about you? Are you living with the right stuff?

Marie Kondo NY Times Best Seller

My family in 1963

Why Gilded Twig?

I'm reimagining work after a serious career in art conservation.

Years ago, I scoured Hudson riverbanks for driftwood to gold leaf. Those gilded twigs were unconventional and gorgeous. Visitors to my Beacon, NY studio loved them. A decade later, that memory suggested my new business name.

I tried "Gilded Twig" out on strangers for their reaction: Had they heard right? Gold on a twig? Then, they'd nod and smile. Something "unusual" and "quirky" with a little "fun" tossed into the mix might be happening. Exactly!

Yes, I will still restore the occasional work of art. But I really want to step into the lifestyle spotlight...take my talent and boxes full of gold leaf and make unusual, quirky, fun things to wear or display in my home and business. If I like them, chances are you will too! So, I'll make a few more to sell at my Etsy store (opening later this summer).

Nature is telling me to climb down from the ladder and get off the scaffold. I'm 64 - that's a big part of my story: how to keep working and enjoy life as I grow older. I knew this time was coming, so I'm ready to twig it.

Stay tuned.

Leather earrings with gold leaf.

Gilding tools.