By Jo Mixon
This week’s featured I Know Jo member is All Things Twisted.
Oh my goodness was this week’s story fun. I walked away feeling very accomplished! My sister D.J and I both learned how to make earrings. I am wearing them as I type. Anita George, owner of All Things Twisted located in Centro Plaza, patiently taught us how to do this intricate art craft. She told us it could be addicting. I believe her now.
Anita opened All Things Twisted in January 2011. She wanted to open a bead shop. Lisa Sutton wanted to open a consignment shop. Since they share the space in Centro Plaza, they agreed on a compromise. Anita started beading in middle school on a loom using tiny seed beads. She beamed as she pulled out the loom and the box in which she keeps her seed beads, telling us, it is the same box she’s had since middle school! She then showed us the beautiful bracelets she now makes on the loom. Recently she has started using larger beads. Her store is filled with many shapes and types of beads, as well as fabulous hand-made jewelry. She loves to up-cycle older items and turn them into new purposed jewelry. She showed us bracelets with clasps made from old earrings and earrings made from the metal spikes of golf shoes.
We began our class, with the help of Anita’s young apprentice River Smith, learning the different tools she uses and what function they serve. She let us make several practice pairs, and then turned us loose to pick out the beads we wanted for our earrings. That was really the hardest part! Decisions, decisions, decisions. I ended up choosing black and white beads because I wear a lot of dark clothing, and my sister chose beads in shades of green. Under Anita’s watchful eye, we turned them into works of art! I am very happy with my earrings.
I asked Anita how she came to make Angel Fire her home. She said she had always dreamed of living in a Yurt somewhere in the trees. She even put the desire in a dream box. After coming to Angel Fire and working a few summers, she shared her desire with a friend. This friend told Anita about a neighbor next to the Girl Scout Ranch who had a yurt in his backyard. Negotiations went well and she packed her bags to move from St. Louis about seven years ago. She lived in the yurt for about five years, but now owns a home between Angel Fire and Eagle Nest.
Anita would love for everyone to visit her shop and learn to bead. You choose the day and the time to schedule your classes. All Things Twisted offers them Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at either 11:00 am, 2:00 pm, or 4:00 pm. Call 505-919-8797 for group rates and times. All ages are welcome. No experience is necessary. Anita supplies the tools and materials for each class. You pick the project and she’ll show you how to make it. The classes are usually about two hours long and you’ll walk away with new jewelry that you made yourself! Or if you don’t have the desire to do-it-yourself, she has plenty in stock that she has made for sale.
Anita said she’d love to have a few Mother/Daughter classes for Mother’s Day. It sounds like fun. I’m glad I got to share this experience with my sister and we both felt our mother would have loved it, too!
All Things Twisted is located in Centro Plaza at 3407 Mountain View Blvd. in Angel Fire, next door to the Chamber of Commerce. Come on over to shop or learn.
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