The Twisted Woodland

The Twisted Woodland The Twisted Woodland creates wire tree of life art and wearable accessories. Based in Gatesville, TX with pop ups at events/festivals throughout Texas.

Contact us for wholesale inquiries to carry our birthstone tree collection in your physical shop!

08/18/2026

Small businesses formed from the desire to connect with others are the best representation of what it means to be resilient.

Unless you’re amongst kindred spirits, no one really talks about it.

Small businesses don't open up shop and know a line of people will walk through the doors or into a booth.

We small businesses are constantly in our self-made hot seat looking for ways to improve our reach, our presence, and how to talk to people without coming off as desperate or too salesy. In the day and age of technology and social media, there is a constant guessing game as to which platform we should use, what type of things to post, how to come up with captions, and how often to post products without also seeming too salesy.

A good day of business is when we are reaching our goals to cover the bills on the next cycle. We are able to order more inventory. We have a custom order or two, an order placed through our website, and we have inquiries to be a part of an upcoming event. We receive the most meaningful reviews and feedback regarding our works.

A bad day of business is when we have unpaid invoices, a tool breaks or a major hiccup causes an unexpected bill. That shipped order arrived damaged (or not at all) and we have to re-make the item out of pocket. An event payment deadline is looming and other priorities taken from the budget causing the decision to sit out until next time.

A slow day isn’t always a time to catch up on all of the things we’re behind on. It can be a timeframe where our mind is often left to wander and spiral. The lack of foot traffic can feel like a physical manifestation of our fears that we might not be “good” enough or should be doing something resembling what others consider a “real” job. The slow days can make us rethink our decisions and hesitate or freeze. Sometimes we have gotten the "real" job and operate from a state of survival.

Small business owners are the marketers, managers, bookkeepers, customer service representatives, IT troubleshooters, website/e-commerce managers, quality control specialists, purchasers, researchers, logistics planners, and production specialists. The majority of us are running all the operations solo or as a very small team (in our case: 2). It can be overwhelming to be pulled in multiple directions at once and still not feel like everything is running as smoothly or as “perfect” as it should be.

If you’re a small business owner and any of this resonates with you, I see you.

Stop chasing the perfect aesthetic, product, or system. Customers aren’t going to dock you because your post was misspelled, a photo wasn’t totally in focus, your signage is handwritten, or your packaging isn’t the prettiest.

Be genuine. Your imperfections are what draws people in.

We embrace the mistakes and grow from them.

We create things that are appreciated by other humans because it is something we found near to our hearts in the beginning.

The community we build, we build because it was something missing from our own lives at one point in our journey.

Our existence gives others the inspiration to choose a different path and become a better version of themselves.

All because we chose to continue for another day.

If you're looking for a sign today to keep going, this is it.

Until our paths cross again,
Kate 💚

How is it John can twist and weave and braid wire, but when I ask him to braid my hair, he says he doesn't know how to d...
08/14/2026

How is it John can twist and weave and braid wire, but when I ask him to braid my hair, he says he doesn't know how to do that? 😒 So while I'm figuring how to attach copper wire to my head so he no longer has an excuse, here's a sneak peek of his newest bracelets and cuffs!

Find a plethora of raw copper rings and bracelets at Artisan Alley Market in Copperas Cove, or find us in person to see what we have in our booth this Sunday at the August Sunset Market hosted by Artisan Alley Market from 4P - 8:30P!

Event deets: https://www.facebook.com/events/727472663689180

Our pop up market schedule: https://thetwistedwoodland.com/pages/event-schedule

08/13/2026

Dear Market/Event Coordinators:

We have done events from the tiniest blink-and-you'll-miss-it town market to large multi-day festival and expos with hundreds to thousands of attendees over the last five years. We have seen the difference in demographics and sales with a curated vendor lineup compared to free-for-all vendors added in to fill spaces.

We have watched coordinators scream at vendors for simple questions or after accidentally setting up in the wrong spot because a coordinator gestured to a general unmarked spot.

We have overheard vendors being rude to customers and other vendors who continued to get welcomed back to a market because they were besties with the coordinator.

We have been unofficial on-site coordinators taking time away from setting up our own booth because a market coordinator was never on time, nor organized enough to create a smooth flow for load-in.

We have arrived to expo halls and had zero information on where to set up and volunteers assigned to help with the event who were moments from bursting out in tears because they didn't know either and there wasn't a coordinator on site.

When markets run like this, the "good" vendors begin to disappear over time.

If the income is good, but the attitude and lack of organization of a coordinator is terrible, we won't be back. It could be the best event of the year.

No amount of money is worth sacrificing one's morals, ethics, and mental health repeatedly. No one talks about the burnout vendors can have from this, especially new vendors.

With how many markets and events that are going on every weekend, vendors have so many more options these days to set up at a new location. Depending on the vendor, this can greatly affect foot traffic.

If there's a downslide in vendor attendance, quality of vendors, and foot traffic, take note. Analyze.

Sometimes it's not us, it's you. 😬

You may think posting a vendor call will bring you all the vendors to replace the ones you lost, and it probably will.

A few questions you need to ask yourself:

- Are you putting in the effort to build a strong and welcoming community of vendors that support one another and wants to see each other succeed?

- Do you (or a designated person/team) plan to be on-site, on-time, organized and professional for load in, the full event, and break down?

- Do you have the customer service, communication, and overall workflow skills to do the behind the scenes side of reviewing applications, following up with vendors, and designing a map that makes sense and is safe for all vendors [including food trailers] and attendees?

- Can you remain neutral and logical when it comes to solving problems between vendors or patrons to find a solution that both parties feel like they have been listened to and comfortable with?

- Can you truly dedicate the time (or pay someone else) to spread public awareness of an event in the community and not solely rely on a couple social media posts and vendors to market to their followers?

- Does the thought of constructive criticism and receiving feedback make you excited to go back to the drawing board and test new ideas?

If the answer is no to any of these, find a new pastime.

We vendors talk. We are brutally honest to each other to save others from the mistakes we have made in the past. There are even groups out there where vendors can review events and chat about coordinators who missed the mark. 👁️👄👁️

The best relationships are built on mutual trust, respect, and communication.

If you want us vendors, be a solid Director of Chaos.

Sincerely,
Kate 💚

The surprising truth about owning a handcrafted business is there’s two sides to what we do, and the public only sees on...
08/11/2026

The surprising truth about owning a handcrafted business is there’s two sides to what we do, and the public only sees one. There is the enjoyable whimsical side of creating that folks get to see, and for many small businesses, the not-so-enjoyable tedious side of photographing, editing, listing, and publishing said thing for work reference/examples and/or adding to an online store. There’s the label creation, printer/operator errors, and signage designed and re-designed to make everything look cohesive and professional in our booth.

This is where we balance each other out. 🤜🏼💥🤛🏼

John is a happy camper twisting out all the pieces of jewelry and trees. He gets excited when commissioned for custom trees. If a customer needs an adjustment to copper bracelets/rings at events, he’s happy to help make it fit just right. If he could totally avoid the photography/marketing side, he would.

I’ve talked to a lot of vendors over the years who feel the same way as John.

I’m the opposite end of the spectrum. I LIVE FOR finding new ways to photograph pieces, copywriting, designing graphics and tweaking our website. I take great joy in getting our search engine optimization across Google and Etsy and posting across dozens of Facebook groups to be seen. I’m the marketing nerd that would rather stay behind a screen, sipping on my last few treasured lime slush Alani Nu in my stash [please make it permanent along with cherry bomb thx] while researching new ideas, finding new events to apply for, and designing new promo graphics until my general level of terrible vision (thanks multiple sclerosis 😒) becomes even more terrible.

Ask me to re-create certain pieces of jewelry, make a custom, or give me a deadline for inventory we absolutely need before a market? I will cry. 🙃

For the small businesses out there who are solo struggle-bussing out there:

What’s a task or element in your business that you would delegate to someone else if you could?

🎤

-Kate

Phone signal has been nonexistent with the crowd today, but that’s a good problem to have!! Here until 2PM 🫶🏼
08/08/2026

Phone signal has been nonexistent with the crowd today, but that’s a good problem to have!! Here until 2PM 🫶🏼

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Gatesville, TX
76528

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