Gender Female Created by Kathy Gfeller | Occupation Woodland Fairy | |
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Aliases Twig Oaklyn Flewinia Thistlebottom First appearance "Twig the Fairy and the Curious Land of Real" Similar Fairy, Pixie, Faun, Titania, Oberon | ||
Twig the fairy and the mermaid mystery
Twig Oaklyn Flewinia Thistlebottom, better known as Twig the Fairy, is a fairy character frequently seen at Renaissance fairs around the United States. A "charmer of children", Twig entertains passers-by with jigs and airs played on a double-piped aulos. She occasionally offers a glass stone glittering with "faerie dust" as a token of friendship to children who approach her. The actress who plays Twig describes Twig's character as a "shy and gregarious—kind of a woman-child: innocent, mischievous, playful." Twig is a silent character because, according to the actress who plays her, "talking takes away a bit of the mystery" of fairies.
Contents
A day with twig the fairy
Character
The character of Twig debuted at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in 2003. Since then, Twig has appeared at Renaissance festivals across America. She makes regular appearances at the Carolina Renaissance Festival, the Arizona Renaissance Festival, the Scarborough Renaissance Festival, the Colorado Renaissance Festival, the Siouxland Renaissance Festival (in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) and the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, among others. Twig has appeared twice on the cover of the nationally-published Faerie Magazine and has more than 240,000 followers on Facebook.
Actress
Twig is portrayed by Kathy Gfeller, an actress from the small North Woods town of Ely, Minnesota. She studied theater, fiber arts, and history at Minnesota State University at Mankato. Kathy joined the renaissance festival circuit as a performer after graduating with a degree in fiber arts and sculpture, finding that she could express herself best as a silent fairy. According to Kathy, "Twig was born out of my desire to portray what I thought a real fairy might be, and of what I've always wanted to meet as a child. She is a contradiction: innocent yet mischievous, bashful yet gregarious, full of music yet silent."
Works
Ms. Gfeller published her first Twig the Fairy book in December 2010. It is a photo-illustrated children's story entitled "Twig the Fairy and the Curious Land of Real". A thematic coin was issued by Twig to celebrate the book's publication.
In an interview with Ms. Gfeller in Minnesota Monthly magazine, she announced that she is working on a second book. That book, "Twig the Fairy and the Mermaid Misadventure" was published in December 2011.
On October 18, 2012, Twig, with help (?) of certain goblins, announced a Kickstarter project to support the production of a new storybook, involving "goblins and a unicorn." The campaign met its goal on October 25, with 17 days to spare, no doubt aided by copious amounts of glitter and good will.