Tamra Thomas-Gentry
Artist and Small Business Owner in Elgin, IL
SEARCH RESULTS DISCLAIMER
Due to name/brand impersonation it is necessary to state that I am not affiliated with TamraGentryDesignStudio [dot] com or TamraGentryStudio. I owned the domain name from 2008-2015. In 2015 the domain was purchased by someone who has been and still is fraudulently impersonating me. Visit the site at your own risk.
The only authorized website factually and accurately representing my work is Intruse Studio of Contemporary Fine Craft.
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PROFESSIONAL OUTSIDER-DESIGNER/CRAFTSMAN
I am a professional craftsman working in textiles, metals, and photography.
Braided and woven textiles are an integral, often focal, part of my work. The use of textiles in my designs originated from a desire to find an alternative to gemstone embellishment.
Using myriad braiding techniques across five wooden loom-type Japanese stands, I create micro-textiles from fine silk threads. Each stand produces a different type of base structure.
My fiber pieces begin as either a spool or skein of very fine hand-dyed silk thread. Some of the silks are as fine as a strand of human hair. I warp the threads, then I section, tension, and braid them. The warps range in thickness from five silk strands per individual element (weighted bobbin), up to two-hundred strands per element. The number of elements can vary from eight for tiny ties, up to thirty-two and beyond for thicker, larger, more complex textiles.
As a textile artist and metalsmith, I combine my textile work with my own traditionally-fabricated metal handicraft including Etruscan-style chain weaving, metal forming, granulation and hand-engraving.