Kind of Strange

On their own:

The necklace on its own:

The earpiece on its own (prior to adding the mink bones):

More behind the cut!

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I recently got a chance to sit down with Rasmus of AnotherPassion.com to do a quick interview and photoshoot about my Kind of Strange endeavors.  Here’s an excerpt:

Tara’s Jewelry is Kind of Strange

Photo care of Rasmus Rasmussen

Tara Brannigan makes jewelry and costumes out of silver, bones, stones and leather. Among other things. This is almost a counter to her tech-oriented day job, except that her love of technology occasionally steps into the artistic realm. Such as in the case of her bench-cam, a live webcam from Tara’s workshop where interested parties can watch her work in real time.

I met Tara at a coffee shop in Seattle, where she showed me a few samples of her work and took the time to talk to me a bit about her process. We also talked about some of the personal motivations and experiences that have helped fuel Tara’s creativity.

AP: What is your process like? How do you get started on a new piece and when do you know that it’s done?

I force myself to sit down at the bench on a fairly regular basis, but I don’t always have a plan before I do. Generally if I have a plan, it’s because some random idea popped into my head earlier in the day and I feel the need to flesh it out. Usually this happens in a completely inconvenient place or time, such as driving down the freeway or in the middle of some important conversation. I’ve been pretty horrible about actually sitting down to try and go through the brainstorming process, but I’m getting a bit better about it.

Other times I’ll acquire a new piece of material and dink around trying to figure out what it’s supposed to be in. Usually I’ll keep these in sight while working at the bench, so even if I don’t immediately know what it should be, I can be thinking about it in the back of my mind while working. I may not know immediately what it’s meant to be, but I latch onto it as something particularly fantastic that I need to find a purpose for.

The Horn Ring is one of those sorts of projects. I picked up the Duiker antelope horns from a clearance bin at the Bone Room in CA while I was down there visiting. I had no idea what I wanted to make from them at the time, just that they had a great deal of potential. I bought them, put them on the shelf next to my workbench and kept going back to them, but never really sorting out their purpose until I was making a project for a friend. I’d built out a box ring and was looking around for what to put on its top. I wanted the ring to have a proud, rebellious, but also protective nature. I just wasn’t finding the right stone in my collection of random ‘things to set’ though, and started looking through my personal Pile of Random Awesome Stuff. That’s what I spotted the Duiker horns and, after a quick check to make sure one of them would fit, realized I’d finally found the perfect home for it.

Read the full interview over at: http://www.anotherpassion.com/2010/interview/taras-jewelry-is-kind-of-strange/#more-755

Just a quick update to note that I am A) Not Dead and B) will be returning to regular updates within the next few weeks.

I’ve been in the process of locating a new place to live and work on projects. Now that I’ve found one, I have to do the moving & unpacking dance before I can really get back down to business. Once there I should be a heck of a lot more productive though.

In which I actually have some professional photos of my work!  Many thanks to Val Mohney for his fantastic photography skills.  You can see more of Val’s work here: http://www.valmohney.com (also responsible for the infamous Bone Mask photos)

Without further ado, the pics!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

So a while back I posted a YouTube video about local Seattle artist Kim Graham and her fantastic digitigrade leg extensions. 

http://www.kindofstrange.com/2009/digitigrade-legs/

So what do I find this morning when I open my email?

Kim, on her digitigrade leg extensions, in the Weta newsletter!  Weta is now producing Kim’s wonderful leg extensions under the name ‘Weta Legs’.  They’ll run you around $1,320 NZD, so just under $1k USD.

http://www.wetanz.com/wetalegs

Way to go Kim, fantastic work all around!

Kim’s work outside of Weta may be seen at the following locations:

• KimGrahamStudios.com
• SilkMermaid.com

And in person at Semantics Gallery in Edmonds, WA.  (http://www.semanticsartgallery.com/)

Just a quick update:

I’ll be getting a light box later this week.  With luck this means no more hastily taken shots from some random location in my studio! 

I can already feel your sadness over the news that there will no longer be any patio railing, dirty benchtop or (my personal favorite) the bathroom countertops used as backdrops.

Not just another porcupine quill earpiece post!

…well, there is a new earpiece, but there are other things to see as well!

Note: Click the pic for a larger image.

Copper, sterling silver, 3mm fire citrine, wolf snout fur scrap

Sterling silver, fine silver, 14k gold, 12mm rutilated quartz, African porcupine quills

Barnacle, sterling silver, fine silver, 3mm moissanite, fox fur scrap (pending verification)

Also known as ‘The Slightly Less Dangerous’ model.  The quills used here are in the 6-8″ range and look downright small in comparison to the first version, though still quite dramatic.

This one uses much smaller quills and has an additional accent in the form of a peridot cabochon set in fine silver and 14k gold. 

I’ll be taking pictures of this one on its own, but wanted to show the context of where on the ear the piece lies.

Just a quick look at one of the pieces I’ve been working on:

Sterling silver, african porcupine quills.

That’s the first version, the proof of concept, and will be sticking around in my personal collection. A smaller, more polished version will be up shortly.

http://www.kindofstrange.com/livestream

Next scheduled broadcast will be this upcoming Saturday, March 27th from Noon PT until whenever I wear out. (3pm being the earliest possible end time)