Tuesday, November 13, 2012

National Transit Jewelry Series

As I've mentioned before, the National Transit Building in Oil City, Pa is an example of gorgeous architecture.  Anyone who has ever visited has noticed how amazing the building is, both inside and outside.

Inspiration for art most often comes from the artist's life..... what they see, experience, feel, hear and more.  So the designs that I pass everyday on the way to my studio is a natural inspiration for design.

The designs I used are basically literal.  How else will people who briefly pass through be able to associate with the jewelry.  What I have done is try to use them in a variety of ways to make them each different.

The ground floor is tiled and has a narrow tile border that reminds me of a celtic design.  (Not sure that it is.)

This is the design created from the original tile. (Couldn't find my photograph of the tile itself.)


I created a couple of very long necklaces using the floor tile design; one in copper and one in bronze.   The bronze piece took awhile to make as I incorporated some of the chain I bought at the bead show.  I really like the look of combining chain with beading (not to mention how much further the chain will go.  I have enough left to make another necklace.)

Now I want to create more necklaces to be worn with these.  (One thing always leads to another!)



2 comments:

Zoe Nelson said...

Great job, Alice. Those necklaces are yummy!

Anonymous said...

Yes, you've made great use of your "local atmosphere" with these!

FWIW, the "stretching" goes both ways: I started adding chain segments at one point (after a cross-country move) as a way to make a handful of my favorite stashed beads go further.