A box of spent bicycle inner-tubes from adventures with city biking sat in my basement for a long time before I first started to cut, bend and string them into curvilinear, interlocking shapes. The hand-cut loops combined with a variety of beads that both enhance and contradict the industrial look of the rubber forms, give the necklaces and bracelets their interesting silhouettes and make them appear both manufactured and handmade. The rubber loops with varying sizes and thicknesses present a myriad of possibilities and the jewelry designs continue to evolve.
As the jewelry evolved so did a series of assemblage pieces that combine the inner tube pieces and other found objects from the natural world. The visual relationships of the objects come from their circular shapes, their textures and colors and the striking juxtaposition of man made materials and objects formed in nature. I enjoy using materials that might otherwise be thrown away and materials that have a history and/or show signs of having been weathered. The word torus refers to the donut or round tube shape in geometry so the name Metatorus loosely translated means “after the tube”.
Contact me at janice@metatorus.com for information regarding sales, craft shows and commissions.