Colour Challenge

More Pantone Colour

2012-02-02T13:40:00.002Z

I recently bought a great book on colour by Leatrice Eisemen and Keith Recker

You can check our Leatrice's website here and read some interesting answers on colour she wrote here

Welcome to the Pantone Colour of 2012

2012-01-02T13:14:00.004Z

Pantone's colour of 2012 is ... Tangerine Tango

Color by COLOURlovers

Do you like it?

Their past colours of the year are:

2011- Honeysuckle

Color by COLOURlovers

2010- Turquoise

Color by COLOURlovers

2009- Mimosa

Color by COLOURlovers

2008- Blue Iris

Color by COLOURlovers

You can check out their colour report for Spring/ Summer 2012 here

Colour Lovers are having their own colour of the year competition- what's your favourite?

Colour Dilemma

2011-12-13T03:34:00.011Z

It's been a while!
I have been busy working with colour but not managed to find anything extra to say about it so have been quiet here.
But I'm currently working on a piece and have a colour dilemma.

I'm using some gorgeous matte copper Delicas (number 340) which are a very pink, light colour, and decided to pair them with emerald and amethyst rivolis:

Color by COLOURlovers

Then I decided to add in some Olivine to lighten it up:

Color by COLOURlovers

And then some Padparadscha for a contrast, which I felt it needed:

Color by COLOURlovers

I made sure I kept the new colour down to a small amount, as I just wanted it as a hint, but now I'm not sure. It seems quite a bit of a contrast but then maybe the piece did need it? Maybe I need to up the use of the Padparadscha so the small amount doesn't jar?

Fortunately the necklace is constructed in sections, so I can easily take it apart and reconfigure it as I choose, so I might just do some experimenting with that or sleep on it and see how I feel when the whole piece is completed.

Colour in Copenhagen

2011-07-22T12:00:00.000+01:00

I as fortunate enough to spend a couple of days in Copenhagen and here are some of the colourful things I saw:

Colourful ceramics for sale

Colourful ceramics in a shop window

More ceramics and jewellery in a shop window

A skull beaded curtain!

Striped chairs in a shop window

A rack of spotty dresses for sale

Even more ceramics

Window display of scarves and jewellery

Cushions and boxes

Scarves and boxes

A pile of cushions

Slippers, scarves and cushions

A swan adorned bench and colourful luggage

Walking up these dark graffiti covered stairs led you to this lovely art gallery

Artwork on display in the gallery

Colourful buildings by the canal

New Pantone colours

2011-07-15T17:01:00.000+01:00

Pantone have launched 175 new colours- check them out here

Paper Cuts And Choices

2011-07-06T13:37:00.006+01:00

Tonight I took a short course on paper cutting with Suzy Taylor. You can read more about the course on my blog here but I thought I would show you some of the colour options I had when deciding on what backing paper to use.

All of these photos were taken within a couple of minutes on the same setting, with the same lighting conditions etc so I hope you can see just how much a different backing paper changed the look of the paper I used for the design.

This light blue combined well with the dark blue I used but seemed to make the blue more purple looking. I like the calm and co-ordinated look

This light peachy/orange contrasted well with the dark blue and made it 'sing' more

The pink worked well but again made the blue too purple

The soft mauve worked well for a subtle effect but this wasn't the look I was going for. It also made the blue look a lot lighter

Peach made the blue look a lot darker

Orange was a great contrast and I felt showed the blue and the work off really well

Orange/ red was too harsh of a clash for my tastes and it also really lightened the blue

This taupe worked well with the blue but it made it look much lighter. I also felt it seemed to show off the white parts too much. It was strange that one colour could have such an effect

This soft green worked well but made the blue look mauve

Soft yellow worked really well but made the blue look too purple. I loved the look but wanted to preserve the blue colour

Beige made the blue look dark purple and whilst I loved it, it was too subtle for me!

Lime green was a good combination but made the blue look too purple

This yellow was my final decision. As soon as I put the blue on it the piece seemed to really 'sing' and it showed the blue, and the detail off the best. All white parts, which I didn't want showing, seemed to disappear and it made the work look its best.

Colour animations

2011-06-24T17:43:00.007+01:00

I love stop-motion films and since coming across this site - We Love Stop Motion - I have an endless supply to watch.
Many of them show great uses of colour and here are some examples:

This advertising film, not in English, all about ceramic tiles. Great use of colour and the language barrier doesn't stop it from being educational.

Time-lapse painting

Organising a book shelf- the colour fun in this is great

Nils Inne Playground from jeremy hugues on Vimeo.

Nils Inne Playground by Jeremy Hugues

Mushroom Tea by Max Martin

How much does this one make you want to play with paint?

Happy New Year 2011 Candy Stopmotion Animation from Joonas Utti on Vimeo.

Fun and colourful firework

There are may more films to watch but these were the most colourful ones I found today to share with you

Surrounded By Colour

2011-06-17T13:15:00.004+01:00

Since the recent colour post on my blog I have been taking photos of all the colour that surrounds me.

Fabric paints and pens

The colourful mess that sits behind my laptop. With a pen-pot, Swarovski colour charts, a bauble wreath and an empty jellybean jar. How much more colourful would it be if that were full!

My brooch drawer

Some books and magazines on a shelf behind me

A framed postcard in my bedroom and the bright green tree I can see from the bedroom window

A Day Full OF Colour

2011-06-15T14:58:00.001+01:00

A day out today (you can read more about it here) and here are some photos I took as I was out and about.A sign advertising a tempting treat

This plant was so green it looked fake

Unexpected yellow brickwork

Colourful paint work on the facade and window

Silver, black and beige paint combine

Grey, lilac, cream, brown and silver all combin if this soft colour scheme

Dark bluish purple combines well with lime green

The colourful scarf I'm wearing

Colour In My Life

2011-06-12T14:50:00.001+01:00

It's been a while since I've posted but that doesn't mean that colour hasn't been on my mind. I love looking at colour and taking photos of it when I can. Here are some recent photos, many of which didn't make it onto my blog but are too colourful to waste.

Sea, sand, sky and shadows in Cornwall

Fabric and threads in John Lewis

Banana, strawberry and ice-cream in Cornwall

Flowers in a bar

'Whaam' by Roy Lichenstein

A cocktail and orange garnish

An Urban Palette

2011-04-04T13:51:00.000+01:00

What do you think of when you think of "Urban Skyline"?

Living in London my palette may be greyer than yours.

Does yours have a blue sky? Colourful buildings?

I am using such a palette at the moment and so far it's pretty grey.

But looking at my photos of skylines and urban scenes:

A poster of the London skyline:

and some palettes called "Urban skyline":

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

I think I need to add more colour and make my skyline one I want to see

Colourful Day

2011-04-03T13:25:00.000+01:00

I recently wrote about a trip to Pallant House Gallery and didn't get to show the photos I took of all the colourful artwork, fabric and furniture I got to see. It was a real feast for the eyes!

Here are some more of the photos I took on the day:

Fabric and furniture by Robin and Lucienne Day:

A balloon dress by Susie MacMurray:

"Distant Hills, Light on Dark and Dark through Light" by Ivon Hitchens:

"Cirque De Navacelles" by Leslie Marr:

"Passing Train in a Landscape" by Ceri Richards:

"Near Swannage" by Merk Gertler:

"llanmadoc, Gower" by Kit Barker:

Copper And Colour

2011-03-31T13:21:00.000+01:00

I'm having fun playing with some copper seed beads this week.
Of course using a trusty colour wheel and contrasting/ complementary colours I have paired them with blues.

After my posting about disliking blue I seem to be using a lot of it recently- but I keep managing to sneak in that touch of contrast!

Got the blues

2011-03-30T13:02:00.001+01:00

I posted recently on my blog about not liking using certain colours.

There are some that just don't do it for me:
-wishy-washy blue
-plain baby blue
-hideous bright white
-nothing crystal
-dull baby pink

I guess my dislike of them is obvious from the "names" I give them!

Thinking more about the colours I don't like, and their similarities, makes me realise that what I don't like is the subtle, clear, absense of colour type colours- if that makes sense.

Imagine some crystals - shiny but with such little colour they look clear. That is what I try to avoid.

It's not necessarily one specific colour but I guess it's more obvious with pastels.
I hate when summer fashions come into shops and they're all pastels. I don't mind pastels but there's something about the thought of dressing head to toe in them that sends chills down my spine.

In fact I don't mind pastels or subtle colours- look at some of these gorgeous pastel colour palettes:

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Now add a touch of spice, contrast or something stronger, and pastels can even make my heart race:

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

I guess on a screen it's impossible to represent that clear, absence of colour which is why I like these palettes. Turn them into almost clear crystals and suddently I want nothing to do with them!

What colours just don't do it for you?

Familiar Shape, New Colour Scheme

2011-02-23T19:37:00.005Z

I am back working on a triangular piece at the moment whilst I ponder some recent beading experiments.

I love using black but unfortunately it doesn't always photograph too well- it's hard to show detail- but I couldn't resist a lot of black for this piece.

I very rarely use blue in my work- plain blue that is. I use teal, turquoise, aqua etc but rarely plain old "blue" so I thought I would try it in this piece.

Of course I can't cope with just plain old blue so I set out looking for a colour scheme which would incorporate it along with colours I do actually like!

I returned to an old favourite- the Colour Scheme Designer and chose an "analogic" scheme which gave me this (with a bit of tweeking of the boundaries from me of course)

I really liked the scheme and began this bangle back in December but when I returned to it today I felt there was something missing- typical me!

So, back to the scheme designer and this time I chose an "Accented Analogic" scheme and got this. I love the addition of the orange/ ywllow/ mustard (or gold which is what I will mainly use) and began using it right away.

Color by COLOURlovers

Beading In The Dark

2010-11-27T22:41:00.007Z

Having finished one new version of my Geometric 1-9-1 pendant I was itching to rush on with another one and grabbed another crystal as well as some cylinder beads which all looked as though they worked together and got to beading.

Come the morning and better light it was obvious the combination didn't work too well- but what to do?

The crystal I had chose was black on one side with a blue/ green coating on the back - or so I thought.
The main cylinder beads I chose were almost black with a subtle green sheen- again this was what it looked like to me late at night in the dark.
The other cylinder beads were a gold which I felt would zing out between the dark colours- can you guess where this is going?

Fortunately I stopped beading before I secured the crystal in which meant I got to have a good look at it in the daylight and my errors soon became apparent:
The crystal was indeed black but the back was definitely blue/ silver- no green in sight.
The main cylinder beads were definitely a forest green.
The gold cylinders were definitely a red/ brown.
The combination just did not go!

Well, the black on the front looked ok but the back of the work was all wrong and in a double-sided pendant I wanted to get it right. The beadwork was warm and green with gold and the crystal was cool with blue and silver.

What to do?

Fortunately I had a few other crystals (good job I was so indecisive when buying them and bought all I liked!)

You can see the fronts of the crystals here:

The backs of the crystals here:

As the beadwork wasn't finished I was able to put in the crystals to see what each one would look like:

The green I felt was far too "limey" with a big hint of silver for the forest green in the beadwork.

I liked the amber/ brown but if I had been going to choose this colour from the start I would have swapped the green and brown in the beadwork as I like the outline of the star pattern to really stand out and I was worried it would be lost against the crystal. In real life the crystal look smuch darker and more closely resembles the brown cylinder beads.

The clear had too much of a lilac look to it which just didn't go at all.

So I was still wondering what to do.

In the end I settled for the green and hoped it would work.

But a few rows on I just wasn't happy. The greens didn't work together and I hated it.
Deep down I knew the only combination which would work was the amber crystal and I threw away all my prejudices about wishing I had swapped over the colours in the scheme and out the crystal in and carried on beading.

A few rows on...

I loved it!

The colour scheme works perfectly and I am pleased to say that the star outline still stands out as although the colours of the cylinder beads and the crystal are close the fact that one is so transparent whilst the other is opaque means they look different.

Geometric 1-9-1 version 2

2010-11-26T22:28:00.007Z

When I first beaded my Geometric 1-9-1 back in early 2009 I used browns and golds as these were the colours of the crystals and small cylinder beads I had access to.

Ever since then I have wanted to bead another one in less sublter colours and finding some great crystals in New York recently as well as teaching it as a class was all the incentive I needed.

This one I beaded using a very light, transparent green cylinder bead combined with a steel-grey/ silver hex bead.

The crystal I chose is clear but has a gold/ green coating on the back which gives it a great light green/ gold AB shine.

As the green cylinder beads were so transparent I used a dark green thread throughout to ensure they would not "lose" any colour as I used them.

On the back of the piece I added extra rows using the contrast bead as I wanted to see it more and also as I wanted to see less of the crystal for an experiment in how that changed the look.

On the finished piece the silver beads look as though they are actually gold/ bronze as they reflect the green and gold of all the surrounding beads so much- no silver in sight!

More Gaudi Colours

2010-11-01T22:15:00.004Z

After my recent experiments with Gaudi colours on my geometric vessels I have decided to bead some more of them in a different shape but with the same colours.

For these I decided to bead two different ones which are exactly the same size, shape and colours- the only different being that I would reverse the colours scheme.

The first pendant uses a very light, white cream as the main colour with a mix of the oranges, blues, black and yellow that I used for my previous pendants.

The second pendant swaps around the scheme with the mix of colours being much more dominant with the end result that the cream looks a lot whiter and even "harsher" with the lines seems to jump out from the vessel.

Gaudi Colours

2010-10-28T14:01:00.003+01:00

I am busy working on the project I will teach at my "Inspired by Gaudi" beading retreat in September 2011.

When deciding on a theme for the retreat Gaudi seemed an obvious choice because of the geometry of his work and his use of mosaic and colour.

I have decided to bead a geometric pendant which can be opened.

My colour inspiration came from this photo and I decided to use a strong orange (which was shiny) a blue (also shiny), black (once again, shiny) and yellow (yep, you guess it, shiny).

Now, I know from experience that too much shiny is not good for a project so I added in a matte orange to try and counteract all the shine.

Here you can see my first attempt using these colours:

Not good!
As I thought, all the shiny beads meant that the pattern and different colours were lost in the mix.

So next I moved onto using much more of the matte orange beads:

This was much more successful
This time at least you could see the structure and pattern much better and I was happier.

However, I felt that the colours looked a bit "muddy" and none of them stood out and "zinged" as I felt the colours did in the photo.

So I decided to add in white (more of a creamy-white as I felt white would be too hard):

I love this!

I think the oranges, yellow and blue stand out much more- even though there's far less of them.
It's amazing how the simple addition of another colour can completely alter the look of a piece.

Crystal Wheels

2010-10-21T13:49:00.000+01:00

These beaded beads are definitely my new addiction!
I have been beading different coloured variations of them for a few months now but was limited by the colours I could get hold of.
But I recently found a new supplier of the crystals so have a whole new palette to play with!

My first choices of colours were this coral red, the lovely blue, silver, gold and copper

I mixed and matched them to come up with three different variatons using appropriately coloured seed beads:

I combined the coral red with gold and a dark gold seed bead for a rich, warm look

I paired the blue with the silver and dark grey seed beads to bring out the cold shine in all the colours

I also paired the blue with the copper and dark gold seed beads to change how the blue looks. In this variation I think the blue reflects the copper and gold and becomes much warmer. Wht do you think? Compare it with the blue in the picture above and let me know.

These will be launched as a kit very soon so sign up for my newsletter to find out when- and keep an eye out for any other colour variations I come up with!

Oops...

2010-09-29T13:27:00.000+01:00

... it's been a while!
but in my defence none of my recent work has seemed to be very "colour based" so I didn't feel I had much to update you with

But here are some of what I have been working on with some words on the colours I used:

Interlocking Crystals
Usually I try to completely avoid galvanised beads but when I was beading my samples for this project I was just drawn to them.
Fortunately as I beaded it (a good 150-200 hours) none of the coating came off so I hope they stand the test of time for a while longer!

For this piece I knew I wanted an opulent look and olivine is one of my favourite crystal colours so I figured if I was going to spend a lot of time looking at it as I worked it might as well be a colour I loved.
I paired the green with silver rather than gold partly because I prefer it, and the necklace wire I had was silver-coloured, but mainly because I wanted a brighter look and felt silver would give me this.

Interlocking Crystals bangle
Having worked for so long on the necklace using just two colours I was desperate for a change!
So, for this bangle I chose to use a wide range of colours of crystal and resisted the temptation to pair them with silver
Instead I added in black and white (well, a very light grey really- I usually avoid white as I find it too harsh) to use as neutrals.

Work in progress
This crystal and geometric piece is still very much a work in progress.
I chose to pair the "crystal coloured" crystal with silver as it match the "cold" look of the crystal and when it came to the other colour I resisted what would have been my usual choice- green- to instead use a blue which works with the silver but also has a finish with brings in some other colours to add extra interest

Even More Yellow And Violet

2010-07-08T14:06:00.004+01:00

Ok, I admit it- I am in love with this colour scheme!

I needed to finish a bangle, make another bangle and also some more little beaded beads for a new pattern which will be available to purchase soon.

I had already made the bangle in violet with some yellow so just added extra yellow to that to finish the outside edge off.

Then what colour to do the other bangle in?
Well, obviously yellow was what came to mind!

This one I wanted to bead in an analogous colour scheme so used yellow, orange and brown which is much subtler than pairing yellow with violet.

The beads I am using are firepolished with some being a lot sparklier than others which gives extra interest to the finished pieces.

Yet More Yellow And Violet

2010-06-24T12:04:00.003+01:00

I have finished my three bangles and as I said last time I went back to working with yellow and mixed it with violet for one of my favourite colour combinations.

I used size 8 seed beads mixed with yellow lentil beads in two different patterns.
To add extra interest to the seed beads I mixed two different finishes: a metallic and a plain dyed.

13 Months Of Colour

2010-06-20T20:40:00.003+01:00

Ok, I admit it, time has just slipped by and I haven't been able to keep up with the challenge.

Life got in the way.

I originally planned to spent a year looking at 6 different colours (yellow, orange, red, violet, blue and green) dedicating two months to each colour.

I did ok with yellow, orange, red and even managed to squeeze in some violet but by the end of 2009 life got a lot more hectic.

Add in travelling a lot for work, Christmas and the magazine I was working for upping the number of issues by 33% and I barely found much time for beading and any I did do was often dictated by other factors and I wasn't able to devote the time to it I wanted.

So, I have decided to wind it all back in and go back to the start and change the parameters.

So, rather than dictate a set amount of time to each colour, I want to work with each one until I personally feel I have learnt all I can about it.

This will hopefuly stop me rushing through a colour, as I felt I did with yellow, to meet the schedule when I would rather play with it more.

So, in celebration of this I have gone back to yellow and violet!

These are two colours and a scheme I fell in love with all the way back at the start which surprised me.

I am in the middle of beading a set of three banngles which use each colour to different amounts.

Dagger schemes

2010-06-19T20:11:00.001+01:00

I'm still working on my "Faux Crochet" technique and have made these two reversible bangles which use quite similar schemes- lots of browns, pinks and golds.

The first one uses gold dagger beads which also have hints if pinks and purples on them. I teamed these with brown hex beads in shiny and matte.

My second one uses pink daggers beads which have swirls of other colours running through them. I teamed these with seed beads in pinks and browns.

Keeping to the same colour scheme I have also beaded this bangle using pearls in lost of shades of chocolate brown, pinks and greens.

Neutrals

2010-06-14T20:06:00.000+01:00

I'm working on a new technique: "Faux Cro" a lot at the moment and also putting together some work for an new thing I am launching soon.
I am conbining the two with some lovely colourful beads I bought last year in New York.

The beads are so colourful I knew as soon as I bought them that I wanted to pair them with these black and white seed beads as the perfect "neutral" background.

St Valery Sur Somme

2010-06-02T19:18:00.001+01:00

I'm over in France and I don't know if it''s a combination of the sunshine, rest and good food and drink but this town oozes colour!
I seemed to spend the day coming across unexpected dashes of strong colour amidst all the natural schemes.

I have spent the day taking photos which I hope will provide colour inspiration for future projects.The sky before we set off:

The view over the water:

Some colourful shutters:

Garge doors:

Painted bricks and shutters:

Some irises:

More painted brickwork and shutters:

Color by COLOURlovers

Tiles:

Bright shutters:

A boat on the water:

Subtle shades

2010-05-26T19:11:00.000+01:00

I don't usually use subtle colours so this scheme is a bit of a change for me!

To create this pendant I used cream tiny beads combined with gold/copper/ brown beads and a copper chain.

Color by COLOURlovers

Onye 5

2010-05-09T18:59:00.000+01:00

I'm busy working away on my 5th version of my Onye design.
This one uses some light mint green vintage buttons I was given and I have teamed them with some gold and turquoise seed beads.

Color by COLOURlovers

Metallics And Mint

2010-05-07T18:17:00.000+01:00

I seem to only be working with metallics at the moment- specifically silver.

I normally try and involve this in beads as I am so wary of the galvanised finish. All that work for the colour to just rub off- I hate it!

But some guidelines I decided to try and work to specified the following colours: "Gold, silver, pale blues, sweet mauve, gunmetal, hint of mint green"
So I headed to my silver beads and have found it hard to leave them every since!
First up is my Miriam Bangle which I first beaded using silver, gunmetal and these lovely violet Swarovski rivolis.

Color by COLOURlovers

I have previously written (nearly 4 years ago- yikes!) about making sure you mix matte with shiny and that still applies and the gunmetal beads perfrom that task in this piece.

Next up was another version of the bangle and this time I took inspired from the mint green mentioned in the brief.
I matched the green up with a dark forest green and a crystal that is mainly clear.

Color by COLOURlovers

After beginning with the silver on my bangle I continued it for these crystal interlocking pieces. I have combined them with olivine green crystals which I absolutely love.

Color by COLOURlovers

Crystal Balls (Primary and Secondary)

2010-05-03T16:15:00.003+01:00

Phew- it's been a while!

I haven't done much beading recently and what I did I was either keeping secret or making in silvers which didn't seem very colourful.

Anyway- here is one of my latest pieces which uses colours based on the colour wheel- but nice and sparkly.

You can see more about the actual project here.

The colours I used for the crystals rotate through the colour wheel and use the primary and secondary colours (red- orange- yellow- green- blue- violet- red).

My first choice when beading this was the colour of the seed beads.
This I wanted to be a "neutral" colour i.e. one that would compliment the crystals but not to be too strong to take over.

The most commonly used neutrals are black and white- but I wanted neither. I hate using white and black is a nightmare to photograph and show detail with so they were out for those reasons.
My next choice would have been grey (I love this as a neutral and used it in my "Freeform Cuffs"
But I didn't have just the right shade of grey I wanted- they were either too silver, too dark or too matte.

So I rummaged through all my bead boxes (I have a few...) and came up with a lovely copper colour.

This is not a colour I have used as a neutral before but when I put it with the crystals I wanted to use it went with all of them perfectly so I may use it again.

It was just the right shade and finish- it was reflective so took on the colours of all the crystals, it was quite clear and shiny so didn't absorb light or distract from the crystal- just perfect.

Egg Shell Shades

2010-04-14T18:02:00.006+01:00

Today I'm playing around with polymer clay and using one of the colour resources I now am lucky enough to own- these great ready-made colour samples (I previously recommended them on one of my resources posts).

I was experimenting with an idea I had a few years ago and had yet to actually sit down and play with: using egg shells to add a mosaic look to the clay.

I knew I wanted a beige colour as the background but had no idea how to mix it- so my new toy turned out to be a great help.
I flicked through all the sections and chose a colour that I liked and learnt that I needed 2 parts white to 1 part each of yellow and brown.

I cut these amounts, chopped them up and began mixing...

and conditioning.

Soon I had the perfect colour to be the background for my shell pieces without having to sit there and spend ages adding colours and getting it wrong.

This will appear as a project in issue 24 of Bead magazine- out 21st July 2010.

Flocking

2010-04-09T17:41:00.000+01:00

I spent the day with the lovely and talented Julie Smallwood of Natty Jewels and had lots of fun playing around with colour and flock.

The item we were flocking was an old table with a distinctive texture. At first the plan was to section it all off into small squares but we soon realised this was beyond our level of patience and skill so we moved onto using the tiles as natural barriers between each colour.

Next was making the colour choices- there were lots of lovely colours to choose from.
I'm glad it wasn't my decsion, I would have had trouble choosing!

We began by Julie narrowing down her choices to her favourite colours.

As there were 9 squares she narrowed them down further to 9 colours.

We soon realised though that choosing 9 which were different enough without there being too much of a bias towards one colour wasn't going to be easy. She wanted it to look balanced with no one colour or variant of that colour featuring too much.

So we changed plan and instead went for purples, lilacs and pinks which all seemed to work together nicely.

And we were off!

Flocking is time consuimg and messy and a few hours later we'd run out of background paint, were covered in fluff and tired and the table still wasn't finished.
Oh well- off we went to dinner and I left Julie to finish the table on her own....

Colour In Paris

2010-02-26T17:07:00.000Z

A quick trip to Paris where just like my previous trips (here, here and here) I find lots of colour inspiration.
A walk through the city brings me upon a statue (I'm not sure if it had a purpose) in emerald green.
The green got lighter towards the bottom and it stood out as an unusual colour to use.

Later in the day we visited Montmarte and on the way found the most amazing lighting shop.
They only sold one type of light-shade- but it was enough!

They were simple balls which fitted over strings of lights and you could buy them already made in colour themes of mix and match to make your perfect combination.

It ws the most mesmerising sight to come across- and we weren't the only ones who found it so. The shop ws a magnet for people to stop and look at the colours.

Unfortunately we were travelling light but there's always another time...

The next day we came across these wonderful mosaic on the metro- very inspiring.

More Violet and Yellow

2010-02-16T12:05:00.002Z

I can't help it- I love this colour combination!

I recently began making this new sea urchin in violet and yellow but wasn't happy with the size of the seed beads with the daggers so it sat around waiting for me to decide whether to cut it up.

Then when I made that decision I needed to find the beads as I'd managed to mislay them.

So, once all that was done it was back to beading and this didn't take me long at all.

I made my first of these back in 2003 and have meant ever since then to make another one. Once I had decided to do it- in yellow and violet of course- it then was just matter of tracking down enough yellow dagger beads- not an easy task.

But I got there in the end and am delighted with it- the set of them make a very colouful display.

Colour Of The Year

2010-02-15T13:11:00.002Z

Pantone have chosen turquoise as their colour of the year- which is great for me as I love it!
My first item using it in 2010 are these simple wirework and mixed bead earrings.

More Violet

2010-02-08T15:12:00.002Z

After using violet in more subtle way in my beaded beads I couldn't resist adding a touch of "zing" and pairing it with yellow in this bangle and beaded bead.

I first fell in love with the yellow/ violet combination right at the start of this colour challenge when I used it in one of my geometric bracelets and it's one I've returned to again and again since.

I love the way the yellow combines well with the violet but really lifts it up and stops it becoming a "blur of violet" which I think a lot of work in this colour becomes.

If I get nothing else out of this challenge I at least got one of my favourite colour combos!

Sparkly Crystal Wheels

2010-01-30T13:34:00.002Z

I'm working on series of beaded beads for Bead magazine and these sparkly ones will be the first published.
I began making them in lots of different colours but then ordered some violet crystals just for them to fit in with my new colour in the colour challenge- finally I am on violet (just 2 months behind now!)

I matched them with a lovely grey to keep them toned down. My previous use of violet was at the start of this challenge when I was working with yellow so I was looking for a subtler way of using it.

Bit Of A Catch-Up

2010-01-16T19:46:00.001Z

Ooops where did the time go?!?!?

Life and time rushed by and I hadn't realised it had been such a long time since I last posted here. Unfortunately that also means I hadn't got much beading done.

Well, I did make one lovely set of bangles but as they weren't in red (which I'm meant to be using) I didn't mention them.

But I'm back and finishing off using red- and my last project is my 3rd in my red series of what I'm currently calling my "Stunning, secret samplers"

This last one is red and green which is not my favouite colour combination but by mixing up the reds and greens I used, rather than just sticking to the "Christmas versions" I really like the finished result. Unfortunately I left my fully red version in the office ao you can't see it here but as soon as I get a chance I'll photograph them all together

Colour sayings

2009-12-02T07:16:00.004Z

After I posted with the titles "red and green should never be seen", which is the version of the saying I grew up with, I have had a couple of emails from people with the ones they know.
After much googling it seems there are lots of variations on this saying - I wonder why on earth people felt the need for them all?
Actually looking at them now they all seem to feature green- I wonder if it's just because more words rhyme with it?

But it also seems that not only are there variations on the saying, there are lots of different ending- you can mix and match to your pleasure!

Some I have found are:
Red and green should never be seen...
Blue and green should never be seen...
Pink and green should never be seen...

Some of the possible additions are:
...except on an Irish queen/ colleen
...without something inbetween
...without yellow inbetween
...except on fools and flowers (the only non-rhyming one?)

Other non-related sayinsg I found wee:
Never wear brown in town
Fawn should not be worn
Only wear yellow if you are mellow

I think the theory that these rules are just based on rhyming words does seem to fit.

Back To Beading

2009-12-01T09:32:00.000Z

I first made these "Sea Urchins" when Carol Perrenoud visited the UK back in 2003 and have always meant to bead another one.

As soon as I started this colour challenge I was itching to bead one with yellow dagger beads and violet seed beads. Which of course are each others complementaries and a combination I have fallen in love with!

Unfortunately I found it hard to track down large, solid-yellow dagger beads in the UK in the quantity I needed- 135.

I did manage to find 20 small ones in a solid bright yellow and some large ones in a transparent yellow but neither were what I wanted.

But last night I raided my bead stash and found these transparent yellow small ones so thought I'd give it a go with them.

But now I've started I'm not sure.

I still used size 8 seed beads but think I should use size 11 instead so the daggers/ spikes are still the same scale as they are on the others.

But can I bear to start again?

Black And White

2009-11-21T09:44:00.001Z

I love the combination of black and white mixed with a strong colour and the addition of red is one I have used before.

Whilst away in New York I don't have access to all of my bead stash- only what I have bought since arriving here but a quick visit to a craft shops arms me with a crochet hook and some thread so bead crochet it is then!

I bought these striped beads (one of my favourites in the world) and the red ones meaning to bead some kind of spiral with them so that the red beads could stick out and spiral around- and bead crochet fits the bill.

These bracelets are quick to make- maybe 90 minutes start to finish? And are ideal to bead in front of the TV as once you've strung all the beads on it's simply a matter of crocheting.

The first one I beaded:

I then made a smaller scale piece to match:

Lastly one with green beads:

One Red Done

2009-11-16T10:19:00.002Z

I have now finished one of my red projects for Bead magazine's colour special. I can't finish the next one until I get hold of a nice, strong magnetic clasp.

Then I just need to crack on with my fourth version- which will be red and green.

Red and green is a great example of a complementary colour scheme (using two colours opposite each other on a colour wheel) whilst the necklace I have finished is monochromatic (using just examples of one colour) and the unfinished one is analogous (using colours next to each other on the wheel, with this example using all the colours in the wheel.)

If you want some help coming up with a scheme then this is a great website.

Red and green should not be seen PT 2

2009-11-10T18:45:00.001Z

Still working with red and this time have decided to match it with its complement- green.

This isn't usually a colour scheme I like at all- not even really at Christmas (which I really like!) so I wasn't too enthusiastic about using it.

But, as has freqently happened during this challenge, once I sat down and worked with it my feelings changed and I like it now.

In fact I can't think of a scheme I have used that I haven't grown to love.

Does familiarity breed love?

Yet more red

2009-11-08T13:54:00.003Z

I'm still working on my series of herringbone ropes for the red months in my Colour Challenge and have almost completed the red+ mixed colours version. It just needs its hidden clasp added.

I've now started to bead my all reds version and as soon as this one is done I'll be beading one in red and its complementary colour- green.

I began this red version planning to just use reds but found that you could nto see any distinction between them as the rope grew so I went back to the drawing board and added in pinks and red-violets so you could actually see some of the work I was putting in!

Still In The Red

2009-11-03T11:48:00.002Z

After a busy halloween I'm back to beading and still working away on my latest herringbone rope.

This one is 3/4 of the way done and then just needs the hidden clasp added.

As soon as this one is done I'll be making one all in reds and then I hope to bead one in red and green- as long as I get the time!

No Rest For The Wicked

2009-10-27T17:32:00.004Z

I'm on a roll now- after months of not feeling very creative, this colour challenge has had the desired effect and I'm itching to create at any opportunity!

I'm currently working on a new herringbone rope necklace. I have made a couple of these before, see here and here.

This one will be like the second one and will have a hidden clasp.

To fit in with my colour challenge I'm going to make a couple of these based on red colour schemes.

My first one matches reds with greens, blues, violets, oranges, pinks, yellows and golds- in fact every colour on the colour wheel and every shade inbetween!

An analogous colour scheme is where you use colours next to each other on the colour wheel.
Previously when using red in an analogous scheme I have matched it with yellow and orange- but this time I'm matching it with every colour but using red as the dominant colour.

The reds I am using go from bright "red, red" to pink, to violet and to orangy-reds. Click on the photo for a larger view.

The contrast colours I'm using go from blue, to green, to violet, to gold, to orange, to yellow and just about everything in between- I just grabbed tubes and tubes of beads and went for it! Click on the photo for a larger view.

This will appear as a project in a future issue of Bead magazine.

Geometric 3-1-1

2009-10-26T12:18:00.005Z

I finally finished my new set of beaded beads all done in reds with bright colours to match which I have been working on for a few weeks.

I decided I wanted to make these nice and bright so added in yellow, orange, blue, green, teal and purple.

You can wear them all threaded onto a bangle at once or indivually- or any combination inbetween.

Colourful Temari

2009-10-24T12:01:00.001+01:00

I had a busy day today temari-ing- something I've been itching to do for a while. I love using threads and of course they're just another excuse to play with colour!

The first one I made was a Rose Garden design and, as I'm still working away using reds, I used an analogous scheme with red, orange and yellow.

The second was more complicated, and probably the most complicated one I have made, and uses an "interlinked pentagon" design.

Again to keep in with the challenge I used 12 different reds. Right from orangy-red, through pinky-reds and violet-reds, and teamed them with a green as the contrast colour.

As I made this one I used pins to help me see where I needed to work and planned to add another embellishement to the centre of each pentagon at the end.

But once I had finished I decided I liked the look of them so may leave them in, at least until I decide what else to do.

More Colourful

2009-10-20T21:01:00.001+01:00

If my previous post with colour games tempted you then why not try these ones.

New book

2009-10-19T17:05:00.005+01:00

- Testudinarious
- Divisia
- Coloury
- Flemingin
- Porret
- Glenting

I'm loving my new book- "A dictionary of colour" by Ian Paterson. Now I just need to try and fit those words into everyday conversation!

The definitions are:

- Gleaming, shining brightly
- A yellowish green- linked to a baby's leak!
- having colour/ possessing an abundance of colour
- Having the colour (and other characteristics) of a tortoise or tortoise-shell
- A yellow dyed used for silks
- The coloured ribbons used in bull-fighting

Now, obviously I'm not going to make it easy for you- so see if you can match up the definition to the word.

Red and green should not be seen?

2009-10-18T16:51:00.001+01:00

Still on red and at the moment using using that classic complementary scheme- red and green.

I have so often heard "red and green should not been seen" but that makes no sense. Mind you I also often hear "blue and green should not be seen" so I guess it's used for anything "and green"

Red and green are opposite each other on the colour wheel which makes them ideal partners - and a classic combination which begins to be especially apparent at this time of year.

I'm still working away on my red beaded beaded but as a bit of variety I've decided to crochet myself a necklace inspired by a scarf fringing I saw recently.

I want lots of red cherries with green leaves hanging from a long, green crocheted chain- well, that's the plan.

I can't decide at the moment whether to mix up the reds I use or stick with one. So, I'm just working with one at the moment.

I think looking at them that just going with one will be best as then they'll be more cherry-like.

We'll see!

Getting ready for blue

2009-10-17T16:37:00.001+01:00

Ok, I know blue is a few months off but today was The Big Bead Show (you can read more about it here on my blog) and I managed to buy yet another blue cabochon from Designer Cabochons.

It was only as I took the photo that I realised the only things I bought today featured the blue and brown colour combination I love so much- the do perfectly together- wonder if I can work out a way to use them in the same project?

Beginning with reds

2009-10-11T16:59:00.001+01:00

I have begun, finally, working in reds and realise that once again it's a colour I rarely use.

I did use it in a analogous scheme with my red embroidered cuff.

Then mixed with black and white for a more monochromatic scheme in Geometric 3-4-1.

I'm now working away on sets of interchangable beaded beads based on work in my Geometric Beadwork series and playing around with red.

I began with a mix of reds and decided that rather than use any colour "rules" I woudl just put in any other colours I felt like.

I wasn't happy at first as it was all a bit random and they didn't seem to go together at all.

But once I looked at what I had beaded it soon became apparent that there were two groups.

The first used darker beads so I took these off and put them onto a metal chain.

The second used brighter colours and it's now this group that I'm working on to make lots more.

I'm hoping that just playing around with reds will teach me a lot about what works with it and what doesn't.
Check back to see if my plan works!

Reverse Chilli Bead

2009-10-02T21:26:00.000+01:00

I have now beaded a new version of my Chilli Beaded Bead- but this time swapped around the orange and purple beads and used purple crystals instead of orange.

I was interested to see how different they looked and although it's a simple colour swap it really does make a different.

The bead with more orange looks a lot larger- this is because the lighter colour 'expands' it visually. That's why people tell you to wear black if you want to look slimmer!

A similar effect is apparent in my piece Geometric 3-4-4.
3-4-4a looks a lot larger than 3-4-4b as the use of colour in the 'valleys' makes them visually expand and when the two bracelets are put next to each other it is hard to believe they are exactly the same- just the use of black is swapped.

Another visual difference is that the green on the 'purple' bead looks a lot darker than it does on the 'orange' one. On the orange it is a lot 'springier'.

I am teaching these beaded beads in New York in November.

Chilli Bead

2009-10-01T13:28:00.003+01:00

A new beaded bead today- I'm loving making these at the moment!
I need to move onto red soon but I'm away and didn't realy pack any red beads with me so am sticking with orange instead.

The colour scheme for this one was inspired by a plant I saw on my recent trip to Arundel Castle.

I loved the mix of green red/ orange and purple and couldn't resist translating that into a simple colour scheme.

The original photo/ plant had more green in it but as I'm working with orange I upped the use of that colour instead.

Analogous Beaded Bead

2009-09-30T20:53:00.001+01:00

My new beaded bead is all done- I can't wait to start using red in October!

Analogous Orange Scheme

2009-09-27T15:50:00.004+01:00

After working in a monochromatic colour scheme for the past week and watching everyone else having fun with colour I'm itching to spice things up.

I'm still working on my Colour Challenge and the colour I'm using now is orange.

So far I've mixed it with blues for a complementary scheme, browns and yellow for a toned down look and pink with teal and gold for a sunshine look.

This time I have gone for an analogous scheme so am using red, orange and yellow.

Color by COLOURlovers

Onye 4

2009-09-26T15:38:00.001+01:00

Well- she's all beaded now and I'm delighted with her.

This was a real lesson in perseverence as well as actually being sensible and think about what you're beading before you go down the wrong path- I would have saved myself a lot of unnecessary beading and chopping if I'd done that first.

I am really pleased with the way the colours worked out. That was my first hurdle as I wanted the piece to look green (a monochromatic scheme) but found that all of the greens I put with it just weren't the right one.
They were too blue, too yellow or even just too bright.
Eventually I settled on... gold

Ok, they're not completely gold but when looked at away from the beadwork they're definitely more a greenish-gold than a goldish-green. A lot more gold than they look in this first picture.

In this second picture you can see that whilst there is green in there they're definitely more gold- and there's lots of red and blues too.

But in the finished piece they look green- which works for me!

Work In Progress- Day 4

2009-09-23T16:39:00.000+01:00

If you ever thought beadwork appears by magic prepare to have your illusions shattered!

So far I have chopped this piece up 4 times and I think I’m going to have to do it again.

I’m finally getting somewhere and love the colour but it’s what do I do next about the design.

You see I had got my maths all figured out so the number going around my central crystal is divisible by 6- except I now want to add 8 crystal around it.

I’m only 1 bead a row out.

That’s not much.

I’m going to chop it up anyway.

What would happen if I went along and cracked out 1 bead a row all the way across the width of my work?

Would I crack a wrong bead?

Would I snap a thread?

Would it ever work?

Would it always look wrong?

Am I just being lazy and should I bite the bullet and chop it all up again?

Eventually I reason: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” and in I go.

Well, so far, so good.

I cracked out the beads- taking the first 2 rows down from 66 beads to 64 beads and wove and wove and wove through with a new thread before it all unravelled and fell apart (of course I snapped a few threads cracking the beads- I wasn’t going to get away with it that easily!)

It all seems to look ok and I’m now onto my 2^nd surrounding rivoli so fingers crossed it works out this time as otherwise I can see the crystal not surviving its rapid trip towards the nearest wall…

Work In Progress- Day 2

2009-09-21T16:34:00.001+01:00

Still beading Onye version 4.

Ok, I then moved onto an emerald green which didn’t work.

Out came the scissors

Then a bluey-green.

Out came the scissors.

Why is it not obvious these don’t work until I have beaded at least 2 components which are all joined together?!?!

Now I have settled on a dark greeny-gold.

But it soon becomes apparent that though my maths are correct and I have the right number of beads etc, my geometry is a bit off- there is no way the number of surrounding rivolis I had planned will actually fit.

I had not taken into account the curvature of the large crystal being different.

Of course not- I’m just a simple beader!

As soon as I stand back and take a look at it I want to smack my own head as it is so obvious they wouldn’t fit (I’m too embarrassed to tell you how many I had planned!)

Why did I not take the simple step of laying the whole thing out flat and just seeing if it would work first?

Out come the scissors…

Work In Progress- Day 1

2009-09-20T16:30:00.002+01:00

I’m off in Chichester again teaching a 6-day long geometric beadwork class and am really looking forward to spending all that time immersed in it and seeing what people produce (I will be running the same class again next year if you’re interested- who knows how it will have developed by then!).

Whilst I’m here I’m determined to get some of my own beading done and once again I’m working away on another Onye Pendant. This time though I’m using a much, much larger crystal for the centre.

My first problem is what colour to put with it. Of course most of my bead stash is sitting at home and try as I might I just can’t find the right green to use along the edge. This light one looked ok until I began adding extra rivolis around the outside edge and then it was obvious it was all wrong.

So out come the scissors…

Colour Project

2009-09-10T20:58:00.001+01:00

I bought this frame on my way back from Liverpool and am itching to bead some panels to sit inside it- not sure it will work but will give it a go when I get a chance.

Colourful Liverpool

2009-09-09T20:54:00.000+01:00

A vist today to the Tate Gallery in Liverpool to see their exhibition on colour. Unfortunately no photos were allowed.

These were some great pieces, especially 'Eight paintings with eight colours' by Katharina Fritsch, pieces by Gerhard Richter, some of Damien Hirst's 'spot paintings' and 'Zobop' by Jim Lambie.

Inspiring Orange

2009-09-02T19:39:00.001+01:00

A visit to Arundel Castle and its gardens again today.

Last time I was looking for yellow but this time it was orange I was seeking out.

Also loved the texture of this bobbly plant

Great orange chillis

Loved this scheme- red, orange and yellow are to be expected but the added bonus of purple is fab!

A close up of the mixed scheme.

Purple and green- will file away for future use!

St Petersburg Pots

2009-08-31T20:07:00.000+01:00

For the next issue of Bead I'm making little pots using St Petersburg chain- an old project I came up with a few years ago but never did anything with.
So of course I'm working them in orange, brown and yellow- trying to keep to the challenge!

Onye 3

2009-08-30T22:39:00.001+01:00

I'm on an Onye Roll!

As soon as I came up with original pendant I knew I wanted to bead a version with eyes in.

It took me a while but I eventually manged to track down ones in the right size and colour, now how to complement blue eyes?

Well, orange and blue are complemenary colours so they work perfectly. But after already beading 2 of these in strong oranges I wanted to tone it down so based the sheme on browns and oranges.

This pendant will appear as a project in issue 19 of Bead magazine.

Onye 2- (Tropicalimso)

2009-08-27T22:08:00.000+01:00

Well, she's all done and I love her!

In the end I used orange, pink, teal and gold- sunshiny, happy colours.

This will appear as a project in issue 19 of Bead magazine.

Orange, pink and ?

2009-08-27T20:31:00.000+01:00

I know for my next version of my Onye pendant I want to still use orange but don't want to make it too similar to the one already beaded- which just used oranges and yellows.
I have often loved the colour combination of orange and pink- such as the jewellery in this photo:

But I want to see if I can come up with a scheme that uses 'colour rules' and both those colours which I like.

My previous pendant was boldly orange- so this time I want to see if I can use orange in a more subtle way.

So I headed to Color Scheme designer.

Putting in a bold orange gives me this at first- nice but basically too orange
A complimentary scheme is this- nice but I want to throw in at least one more colour
Triadic results in this- still too bold
Tetradic- again nice but still bold
Analogic- very nice- and the mustardy yellow/ orange tones it down for me
Accented analogic- yum! I love the tealy colour in there- my kind of colour combo!

But the search is still on.

A recent Colour Lovers blog post - on Tropicalismo- leads me to a fab colour combo:

Cell Division

Color by COLOURlovers

A search for orange and fuschia colour palettes gives me this:

Color by COLOURlovers

and this one

Color by COLOURlovers

A google search for pink and orange colour schemes gives me some good results:

Here are some schemes using orange and pink also with white and yellow- very nice
This subtle orange and pink scheme make sme think maybe I need to tone down the fuschia?
Orange and pink in fashion
An orange and pink art challenge

Soon my head is spinning and I decide the only way to work out my colours is to actually look at what I own!
Check back to see what I end up using.

Chocolates and macaroons

2009-08-22T21:34:00.001+01:00

My last day in Paris and some colourful food

I ended up in the goumet food section of a department store and came across these wonderful chocolates and macaroons (from Patisserie Sadaharu)

I made my choice partly on flavour and partly on colour!

2nd day in Paris

2009-08-20T20:52:00.001+01:00

Still in Paris and a busy day before the start of my course (read more on my blog here)

These are some of the extra colour photos I took today.

The graffiti outside an exhibition at The Cartier Foundation- you could take any section of this for colour inspiration!

Some close-ups of La Fée Electricité (The Electric Fairy) by Raoul D ufy.

Blue to purple to green to yellow.

Red, Yellow and green.

Green and blues.

And on the look-put for oranges I found:

'Les Cing Sens' by Georges Valmier

'Composition' by Auguste Herbin

A day in Paris

2009-08-19T18:40:00.002+01:00

I am in Paris, the sun is shining, I have no-one else to think about and no time to be home by. Could this day get any better?
Well okay, I could have found beads but that's a minor complaint!

It seemed that all around me today was colour. From the food I ate, to the museum pieces I saw, even down to the building works I walked by.

My mind was especially focused on looking for oranges as that is the colour I'm now working with, but that didn't limit the photos I took.

My trip to Paris began with lunch and this great colour combo of melon gazpacho- some sort of sweet sorbet (the taste bud explosion wiped out my memory of what it was) and yellow bread (not nice to eat but set the colour combo off great!)

My next stop was a visit to the Museum of Decorative Arts.

This cabinet of a dark oak with a strip of cobalt blue took my breathe away and I wish I had a picture that captured it better. I will definitely come back to this combo when I work in blue!

I love glass in many forms and this arrangement of mixed colours and shapes looked fabulous.

This piece of glassware with its two different 'blues' was interesting.

These multi-coloured works which used pink, blue, green and purple were, inspiring.

On the look out for orange combinations which appealed, I found this chair with its use of orange, white, yellow and a navy blue. I like the idea of the blue as I think black would have been too 'garish' or 'warning sign' if that makes sense- the blue definitely works to bring the sharpness down. Blue is orange's complementary colour.

More orange- here is orange, white and black- although I like this combination in the plastic I do think using navy- such as in the photo above- would have been nice and altered how the orange looked.

Here orange is mixed with a khaki green- I like this and would never have thought of it.

Once I'd finished in the musuem I was off to wander and take more photos.

I came across these wonderful blue doors and couldn't resist a photo- I think the redish-gold door furniture subtly makes this colour work so well.

Green and grey- who knew?

In a shop, looking for beads, I came across this range of jewellery focused on orange and pink- I think this is my favourite way to use orange!

More love for yellow

2009-08-15T17:21:00.000+01:00

From going to a yellow hater I am now definitely a yellow lover- more proof in the jumper I bought today- I liked lots of the colours but couldn't resist the yellow!

New photo of Geometric 3-4-6

2009-08-14T12:27:00.002+01:00

Geometric 3-4-6 (boat floaters)

2009-08-13T11:33:00.005+01:00

Finally!
This bracelet has taken me many months to make as I have been so busy when in reality I could have done it in a week- such is life.

I'm really pleased to have her finished, not only because she looks so nice, but also because she was a successful experiment in both executing the idea of using the larger beads inbetween the beaded triangles, but also in colour.

When I started this colour experiment I said I has never used yellow and hated it- well now I really have used it- and love it!

This bracelet definitelty changed my feelings towards yellow and I have learnt a lot about how to use it in a way I like it and that overcomes the problems I have with it.
Most of this was to do with combining it with the right other colours- so all my seeking out the right palette (and here) paid off.

I'm looking forward to using yellow a lot more in the future as I don't feel so "scared" of it now- so much so that I don't want to move onto orange!

Thank goodness I sneaked some in already so it's not all new to me.

Finishing up geometric piece and yellow

2009-07-20T15:04:00.002+01:00

I'm persevering with my latest geometric piece and although I love the look of it and want it finished, I really want to move onto something else!

But I'm determined to get it done over the next few weeks- I think I have around another 10 triangle sections to go and they take around an hour each so not too much longer.

I'm beading this as part of my colour challenge and can't move onto the next colour- orange- until I'm done. Not that I think I want to now- I am loving yellow- never thought I'd say that!

Sneaking in orange

2009-07-17T12:28:00.004+01:00

I've just finished a new project- my Onye pendant- which still uses yellow but sneaks in some oranges there as well- ok, mainly orange but seeing as I'm going to be moving onto that soon it's allowed!

Geometric Beaded Bead all done

2009-07-16T11:48:00.001+01:00

I started this geometric beaded bead a little while ago so it was nice to finally finish it.
As I have found with my other yellow experiments I had to add in "fake yellow" so that you could actually distinguish the colours from each other.

I was hoping to get another one done in yellow but seeing as I haven't finish my other geometric piece and I need to think about moving onto orange it may have to wait!

Crystal Worlds

2009-06-19T22:29:00.004+01:00

Today I visited Swarovski's Crystal Worlds in Wattens, Austria.
One of the "rooms" featured a piece by Brian Eno called "55 million crystals" where a screen plays a constantly changing picture.
It was mesmerising to look at and I took lots of photos of it (and one of them using the negative setting on my camer) so here's a random selection for you to see- I have to make something inspired by this!

Addictive Colour Fun Website

2009-06-19T17:13:00.001+01:00

This website search 10 million photos on Flickr to find those with the colours you choose- so even if you choose multiple colours it will find them in photos- a great way to waste hours!

More Fake Yellow

2009-06-12T20:30:00.002+01:00

Today I visited Arundel castle and whilst in the grounds came across lots of yellow plants, flowers and foliage- except once again I didn't- it was that fake yellow phenomenon again.

Yellow Beading Experiments

2009-06-08T15:52:00.009+01:00

Today I had planned to spend the day beading with my friend, Liz Thornton, and experimenting with yellow.
After a delayed start, due to work, I finally got to Liz's and in the afternoon we got cracking.

I recently went through my whole Delica bead collection (which is fairly large) searching for yellow beads and then went along to the London Bead Co (which has a large collection too!) and filled in any gaps and I had and the grand total of my yellow Delica bead stash now numbers ....

7 different tubes

Seriously- when I removed any golds, yellowy-oranges, yellowy-greens etc and just went for yellow I could only find 7. There may be more out there but I couldn't find them.

For reference the numbers of yellow I decided on are:
710- 751- 721- 854- 160- 232- 145

There were some other possibilities than you might think of as yellow, until you look at it again - and some of them were even labelled yellow:
233- labelled "lined crystal yellow" but to my eyes a definite orange rather than a yellow
1592- an orangy yellow
53- too orangy and creamy

and then there's one that I can't decide for sure:
424- metallic and quite golden at first sight- but I think this is a yellow- but is a metallic yellow automatically a gold?

Can you find any other yellow Delica beads? Con tact me if you can- I'd love to know!

I found it really interesting to go through my stash and pick out eveything I thought was yellow and then examine all the colours again and pare them down to what is actually yellow.
I have found this a lot with yellow- Liz had taken some photos of yellow plants at the Chelsea Flower Show to show me but when we looked at them they weren't really yellow- lots of greens but no real yellow. We also noticed this whilst beading and looking out of the window- lots of the foliage etc that you woul have said was yellow was actually green at second glance - is yellow unique in this "fakery" I wonder?

As I looked at my small yellow stash it soon became obvious that two of them (145 and 232) stood out as different from the rest.
232- this was very creamy and white
145- looks yellow but look again it it seems to be very green- and also the finish means that it is very reflective and appears to have black stripes along its length.

So I was down to 5.

I wanted to bead small sections using the yellows by themselves and with other colours to see how they changed- or if they changed.

I began by peyote stitching 8 rows each in the yellows I had left.

But it soon became apparent that one of the colours- 710- stood out from the rest. This is a transparent bead and so was really being affected by the thread I was using, the other beads near it and whatever background I put it in.
In this photo all 3 strips are the same bead- just laid down on different backgrounds- a wooden table, a ligth coloured bead mat and a very light lilac gift-bag. None of the other colours were transparent and changed this much on different surfaces.

Although I wanted to see if the beads changed, it was more to see if our perception of them changed rather than them actually changing due to an outside effect. So for my next swatch I took this bead out- leaving me with only 4.

I next beaded a swatch using the same yellows but this time surrounded by 799- a dark violet colour. I was really surprised that there seemed to be no change- the yellows looked the same.

Unfortunately I then ran out of time so only got a chance to begin a new swatch using a pumpkin orange- but as soon as I get a chance I'll be back to update this post!

Yellow Lover Beads

2009-06-07T14:26:00.000+01:00

After realising one of my favourite outfits was yellow based I knew I had to create something directly inspired by it.

So, out came the polymer clay:

I rolled snakes, chopped then up and combined them into a larger snake:

Into my extrduer they went and voila- long, dull grey tubes:

but ye of little faith- look at the ends of them- how fab are they?!?!?

A bit of playing around and I make some flat and pillow beads to add to my ever growing colelction of beads waiting to be strung.

You can learn how to make these beads in Donna Kato's canes book.

Donna Kato bracelet

2009-06-06T14:43:00.002+01:00

So when I last wrote about my bracelet it was waiting to be lined and decorated.
Today I got to complete it- it now just needs sanding etc to get it nice and shiny.

I began by lining it using the same violet I had mixed for the zipper cane. Next I mixed what was left of the violet with yellow, of course:

This I used to make some skinner blend bullseye canes:

I surrounded the canes with what was left of my zipper cane:

A few baking later and my bracelet is done all bar the sanding:

Khaki green

2009-06-06T12:08:00.004+01:00

If someone asked you how to make khaki green what would be your guess?

Mine would never have been to mix violet and yellow- but that seems to work- well if my polymer clay experiments are anything to go by!

As I've been mixing clays to finish my bracelet and using the complemtary colours of yellow and violet it becomes apaprent that when mixed they make a khaki green (to my eyes- you may call it something different)

This may explain why the colour scheme I chose for my latest geometric piece works so well combining yellow and violet with khaki to tone it all down.

To work with this discovery I decided to play some more with mixing yellow and violet and make some simple, flat, clay beads.

I began by mixing piece of yellow, violet and black (which also makes green when a little is mixed in with yellow) and forming into a sausage to put in my clay extruder:

All extruded- and you can see the khaki already:

Joined into a rough shape and surrounded by more black:

Neatening up the block (I learnt a lot about making square canes by doing this!):

I decided to cut my beads at an angle for a different look:

The finished beads- to add to my pile of things waiting to be strung!

Secret yellow lover

2009-06-04T17:23:00.003+01:00

After all my saying how much I don't like yellow, especially with black, I realised yesterday that one of my favourite outfits (this yellow t-shirt, black cardigan and multi-coloured scarf) is based around yellow and black!

It actually makes a nice palette- and seeing as today I got my new polymer clay extruder today I may make something inspired by it!

Color by COLOURlovers

New colour links

2009-06-04T14:12:00.006+01:00

Evolution of a colour scheme
Polymer clay colour mixing and matching
Kris' colour stripes
Cool ready made polymer clay samples- I want these!
Colour Basics- dos and don'ts
Maggie Maggio's colourful polymer clay work
Maggie Maggio's colour tutorials
Maggio Maggio's colour blog
Louise Fischer Cozzi's polymer clay work
Why pencils are yellow
Colour mixing with Sculpey

Hue 100 test

2009-06-02T21:55:00.002+01:00

Want to test your colour perception? Try the Hue 100 test- I scored 34- can you get a lower (and therefore better) score than me?
Beware- may send you cross-eyed!

Blue

2009-06-02T20:51:00.003+01:00

Research
Red makes us more attentive vs blue which makes us more creative here and here

Red

2009-06-02T20:50:00.003+01:00

Research
Red makes us more attentive vs blue which makes us more creative here and here

Playing with polymer clay - day 3- part 2

2009-06-01T23:00:00.000+01:00

The last afternoon here at PolyClay days and the class I have been waiting for- Donna Kato and her fabulous bracelets- so exciting.
I'll start by posting some of Donna's own bracelets so you can see what we're aiming for. Her use of colour is wonderful.

We begin by making the bases of our bracelets- in black- and then a zipper cane. We were given black and white clays but I already had an idea of the colour scheme for my finished bracelet- yellow and violet- so mixed up a clay using violet, white and grey to get a nice, subtle colour which I'll use again as the bracelet lining and for decorative canes.

After our bases were formed and baked we added our canes and cooked again- this is how mine is at the end of the day- hopefully I'll get some time soon to work on it a bit more.

Playing with polymer clay - day 3- part 1

2009-06-01T22:37:00.004+01:00

The 3rd day of polymer clay and still 2 more classes to go.

This morning's class was with Daniel Torres Mancera and was all about ways to use your scrap clay.

I had great fun and although what I made wasn't anything of great beauty I learnt a lot and wil definitely use the techniques again.

We began the day by gathering our scrap- fortunately I had loads from the previous 2 days.

I decided to use the scrap left over from my flower sheet as figured the colour had gone well together then.
I scrunched it into a sausage.

Then some more messing around with it then using slices of it to decorate a scrap base.

This is how it looked before it was baked.

Next up we learnt how to make a Natasha Bead- I decided to play around with mine.
The end result of the class was that I made 3 crazy beads from scrap.

They're not things of beauty as I said but I did learn a lot.
I think the techniques we learnt will be great tools for playing around with colour so I'm very happy.

Playing with polymer clay - day 2- part 2

2009-05-31T22:05:00.000+01:00

The afternoon of my second day at EuroClay carnival was spent with Sylvie Peraud doing her project based in in-filling colour into baked polymer clay.

Once again the clay was provided and by the time I chose it was pretty much yellow left- fate huh?

But as I knew we were potentially combining it with black I once again couldn't bring myself to use the "warning colour sheme" so made a Skinner blend with some white and brown added- which of course completely altered the yellow.

After I had baked my pieces I began to carve into them to add patterns.

I decided to in-fill my two pieces using colour theory- so one one piece I added brown to create more of an analogous colour scheme.

On the second piece I added a violet for a complementary scheme- I used a "soft" violet so it wasn't so bold.

Playing with polymer clay - day 2- part 1

2009-05-31T18:47:00.000+01:00

My second day at The EuroClay Carnival and two new classes today.

The first one I was looking forward but had no hope I would actually be able to do it as I don't think I can work intricately. Ok, I know I do intricate work with beads but I think that's different- the holes tell me where to go and there's no hope of me squashing it all as there is with clay!

Our teacher for the morning was Iris Mishly (and here) and our project was flower canes.

As you can see I got on ok with these in the end!

We began by choosing 6 colours- hmm- looks like only 5 in the photo!

For some reason the violet just wanted to appear exactly the same as the blue. So I messed around with a few setting on my camera and managed to get a photo which looked a bit nearer the reality.

A bit more fiddling on my computer and the colours I really chose were these. I have no idea why this happened and have put this top of my list to look into on my colour investigations!

Anyway, I didn't like the garishness of the orange so decided to alter it by adding blue and brown- the colour I started with is on the right and the resulting mix is on the left. I ended up adding roughly double the quantities of the blobs of blue and brown you see in the photo.

The two main things I have discovered about the advantages of working with clay over beads are:
1- Colour mixing- what a joy to be able to come up with your own colours and as long as you have the basic colours of clay, the colour world is your oyster!
2- Speed- I can't believe how quick it is to make thing using clay- such a change over my beadwork.

I next needed to come up with a Skinner Blend using a colour and white and decided to choose my violet clay. Note the speckles in my white clay- it was impossible to keep clean!

Skinner blends are wonderful things and enable you to come up with so many shades within minutes- imagine trying to track down all those shades of bead to get a blend like that- impossible!

If you want to work out a colour scheme that blends from one colour to another than this useful online tool will help

Lastly I made a striped stack to use for the centre of my flower canes.

This was rolled with white to make a cane and here's a close up of my sheet so you can see the tiny stripes.

The next part of the class was assembling all we had made into flower canes and this was great fun and I was better at it than I thought I'd be- but my no means any good at it compared to anyone else- one of my flowers just looks like slices of an orange!

The last part of the class was spent layering our canes onto a sheet of backing clay. I struggled with just my flowers at first as the pink/ violet ones didn't go well with the orange ones but by putting slices of the flower centre canes they all came together- just a shame i didn't like it- it was all too bright for me- and I can't get over thinking it now looks like slices of oranges and strawberries- still better luck next time.

I used my sheet to make pillow beads- another first - and bracelet sections- and am hoping that if I string them with dark purple beads inbetween they'll stop looking so "citrussy"

God- how much did I make?!?!? doing all of that in seed beads would have taken me weeks or months- this polymer clay stuff is growing on me by the second!

Resources updated

Playing with polymer clay - day 1

2009-05-30T17:25:00.000+01:00

I've headed off to Nottingham for 3 days of Polymer Clay fun.

The 3 days will consist of 6 classes with 6 different tutors and I'm looking forward to all of them. Although I went to a Polymer Clay even in 2005 and helped set up the London Polymer Clay Group I've never really done much of it- only made 2 canes I think- and basic ones at that- so I was apprehensive about being able to do the classes.

But by the time the first class had started and I'd met the ladies I'd be spending the 3 days with my fears soon disappeared.

My first class was with Alison Gallant and was based on using mica shift and Skinner Blends to make some basic beads. This was good fun and warmed me up and got me ready for the rest of the classes.

All the clay for our classes was Kato Clay (kindly provided by Donna Kato) which I have never used before and I think I will definitely invest in more as I really enjoyed using it- once we'd got in conditioned it was nice and strong and the colours mixed nicely.

We had no choice in our colours and were given green and blue- after saying recently I never use plain blue I really enjoyed using it. I found the colours we used weren't that distinctive in the small beads but on the larger surfaces of the pendants were could also make you could see them better.

Mica shift is a wonderful thing- just look at the stripes in this clay!

The afternoon was spent with Natalia Garcia de Leaniz (from Spain) who was a great teacher with a wonderful project- making very organic beads and adding in colours, paints and beads.

The main colours were were given for these was black and brown. The black looked great but the brown was very "dull" so the next day I painted most of my brown beads using a mix of greens, black and coppers.

I also put blues and greens under my black clay so that when sanded this will appear on the "spines" of the "seed pods". Hopefully you can see all of this in this very blurry close-up!

I found that uniting the different colours i.e. the black and brown through the use of beads, other clay and paint really made what were quite different beads become more of a set.

I really enjoyed this class and hope to be able to find time to experiment with everything I did today!

After receiving so many requests to teach classes on colours I am now planning to do so next year. The class will be a year-long class/ support group for anyone wanting to experiment with their work and their use of colour. We will meet once a month to learn about all about a colour, its historical and social significance as well as how to use it in your work.
We'll then experiment in class with beads that colour before you go home and see how you get on with it before coming back to the group a month later for feedback and help. We will work on the 3 primary colours, and the 3 secondary ones, giving everyone 2 months to play with a colour, and different schemes using it, before we move onto the next one and see how that works.
In addition to the monthly meetings, there will also be an online-group exclusively for those taking part where we can discuss what you've been up to and get help and feedback on your work as well as advice on tracking down and using colours.
The class will be open to anyone whatever type of beading you like doing and whatever level you are at- as long as you're open to learning and experimenting you're welcome!
I am still working on dates for the class but it should take place in the hall I use for my other classes in Kentish Town, North London, on either a Monday afternoon (possibly 2-5pm) or evening (possibly 6-9pm). If you're interested in the class, and would like to put your name down to be first to hear more about it, please contact me, letting me know if afternoons or evenings would be best for you.

PS- if anyone knows where in the UK I can get hold of 140 large yellow dagger beads please let me know- not topaz or amber- but bright yellow!

Crystal Geodes

2009-05-25T18:19:00.006+01:00

More beading today and despite the fact I should be getting on with my latest geometric piece I decided to bead something completely different.

I had the idea for these beaded beads over two years ago when I made my crystal charms and pendants- even though I played around with the idea at the time it's taken me this long to actually perfect the idea - I like to let ideas brew for a while sometimes!

They're easy to make and turn out nice and sparkly- I just need to turn them into finished pieces now and soon they'll appear as a project in a future issue of Bead.

You can see from the orange and yellow I used I'm still sticking to my colour challenge- I just didn't have enough yellow crystals in the size I needed to make them fully out fo those so instead added yellow in the form of some mustard yellow delicas.

Sand as inspiration

2009-05-22T16:59:00.009+01:00

Recently I visited South Wold for a few hours and took some great photos of the sand there.
I have to bead a project for the next issue of Bead magazine and thought that using some beads inspired by the sand would look nice.

Here is the main photo of the sand

Here's a closer photo of the sand

Here is a palette I created for using the photo

Color by COLOURlovers

Here are some of the beads I'l be using in my work, obviously I'll be using a lot more of one tube than the others!

Blog colour scheme

2009-05-20T19:39:00.001+01:00

Seriously I am unable to make my mind up what colours to use so expect it to wary wildly over the next year or stay the same through indecision!

My yellow colour schemes in actual beads

2009-05-17T19:06:00.003+01:00

After my post yesterday I thought you might like to see the colour schemes I talk about in actual beads so they make more sense!

Yellow and black
This I rejected right away as it was too bold and too much like a warning sign.

Yellow, black and gold
Still too alarming for my liking.

Yellow, black, gold and lavender
This is more to my liking but want to soften it further as just using the contrasts of yellows and violets is still a bit too strong for me. I want something that will calm down the black.

Yellow, black, gold, lavender, khaki and grey
Just right!
And here is the actual beadwork started

Finding a yellow colour scheme I like

2009-05-16T11:58:00.008+01:00

So I know what I want to bead next- a new triangular bracelet (to continue my geometric series of work) using yellow beads and some great new crystal shapes. But the crystals only come in the solid colours (i.e. without a coloured backing which would show as I plan to use them side-ways) of black and clear (ok, I know clear isn't a colour but you know what I mean).

So I went with black.
Now alarm bells are ringing.
Yellow and black.
Do I really want to spend weeks beading something that will look like a hazard warning sign?
Or as though I've skinned a thousand bees?

No- so my first challenge with this piece is to come up with a colour combination I like- so out come the beads.
- Yellow and black- already I have given this a big no
- Yellow, orange and black- not really much difference
- Yellow, orange reds and black- this is a colour scheme I have planned for another project later on so don't want to use it here and be sick of it before then
- Yellow, violet and black- too bold. I'm wary of the black being such a strong colour that I need to bring it down in some way and create something that is appealing with yellow rather than shocking.

So after a long time playing with my colour wheel and looking at lots of different schemes I decide to resort to google for ideas.

Googling "yellow colour schemes" I get the following:
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/colorpalettes/l/blcpyellow.htm
The first colour scheme is the yellows and reds I have already rejected but I like the next two and the use of the greys and blues- but I don't really want to use oranges as I don't want this to be an analogous scheme.

Next I get: http://www.colorcombos.com/yellow-color-schemes.html
There are lots of ideas here but no way I can see of narrowing it down to ones with yellow and black without scrolling through lots of pages and I need to leave with my beads in a few minutes.

So onto: http://www.squidoo.com/colorcombos where I can choose different colour combinations with yellow. But none with black so I move on but will definitely return here for future ideas.

http://desktoppub.about.com/library/weekly/blcplimited.htm gives me a yellow and black theme but just using shades of yellow- nice but not what I want. The black crystals I'm using will be very large in the piece and I think I prefer this idea with less black.

More on yellow and black here which gives me the idea of adding shades of grey- I like the thought of this.

This website confirms my worries about using black and yellow- I do not want this piece to pop!

So I begin searching for colour meanings etc with yellow- lots of great info here but no time to read it.

In desperation- I really do have to grab some beads and go- I turn to Colour Lovers.
Perfect!
Their blog post for yesterday was on "thin line colour schemes" and as I'll be using my new crystals as lines in my work I am delighted- this is just what I want.

On this one page there are so many ideas I have to try and narrow it down!
I love:

Color by COLOURlovers
Black with colors- but maybe too bold still and I want the yellow to be the main focus

Color by COLOURlovers
Having fun- too subtle maybe and my yellow are stronger

Color by COLOURlovers
Aqua Yellow Orange- again maybe too strong and too much aqua

Color by COLOURlovers
Art Deco- wow- but too like the analogous scheme I plan to use later

Color by COLOURlovers
Boat Floaters- perfect- just what I want

This combines yellow and black with lavender, khaki and grey- just what I was looking for- the khaki colours were something I hadn't thought of and really make this palette.

So beads selected I'm off and raring to go