Combining Colors, Not as Easy as it Sounds

It is a pleasure to work with so many supplies in a variety of colors. Not only do beads come in a rainbow of colors and finishes, so much so that you need a class to identify them all, but metal wire, beading wire, components all have colors and finishes that provide and endless number of combinations with which to work.

Sometimes having that many options at your disposal can paralyze your creativity in putting them together. There are some combinations that are intuitive, and you can easily drift off into creating with them. The true challenge is to put some colors together that are not classic combos, and see what you come up with.

There is a bunch of information on color theory out there, if you aren't already familiar with it. Even if you have the basics down, learning about Near Complementary Color Schemes or Square Tredatic Color Schemes is amazing. There are some wonderful articles out there for jewelry designers at the Beading Design Jewelry site.

Some colors I find easy to work with are black/white, black/silver, pink/purple, and black/red. But to grow as a designer and an artist, you sometimes have to leave the comfort zone and do something crazy. For me, dabbling in citrus and tropical colors can be daunting. Oranges, yellows, a bit of blue and red...oh my!

Something To Inspire Creativity

When creative people are not feeling all that creative, anything that can inspire is welcome. If you have a graphics pad at your disposal, you may enjoy tooling around with ArtRage. It is software that allows you to paint on your computer. I don't pretend I'm a painter. I actually started jewelry design after I realized I did not have my Dad's talent for painting.

Aside from paints, it also provides chalks, crayons, markers, airbrush, and pencil tools. The free version has less tools available than the full version, but still enough to splash colors together, blend, and experiment.

For those who find color combinations scary, this is a safe way to play with them. It even has an eraser if you don't like what you've done. I've included a painting example here, my abstract version of a heart.

I do this when I'm not feeling all that creative, and it relaxes me and allows my mind to wander, and I think that's a much better state to be in when trying to put something new together. I hope some of you may find this an interesting outlet with which to experiment.

Now It's Purple, Now it's Blue

There is a reason that artists use natural daylight bulbs, like the type that OTT brand uses. With certain materials, such as glass beads, the color looks different depending on if it's viewed in natural daylight or in fluorescent light. This particular illusion necklace was made with crackle glass beads, pink glass pearls and pink bicone glass beads, strung on clear monofilament cord. When I made it early in the day, I chose the beads because they were a light purple color. Later that evening, in the lamplight I noticed they were a light blue. So this piece is perfect for someone who likes variety and shifting shades of color.