Saturday, September 10, 2011

Color My World

I've always been drawn to playing with color, whether it has been with paint and paintbrush, color pencils, or now with beads and clay.  When I first started out making jewelry, most of my pieces had a monochromatic color palette, but I've since grown to love to mix it up a bit.  I find inspiration for color everywhere, and some of the references I turn to frequently include the following:
  • Jewelry How To Books - There are a ton of wonderful jewelry and beading books out there, and my library is stocked with quite a few of them.  While I don't duplicate the designs in these, I do get great ideas for various color combos.  One of my favorite color inspiration books, is Polymer Clay Color Inspirations by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio
  • Stacks and Stacks of Beading and Hobby Magazines - I love pouring through my back issues of magazines like Stringing, Bead Style, and Bead Trends.  When I'm in a rut, it always helps to sit back with a stack of these.
  • Non-Hobby Books and Publications - My husband and I are currently planning to build a house, so immediately upon deciding to build, I picked up a few books on paint combinations for the interior of houses.  I wasn't too surprised to find a lot of great color combinations that will work well in jewelry design.  Those free little painting idea books that they have by paint samples also have some good combos.
  • The Bead Themselves - While most of the strand of beads I buy are immediately cut apart and stored in plastic containers, I sometimes find myself playing with the strands - laying a few together at a time to see what kind of combination they will make. 
  • Making Something to Match - Another fun idea is making jewelry to match a specific item of clothing.  It can be something you own, or something you see in an advertisement. 
  • Design-Seeds.com - I just found this site after becoming hooked on Pinterest.  The site is just loaded with awesome color palettes!
Here are a few of some of the colorful bead combos I've done:


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