July 31, 2011

Urban Stripes ~ Color

A lot of us struggle with color choices. Each of us also has a color palette that we tend to find more pleasing than others. There are a lot of publications, workshops, and words written on color and color theory. I happen to like how Margie Deeb approaches the subject for beaders. I often refer to her book, The Beader's Guide To Color.

For this necklace project I went to the web and my own photo collection, looking for what I considered Urban colors. Depending on where you live, Urban colors can be vastly different. This is not a color combination I would have chosen on my own as I happen to like neon-bright colors.

I ended up with a great gray(A) for the overall background color. It reminded me of all of the concrete in very large cities. Colors B, C, and E are the secondary colors that will fill the major design spaces on the crocheted rope. Think stop signs, city taxi's, traffic cones, and signs. Colors E and F will be spot colors, used here and there to provide points of interest. They are the glimpses of chrome, new steel and graffiti.



It's interesting to see all of the color combinations that the participants have chosen. They are all doing the exact same patterns, but what a different look they have.


Tobie's white background makes for a very crisp rope.






Renate's dark background is closer to the Old World traditional crocheted ropes










Janice chose colors that remind one of stonework and bits of rust

Isn't that the perfect background?










Beverly is using different bead finishes to mute the secondary colors rather than to make them really pop out.


I'm being told that the first section of the necklace has been turned into a few bracelets as people try a color combination and then try another color palette, reaching for a combination that pleases them. I know that I started with about 23 different tubes of bead colors and was still refining the colors I liked into the second section of the rope. I've picked my second spot color, but even it won't be a firm choice until I use a bit of it with the other colors. I may want a more bold turquoise when I get there.




We all struggle with picking colors for beading. It's such a personal choice of adornment. Plus, the beads can look vastly different in the tube or on the hank than they do next to other beads in a finished piece. With the Internet, there are lots of resources out there. Mother Nature is one place I go for colors I wouldn't have thought to put together.




It's fun to watch this project unfold and see what everyone is doing. I hope all of the participants are enjoying this as much as I am.

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