Color!

[Charli!]

I struggle to choose what colors to put with what... In trying to be adventurous today and try out different coloru schemes every bead came out looking wrong!

Can anyone advise of their favorite color scheme, tutorials/websites/books/etc that helped them with color inspiration?

My knowledge of color theory extends only to a color wheel (that i have no idea how to use).

(I am eyeing up Sarah Horniks '12 favorite color schemes and why' tutorial as a starter)
PS: also I use 104 glass, but any colour theory that relates to anything would probably be helpful!

[jaci]

grab your crayons and COLOR... really. I used to do this w. colored pencils when I was bored at work. Just a little rectangle of color. I would fill a page of color schemes. I also keep a notebook of colors I like in beads I see, wallpaper, decor, internet website colors, pictures, art etc.. I also made simple bead shape templates and printed them, and use those to color and design on.
I have a folder of "inspiration" on my laptop and of cut outs. Beads I see in magazines that I want to put my own spin on, and other things I want to steal the colors from. well not steal.. just use as inspiration...lol

There are some online sites and some iPhone apps that are all about color too.
I have some bookmarked somewhere.... hold on

[jaci]

Oh paint chips from the paint store are great too, and all can be found online as well.
Color is not something that is specific to beads. It is specific to life. It is all around you. plants, flowers, kitchen ware... all inspiration to your beading.
There are also great blogs about color, glass related and in general.

http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes/top

http://beta.dailycolorscheme.com/

I like this one soo many options, so little work!
http://colorschemedesigner.com/

tips:
You can pull a couple different shades and types of the same side of the color wheel and work with them (say "blues" and use transparents lights and darker shades all in the same bead, or bead set)
You can use opposite colors on the wheel. Like red and green... you can use one shade over as well, say pink and green....
you can triangulate the color wheel. literally put a triangle in the middle and take the colors in the points. or use shades of this variation, fushia, orange, green.
you can put a rectangle in the color wheel too and take the 4 colors that the corners fall on.

You can make the last link do all these things for you, and you can change the angle on the dots by clicking and dragging them where you want. Try it!

[Pia Kaven]

Or go through catalogs and magazines and when ever you see colors you like in something, just cut that picture and file it in your inspirational folder... the one you keep next to your bed, to write down stuff when you wake up in the middle of the night with an awesome idea

[Damselfly]

My favorite tip is to google different flowers, different landscapes, and space pictures. Mother Nature has a way of combining colors in unusual ways, and when's the last time you looked at a flower and went "oh, that a horrible color combination"? Plus the new space images are so lovely, and have such wonderful flow.

[Pia Kaven]

Great advice! Thanks Damselfly!

[Damselfly]

Thanks, Pia

Two fantastic flowers to start off with are pansies and orchids. Both come in every color of the rainbow, with variations that contain multiple color combinations.

[Pia Kaven]

So true!

[jaci]

Damselfly is right about space photos! I have a whole folder with planet pics and cool space things that I keep for inspiration. Hell I have cupcakes and wedding cakes as bead design inspiration! I actually think that the prom/wedding magazines are great inspiration for color combos, and ideas.

[scoutycat]

Learn your color wheel - google complementary color and analogous color for all kinds of lessons. You can adjust color schemes you see and like to work with your glass palette if you understand how color works.

this site is a pretty good starting point -
http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/...eory-intro.htm

and this one is good too - http://www.beading-design-jewelry.com/color-wheel.html

[Charli!]

These are all awesome ideas- thank you so much!

I've drawn a colour wheel on my desk at work, and added a colour palettes thing to my igoogle hoping that when my brain is sleeping at work it will think of colourful things!

Also realised i have a book about polymer clay colour palettes- but its explains colour theory in great detail so i've started reading it.

Thank you all again!

[chrissij]

http://colorschemedesigner.com/

[Sherry]

All excellent suggestions! And Sarah's tutorial is outstanding.

[Dreamsincolor]

I love the idea of a color tutorial, but then chemistry kicks in and you kind of have to start over when you have to remember which glass color does what to another color as far as reaction. Over time I guess it becomes automatic what not to put with what, but sometimes you sit there and you realize your brain is more like a steel sieve than a steel trap...

[Beckah]

All of Sarah Hornik's tutorials are great! I love the color schemes tutorial. I was just looking at it again the other day and was thinking I needed to go back to trying one combination a month. Her "Think Pink" is also excellent for color thinking since it talks about how to combine specific 104 rods to get different shades of pinks and purples. Sarah has a fabulous eye for color.

I also keep "Colorworks: the crafter's guide to color" by Deb Menz handy. It is seedbead and fiber oriented but breaks down color theory with good photos that clearly illustrate each piece of theory she's discussing. At the back of the book are color wheels and other useful color tools.

[Carolyn M]

Try this site. You put in colours you think will look nice together and it pulls pictures off Flickr

http://labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr/#

[bshelle]

I have several books on art glass, including one on Chihuly's work. These are really good for inspiration.

[tammydownunder]

I like to look at fabrics. If I see a nice color combo, I write down the colors if I can't get a photo.