Color in Focus Design Reveal

Hello and welcome back!  Today is the day I reveal what I created using this month's color in focus.   If this is your first visit, let me catch you up.   Back on the 1st of the month I introduced the Color in Focus feature I will be doing this year and introduced the colors I would be designing with.  Check out the post here. 

In the middle of the month,  I introduced the beads I would be using to create my jewelry design.  If you follow my work, you will know that these colors are really outside what I normally design with.  I love yellow but it usually only shows up as a color pop and I barely ever use red unless it is a bold design.  So I really enjoyed the challenge of working with these colors.   What does my final piece look like?  Let's take a peek!

Sunburst Necklace

I ended up not using some of the yellow and white ceramic beads in my final design because they just wouldn't lay right in the necklace.  But I do love how the red and yellow glass beads make this piece feel sunny and happy.   I can see wearing it on a rainy day and it would really brighten your mood.  The grey/tan glass works back to the colors in the palette and also ties back to the grey in the ceramic pendant.  Finally those yellow sparkle beads break up the color and add my signature touch of sparkle.   If you remember, the original photo from my inspiration piece included and ear of corn.  I mimicked the linear pattern from that inspiration in the way I laid out the glass beads in my design.   I am very big about working with odd numbers of beads, it is more pleasing to the eye and makes the symmetry work to our brains.  Pairs are best left for earrings!

Sunburst Necklace

Did you join in this month?  Or did you use color outside your own comfort zone?  I would love to hear your thoughts on my piece and see your own designs.  Coming tomorrow.... February's colors!!

Color in Focus Bead Reveal

Back on New Year's Day I introduced you to my new feature, Color in Focus.  Over the year, I am going to be taking different groups of color and work with it to create a piece of jewelry.  In this post,  I am going to be revealing the beads I chose to use to work with this month's palette.  

Just to refresh your memory,  I chose the Colored Corn palette by  Design Seeds for this month's focus.  

Colored Corn by Design Seeds

I love the colors in this palette.  The earthy mixture of red and yellow with those touches of Wedgewood blue and grey really spoke to me.  Unfortunately,  they aren't the easiest group of colors to pair beads with.   I really want to use mostly beads from my stash for this exercise because I am certain most jewelry designers are like me, with large groups of beads that are just waiting to become a beautiful piece of jewelry. I spent quite a bit of time pulling beads out and matching them up.  Let me give you a peek at what I chose and then I will explain how the colors match back to the palette.

First, I decided to pick one color as the one to use in focus.  When you are trying to pull a design together you need to have one color as your focus or your piece will not be cohesive and will just look off when you try to put it together.  The other thing you need to remember is that the collection of colors is a guide.  Don't stress out about being perfect with an exact match.   I chose to use the maize yellow as my focus color.  I was lucky, because the ceramic pendant I found not only had a yellow that trailed into red but also had the edge of the piece glazed in a grey tone that matched so well.  From there, I wanted to pay homage to the other colors and also make sure that they all worked together.  So I added glass beads in grey-blue, harvest red and golden yellow.  A few fun ceramic beads in red, yellow and white and those sparkly yellow beads round out what I will be using in my design.

Don't be afraid of color.  If you want to stretch out your design wings and step out of your comfort zone, using color inspirations like the one above is a great place to start.  My second bit of advice is to test.  Not sure two different colors work together?  Test string them or make a quick pair of earrings with them.  Two colors that you are certain will clash may just surprise you.  And if they don't work, then it is on to the next little baggie of beads!  I will be back at the end of the month to reveal what I make with the beads.   In the mean time, if you are participating too or doing something else with color I would love to hear from you!

January We're All Ears Reveal

Hello and welcome to the first reveal of the year!  This month is the We're All Ears reveal that is hosted over at Earrings Everyday.  I have been enjoying this monthly challenge for awhile now.  Erin always finds great ways to inspire us! 

This month,  she chose to work with the Pantone colors of the year, Rose Quartz and Serenity.  How could I not participate?  Pink is my favorite color and most of my design choices tend to include blue.  I have also been on a push lately to prove that pink and blue works together; it isn't just for babies.  This challenge was perfect for me.   

I have been challenging myself to work more with wire, so I created the loops for these earrings and added rose quartz rounds and the thinnest chips of aquamarine I could find.  I love how the pop of blue from the crystal bead spacers really highlight how well the pink and blue work together.  This was a great combo for me because not only did I get to work with some of my favorite colors but also natural gemstones.

Interested in what others made for the challenge?  Check out the post here! 

Color in Focus

Welcome to 2016!!  I hope your New Year is off to a great start and you have enjoyed your holiday festivities.  One of the goals I have for the new year is to be more interactive on my blog.  I want to share more about my design process with you as well as continue to give you peeks at my new pieces.

As part of that new focus,   I will be starting a monthly program all about color.  I love color!  From a young age I was drawn to crayons, pastels and colored pencils and I would lay them out in all kinds of arrangements to see how the colors worked together.  I still cherish color and I love to add pins to my inspiration board on Pinterest that are all about color combinations that interest me.  So,  I will be sharing some of these with you each month.  The first post will introduce the colors I will be working with,  the next one during the month will show the beads I have chosen to work with and a final post each month will show my completed design.  With that, are you ready to see this month's choice?

Design Seeds:  Colored Corn 

I bet you expected something fitting January!  But I am not looking at this particular palette as fall themed (even though I am in love with what must be the most perfect corn I have ever seen)  It is the color combination that speaks to me.  They are earth tones, but not in the normal range of browns and beige as we would expect. What do you think about this month's choice?  I would love to hear your comments and if you would like to join in at any time feel free!!   It is always fun when people add their ideas too.

See you back here in about a week when I have my bead choices firmed up.