Color Me Gorgeous

Many, many people find color to be the most challenging part of design. I think it’s because they over think it. Color is intuitive. The less you approach it intellectually, the better the results. There are very specific rules about color one can follow slavishly and still make rather pedantic designs. It’s always good to know the rules. Get a color wheel, learn about the relationships between different colors and then I think you have to set that aside and start seeing color the way an artist does.

Inspiration is everywhere. Fascinating and fabulous color combinations are on fabrics, in magazine ads, in your garden, in random snapshots and in paintings by master artists. Just for fun use an image you find appealing from a magazine advertisement. Pick three colors from the ad. Now create a design using those colors, approximating them as well as you can with materials you can access. See how it comes together, how it works? It’s amazing.

I always tell people to start with the clothing in their closet. You already have a color palette. That’s your color comfort zone. Use that as your starting point as you begin to explore color in your design. Then move outside of that zone until you start to develop an intuitive color sense. Sometimes I just walk over to my bead trays and grab five beads that immediately catch my eye and they almost always work together. Don’t be intimidated by color, embrace it. Color brings design to life!

Beadalon has an entire range of gorgeous colors in their 7 strand Clear Colors line. Here are a few colorful ideas from our talented design team for your inspiration.

Until next time...bead on with your bad selves.

- Margot Potter for Beadalon