Bead Color Triads: Summer Salads

Every beader knows that the best colors come from nature, and some of the most inspiring hues can be found in the garden. Fruits and vegetables advertise their healthy benefits through color, and are often as delicious for the eyes as they are to eat.

When I was working with reds and greens for my Colors of Kenya jewelry set, I found myself craving fresh veggies. Although the beads I was using were called pepper, cherry and avocado, they reminded me so much of tomatoes and cucumbers. So I decided to take a look at some tasty color combinations inspired by our favorite salads.

For the best effect, these palettes are made entirely with seed beads. They really are like the paints of beading - you can use a little or a lot, and they blend together so well in all kinds of designs. Instead of three variations of the same palette, I made up three different combinations based on classic summer dishes.

Although Gazpacho is technically a soup, it is made from fresh, juicy veggies, and was the first thing that came to mind when I placed avocado and cherry seed beads together. I added some sour apple to eliminate any Christmas effect, and create a feeling of crispness. These colors could easily represent tomato, jalapeno and cucumber.

Coleslaw is another great summer treat, and a staple for picnics and barbeques. I started with transparent orange for carrots and purple lined rosaline for red cabbage. If I’d had some pale green Ceylon seed beads, I would have used those for green cabbage, and had a perfect palette. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything quite as light, so I went with white pearl instead. This coleslaw has extra mayo.

There was one important vegetable color missing, so for the final palette I used Corn Salad for inspiration, with lustered dandelion yellow for the corn niblets. There are a lot of different variations for this dish, and most have at least four colors to them, so I stuck with the basic and most familiar ingredients. Pepper red stands in for tomatoes, and red-brown is perfect for black beans. Add a dash of dark green and it almost looks good enough to eat!

Have you ever been inspired by the colors on your dinner plate? Which garden hue is your favorite?

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