Bead Color Ideas: Cactus Stripes

Many books on learning the art of beadweaving recommend experimenting with colors by weaving samples - collections of beads in panels such as peyote stitch - as a way to learn about the way that beads look together. Even when I was just starting out, I didn’t have nearly enough patience for bead homework, and I’m not much for doing beadwork that won’t ‘be’ something when I’m done. I have however, discovered the benefits of playing with color before starting a project.

For our last set of bead color palettes, we looked at some combinations for pretty striped glass beads from Java. One of the palettes looked so great, I ended up using it as inspiration for a project, and it turned out perfectly. This month, I want to give it another shot.

I have another strand of striped Java beads, this time in a lovely deep green with red and yellow stripes. The colors and shapes make me think of cacti, and had me leaning towards Southwestern themes for most of the palettes.

I started with some complements. Pepper red looked great with both the base green and the stripes - tangy and vibrant. I wanted to add another element that would help remove any festive tones, and decided to use another green to push things over the edge. Cactus green was a perfect match for both the red seed beads and the stripes in Pico de Gallo.

I wanted to see how things would go with a more neutral palette, and started with bone white for a nice, sandy background. The green and soft beige worked really well together, but needed just a little extra color. Just for fun, I added some soft orange and got a cool Desert Dawn.

Finally, I couldn’t resist a splash of turquoise. Rather than go with the obvious coral red, which might not have left any room for the striped beads to stand out, I added some Autumn Tucson gold. The combination of bright blue with a more natural yellow really enhances the colors in the Java beads. Adobe reminds me of brightly painted buildings in the sun.

Do you ever experiment and play with beadwork for fun or for theory?

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