Bead Color Ideas: Spring Accents

As I comb through my bead stash taking inventory – 5 trays down and 13 to go – I am a little overwhelmed by how many accents beads I currently have in my stash. Although I’ve gotten out of the habit of picking up beads that I know I’m not going to use readily, I still have a pretty good collection of beads that I love, all waiting to get used up. All of these accent choices have inspired me to look at them a little differently.

For this month’s color trios, I decided to skip the seed bead portions of the palettes, and go with three coordinated accent beads. Spring colors and lively shades seemed to jump out the most, so I decided to back them all up with simple black seed beads to make the palettes a little more contemporary and versatile.

First up I chose delicious wasabi green nautilus glass coins, medium blue drops, and turquoise Picasso teardrops. I love the way the two blues soothe the electric green, adding a little depth and blending everything together just right. There’s definitely an aquatic vibe happening with these three accents, and not just because of the shell motifs. This palette is like a breezy day at the beach a month before swimming weather arrives.

Next I grabbed some polka dot Indonesian glass rondelles with their bright primary colors and pretty gray backdrop. To these I added intense teal blue Java glass teardrops and sour green Czech glass pinch beads. Although some of the colors ended up similar to the first palette, there’s a much different feel to this trio – more like a ladybug’s picnic.

I simply had to begin the final palette with yellow Picasso rondelles, which look amazing with the black seed beads. I wanted something a little sweeter this time around, so I added sugary blue fiber optic tubes and some pink-lined peanut seed beads. I like the primary color/rainbow sherbet thing that’s going on here, although I wish the peanuts were more of a magenta than pink.

Do you ever like to mix multiple accent beads in your designs? What’s your favorite way to use them?

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