Right now I feel like I have all the time I need to come up with new design ideas, so naturally I’m having trouble deciding what to make or where to start. Experimenting with color palettes is always a good place to find a kernel of an idea, so this month I thought I’d start with some unused bugles from my seed bead stash.
The label calls this color patriot blue. I don’t know if it fits, but to me this color looks a lot more man-made than other shades of blue beads like turquoise, aqua, and cobalt. My challenge this time around would be to find ways to make it look less plastic-y and more organic.
The first color I went for was white-lined black diamond, which is essentially an intricate gray. I paired this with lovely metallic iris olivine. Together I think the seed beads definitely have a rocky look, like something you’d find on a mountain hike. Although they do make the bugles look good, I think a deep turquoise would be even better for this trio.
Next I turned to an all-new color that I’ve been dying to use. I ordered some of these sol gel rainbow rose seed beads for a cherry blossom project that ended up being scrapped. Now I keep hoping to find another way to use them in my regular designs, because they're incredibly pretty. I paired the rose with a custom mixture of whites and creams, hoping that the non-opaque seed bead duo would help the bugles out. I love this combination, though I think it would need a very careful application to get an organic look.
Finally, I found the magic ingredients. As I got to the end of my stash of colors, I was thinking about some yellow iris but turned to transparent lime iris instead. I was looking for another great shade of green to use when I considered checking out the blues I had skipped over to see if anything would work. Aqua white-hearts did the trick, and all three of these colors together could look gorgeous in an aquatic or garden-inspired design.
Have you ever come across a bead that just couldn’t be worked into a palette? How did you end up using it?
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Hello!
ReplyDeleteI am wondering where to buy the beautiful chains they use on their necklaces they make and sell in stores. They look very expensive, but they are handmade.
Also I stopped in a wedding store and the women was making beautiful earrings with stones inlaid in small metal casings. They looked like store bought earrings. I wouldn't of known they were made. She mostly used fake diamond's for the stone with mostly silver prongs around it, some were gold. Sorry I am not very good as describing what I saw. She did say she special ordered her supplies. I have seen these sewn on clothing also.
Thanks for your time!
Cindy
Hi Cindy! Your question requires a bit more information than I can include in a single comment. Would you mind contacting me by email? If you have images or links to the types of jewelry or materials that you're specifically looking for, that can be a big help, but I'll try to track down the things you are looking for either way. Thanks!
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I agree with you on the last combo, and personally think that that's the best of the bunch. Those bugle beads remind me of the sky somehow, like a shade of blue that you'd see as the colors are changing. In my stash I have a few natural horn beads that are larger than I normally work with and so far I've struggled to think of them as part of a design that wasn't just a beaded rope. The size more than the color in my case is off putting.
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