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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Unique Sterling Silver Jewelry by yhtanaff
2 days ago
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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