Color Studies

I thought this week, we’d just look at color. Because who here doesn’t like that? For most of us it’s such a primary part of working with polymer. How can we resist with all those gorgeous colorful blocks enticing us to create something that honors our fascination with them?

And then we condition and roll, cut and punch, form and wrestle, combine and rearrange and eventually we have this finished piece that, somehow, doesn’t quite reflect what we were after. When it comes to color, even for those of us who can often combine them intuitively, study and practice is what will bring about success in taking the designs from inside our head onto our studio tables.

There are a number of ways to study color and that, I promise, are not at all dull times. What you learn can be immediately turned into beautiful creations. These pendants by Austria’s Carina are studies in complementary and tertiary colors. Now, tell me you would have not enjoyed creating something like these?

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Your own personal exploration and study of color can begin (or continue) through a number of options we have available. For polymer specific color studies, there is nothing that comes close to the depth of Lindly Huanani and Maggie Maggio’s book Polymer Clay Color Inspirations. Honestly, if there was one book I’d expect to see on every serious polymer artist’s shelf, it’s this book. It doesn’t matter where you are in your journey as a polymer artist, you will learn something new and maybe even game changing for you.

If you want a quick brush up on terms and why these concepts are important (since we’ll be talking about them all week, it might be good to refamiliarize yourself with them) you can do so on websites like this one: http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory

I’ll also share one of my favorite color pages on all the web … this is a kind of shortcut to figuring out color combinations and it’s also a little addictive. You click on a color on the color wheel and then you can run through a range of possible color combination types. I get lost in the possibilities: http://colorschemedesigner.com/

So go play with color today, online at least if not in the studio. Getting lost in color sounds like a great way to start a week.

Sage

4 Comments

  1. Kathy on May 6, 2013 at 3:20 pm

    I love playing on “Color Scheme Designer”!



  2. Jill Palumbo on May 6, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    great article! Thank you! Oh and I do love the Lindly/Maggie book. It is a wonderful resource.



  3. Debbie G on May 6, 2013 at 9:41 pm

    Yay and Amen to having Lindly Huanani and Maggie Maggio’s book Polymer Clay Color Inspirations on every bookshelf. And if you have any chance to take a class with Lindy – move heaven and earth to get there. SO worth it! (I have not had a chance to take a class with Maggie yet, but I suspect it’s the same…)
    May I offer another website with color theory? I literally found it just before reading this – and found it also excellent.
    http://www.brandigirlblog.com/2012/11/why-do-some-color-schemes-work-and-others-dont.html

    Love this blog. Thoughtful posts, eye candy that is outstanding, inspiration to motivate oneself to move forward. Thanks.



  4. Tracy Holmes on May 7, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    Hi Sage. How fun is this? There’s never too much to say about colour. My interest in colour has become more ‘saturated’ lately, so I’m excited to see what you have in store for this week. I’m curious to know where people sit on the spectrum these days regarding the Primaries: RYB, or CMY?

    https://www.facebook.com/questions/400932573347769/



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