Participants were asked to pick a color family for their palette from 12 options. We could choose a favorite or even something that would be more challenging. I almost predictably chose blue. However, I opted for blue not just because it's my favorite, but also because I knew I have an array of blue beads no matter what shade I was assigned. Here's the beautiful palette from Design Seeds that Erin picked for me.
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| Bloom Tones from Design Seeds |
I was immediately thrilled with these colors because of their brightness. However, as I began to try to match the tones to beads in my stash and shop for beads elsewhere, I found that they were harder to find than I expected. As I revealed in my Bead Table Wednesday post from last week, I did pull together some beads from my own stash that I thought would be perfect for the challenge.
As you can see in the picture above, I was lacking the deep gray and pink from the palette. I really wanted to include each of the palette colors and played around with alternative ideas of how to bring in those shades. Ideas included: buttons, painting beads or buttons, polymer clay, fabric, and painting metal with nail polish. However, none of those ideas really worked for me.
I did find some paint in the right shade of pink and decided that an antiqued steel would work well for the gray. So, I painted some paper pink, stamped it, and sealed it in resin in a steel bezel. As well, I used some of the scrap painted paper to create a few paper beads. I laid everything out and played around with the materials.
As great as these are, I still was not inspired enough to create a necklace. No matter how I combined that great array of beads they just weren't speaking to me. The purple was too dark, the bright blue was too bright, the dark blue were too heavy, the paper beads were too juvenile. GAH!
With just two days left before the reveal, I pulled the pendant and the key aside because I knew those were the two I wanted the most in the piece. I then envisioned the necklace around those two pieces and simply pulled out some other beads.
So, after ALL THAT, here's what I created.
Please go check out how each of the other participants handled their Challenge of Color palettes. Here's the list!
1 Norma Turvey ~ Teal ~ Color Crave
2 Jeannie Dukic ~ Green ~ Mineral Tones
3 Mary McGraw ~ Teal ~ Embellished Hues
4 Jo Tinley ~ Red ~ Decadent Tones
5 Rebecca Anderson ~ Pink ~ Tulip Tones
6 Kristi Jaro ~ Red ~ Temple Entrance
7 Stephani Gorman ~ Green ~ Dew Tones
8 Melissa Meman ~ Green ~ Fruit Star
9 Kathleen Lange Klik ~ Teal ~ Silk Hues
10 Cynthia Riggs ~ Red ~ Autumn Comfort
11 Heidi Post ~ Teal ~ Flora Bright
12 Cece Cormier ~ Teal ~ Merino Teal
13 Amy Freeland ~ Gray ~ Cultured Tones
14 Alice Peterson ~ Blue ~ Island Play
15 Rose Noble ~ Gray ~ Autumn Stacked
16 Kristina Johansson ~ Yellow ~ Sunny Flower
17 Kirsi Luostarinen ~ Teal ~ Dragon Hues
18 Tari Kahrs ~ Orange ~ Citrus Tones
19 Mallory Hoffman ~ Purple ~ Petaled Dark
20 Molly Alexander ~ Brown ~ Peppered Tones
21 Regina Santerre ~ Red ~ Frosted Berry
22 Emanda Johnson ~ Teal ~ Color Purl
23 Amy Severino ~ Orange ~ Winged Tones
24 Bobbie Rafferty ~ Teal ~ Lime Hues
25 Tanya Goodwin ~ Gray ~ Pecked Tones
26 Lisa Lodge ~ Blue ~ Nocturnal Tones
27 Hope Smitherman ~ Blue ~ Bloom Tones
28 Linda Landig ~ Green ~ Cacti Dark
29 Ambra Gostoli ~ Teal ~ Perched Autumn
30 Lori Bowring-Michaud ~ Blue ~ Sharpened Blue
31 Pippa Chandler ~ Teal ~ Hungarian Hues
32 Keirsten Giles ~ Purple ~ Mineral Brights
33 Jennifer Justman ~ Blue ~ Autumn Rays
34 Sandy Richardson ~ Purple ~ Moroccan Brights
35 CJ Bauschka ~ Teal ~ Teal Air
36 Shaiha Williams ~ Teal ~ Sushi Hues
37 Kay Thomerson ~ Purple ~ Autumn Spectrum
38 Sally Russick ~ Purple ~ Golden Gate Tones
39 Cilla Watkins ~ Purple ~ Autumn Infused
40 Shirley Moore ~ Purple ~ Frozen Heather
41 Jenni Connolly ~ Gray ~ Paw Tones
42 Tamara Soper ~ Green ~ Field Tones
43 Sharyl McMillian-Nelson ~ Blue ~ Nested Blues
44 Jen Velasquez ~ Pink ~ Sweetened Tints
45 Maria Grimes ~ Red ~ Bright Bloom
46 Elisabeth Auld ~ Gray ~ Petaled Tints
47 Susan Kennedy ~ Pink ~ Zinnia Tones
48 Shannon Chomanczuk ~ Gray ~ Autumn Leaf
49 Holly Westfall ~ Yellow ~ Sprinkled Tones
50 Patty Gasparino ~ Red ~ Color Carton
51 Angela Little ~ Pink ~ Singapore Brights
52 Lizzie Zawinski ~ Green ~ Budding Hues
53 Kristen Stevens ~ Pink ~ Scooped Tones
54 Dawn Doucette ~ Brown ~ Jarred Tones
I can't wait to see how everyone else handled this Challenge.
A big thank you to Erin for organizing this Challenge and to Jessica Colaluca for use of her Design Seeds palettes as inspiration!
I can't wait to see how everyone else handled this Challenge.
A big thank you to Erin for organizing this Challenge and to Jessica Colaluca for use of her Design Seeds palettes as inspiration!
