Challenge of Color Reveal

Today's the day we reveal the accessories created with the inspiration of a Design Seeds palette assigned to each of us. Erin of Treasures Found is hosting this Challenge of Color.

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.

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.

Let me say that the beads I used for the purple shade turned out to be a bit more pink than I expected in the pictures. Anyway, despite the struggle, I'm really happy with the piece.

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!