Bead Arts

For those who pay attention when planning their spring jewelry line. Pantone’s report can be found here.

“According to the report, the spring ‘08 palette is defined by classic, versatile neutrals punctuated by splashes of invigorating brights, empowering consumers to explore new and creative ways to combine colors.

Variations on popular colors such as energizing red, cool, waterborne blue and eco-friendly green also play a key role this season.

‘The spring ‘08 color palette perfectly reflects the cheerfulness of the season,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. “Stabilizing neutrals combined with pops of brighter colors to create unique, distinctive looks are the basis for a great spring and summer wardrobe.’ ”

color-forecast, designing, creativity

I’ve added two more sites to the color scheme generator list: Pic2Color is really unique, creating a color palette from any image that you feed into it.  Eni Oken’s color scheme software is a free download from her site. Thanks, Eni!

color, creativity, online-tools

I’ve added a couple new sites to the color scheme generator list. I do have my favorite one or two of these sites, but it’s great to have lots of options. No one generator is perfect for every person or in every situation.

beading, color, creativity, online-tools

Have you ever thought about selling your designs? Not the finished product, but the designs themselves? Here’s how one designer decided to go about it:

Creating and selling jewelry tutorials

handmade-beaded-jewelry, wearable-art, beads, beading, jewelry, mixed-media, tutorials

Fire Mountain Gems
EncycloBEADiaAll About Jewels
Illustrated dictionary

FDJ Tool
Dictionary

handmade-beaded-jewelry, wearable-art, beads, beading, jewelry, mixed-media

Help, help! I know nothing about formal design theory! What do balance, unity, line, color, movement, and contrast have to do with making jewelry?

Don’t despair. If you don’t have time or funds for a college-level course on design, check out some of the best the web has to offer:

Informational Articles on Design:

Formal Visual Analysis
A good introductory article by Jeremy Glatstein on the elements and principals of composition.

Art, Design, and Visual Thinking
An entire online design course by Charlotte Jirousek.

Common Questions on Design
By Sara Sanford, written for Lapidary Journal.

50 Ways to Become a Better Designer
Tips supplied by various artists.

The Color Wheel and Itten’s Color Theory

Best Books on Design

Jewelry Design Tools:

Virtual Beadboard
A beading project design tool.

Swarovski Crystal Design Board
Especially good for calculating the numbers.

Intelligirl Jewelry Maker
Designed specifically for kids, but may still be useful for simple designs.

Interactive Beadwork Designer
For loomwork, especially Native American patterns.

Color Tools
One of my previous posts.

Gallery of Design Ideas
By Fire Mountain Gems for when you need some inspiration.

handmade-beaded-jewelry, wearable-art, beads, beading, jewelry, mixed-media, creativity, designing

Color is important to every artist, but as a bead or jewelry artist, you probably haven’t been classically trained like a painter would be. Not to fear! There are a plethora of wonderful online sources to help you learn the terminology on your own and to teach you how to train your eye. Here are some of the best:

Informational Articles on Color:

The Color Wheel and Itten’s Color Theory

Brown University’s Color Theory Course

Margie Deeb’s Color Articles

Best Books on Color

Color Scheme Tools:

WellStyled
Tool is designed primarily for web designers but useful for anyone.

Steel Dolphin
Designed with the digital artist in mind.

ColorBlender
A fun to use tool with sliders.

Daily Color Scheme
For a bit of serendipity!

ColourLovers
An entire community just for color lovers.

Color Picker from Adobe
Pick your own or examine what others have done.

Color Schemer Online
Picks a group of colors that compliment your original color choice.

Pic2Color
Creates a color palette from any image that you feed into it.

Eni Oken’s color scheme software
You can download her software free!

handmade-beaded-jewelry, wearable-art, beads, beading, jewelry, mixed-media, color, creativity, designing

I came across a set of nice color cards put out by several large and influential forecasters:

Pantone, Spring 2007
CBI, Spring-Summer 2007
Le Cuir a Paris, Spring-Summer 2007
Dorlastan, Spring-Summer 2007
Promostyl, Spring-Summer 2007
Fire Mountain Gems, Spring-Summer 2007

handmade-beaded-jewelry, wearable-art, beads, beading, jewelry, mixed-media, color-forecast