Well. It's not an entirely easy question to answer. Mostly, it seems pretty random to me. Or maybe intuitive, although that's implying I always get it right! Sometimes, particularly when I'm making wire pendants, I choose colours based on what I'm trying to represent, so I don't really have to think too hard about them, just select the nearest shade from my HUGE collection of seed beads. And sometimes I'm trying to match something, e.g. an item of clothing, like with these stunning beads by Claire-Louise Patrick of Ciel Creations, which could almost have been made for my new skirt.
I've also been known to take inspiration from pretty much anything around me - from the sky to wrapping paper. I remember making a pendant inspired by the colours in a cushion in the caravan we holidayed in a couple of years ago!
I love the site Design Seeds for inspiring colour palettes. When I was making bracelets from orphan lampwork beads a while back, I chose several palettes, selected beads in those colours and put them together, like my Hydrangea bracelet.
And the other question - what makes me choose silver, bronze, copper, gold etc. for the metal components in my jewellery? Unless it's a commission, I often weigh up how warm or cool I think the beads I'm using are, and use silver for cool and (usually) bronze for warm. But not always! Sometimes I like to ring the changes and do it the other way round. Which, I realise, is not really much of an answer, but that's how the creative process works for me!
Water Nymph
The Stream That Stood Still
Eternal Love
Take the three examples above. Silver was the natural choice for the Water Nymph earrings, with those cool-hued lampwork beads with their splashes of silver. And I could have gone the same way with The Stream That Stood Still, as they're also smattered with silver, but that glorious greyish-green seemed to be calling out for warm bronze findings. And pink is perfect with silver, but I wanted to give the Eternal Love earrings a warm glow, and again bronze seemed the right choice. I still think all three pairs would be lovely paired with different metals, but I'm happy with my choices! :)
So, there's nothing scientific about it (something that wouldn't surprise my science teachers at school, I'm sure - I was so bad my physics partner decided to go it alone, rather than continuing her project in partnership with yours truly! She was justified, by the way - I never did get that circuit to work.)
What makes you choose certain colour combinations? Or is it all a bit random? :)
Links:
Design Seeds
My Facebook page
Ciel Creations
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