Pantone Spring 2014 Fashion Color Violet Tulip

One of the unusual things with the Pantone Fashion color choices this coming season is the combination of the bold and vibrant with soft pastels.  I've always been attracted more to the brighter and deeper colors and not so much to the paler pastel shades.  There is something about the softer pastels that can not only have a more calming effect but can help tone down the stronger colors to create more balance.  A perfect example of this is combining a strong color like the Pantone color of the year, Radiant Orchid with the soft pastel shade of Violet Tulip.

I created a small sheet of clay using a mokume gane technique with this two color combination.  To create a more striking mokume blend, another color such as white or black, should be added for more contrast, but I did this just for a sample to show how the two shades compliment one another and the Violet Tulip tones down the Radiant Orchid quite a bit.

So here is the clay color recipe for

Violet Tulip using Kato clay:

* The Dark Purple # 10-2 and White Mix # 1-2 are base mix clay recipes found in my Color System tutorial which is available in our Etsy shop(as an instant download) or in our ArtFire Studio (which will be e-mailed within 24 hours).

** If you would prefer to have our color recipe 4x6 index cards (without the complete color system), we now have them available in our Etsy shop as an instant download.  Click here to view.