Finished Projects with the Pantone Fall 2017 Fashion Colors

I finally managed to finish off some projects using the clay samples I showed earlier in the Pantone Fall 2017 fashion colors.  If you are looking for more inspiration on using these new colors or different combinations you can follow my Pinterest board.

With the clay veneer made in the Pantone colors Neutral Gray and Grenadine, I created a scarf necklace and some interchangeable snaps.

Here is another scarf necklace in the Neutral Gray and Ballet Slipper combination.  The color is an almost perfect match with our pink linen scarf.

And these pieces were created with the stencil technique.  The Neutral Gray and Shaded Spruce combo made into another scarf necklace and the Golden Lime made into interchangeable snaps.

Clay Recipe Links for the Pantone Fall 2017 Fashion Colors

Here is a review of the Pantone Fall 2017 fashion colors.   Click on the photos below to see the clay recipes using Kato clay.  If you would like to see more clay recipes for the past Pantone fashion colors, go to the color recipe page at the top of our blog.

Pantone Fall 2017 Colors Shaded Spruce and Golden Lime

The last two Pantone Fall 2017 fashion colors are Shaded Spruce and Golden Lime.  Both of these greens can be found in nature during the fall season.  Shaded Spruce is like a dark blue spruce and almost a deep teal.  Golden Lime is a more fall-like version of the Pantone color of the year, Greenery.

While these two colors look nice together their tone changed somewhat when combining the clay and they tended to fight against each other.  It is worth further experimenting later but in the mean time I decided to create some stenciled prints using these colors as a background.  Here a clay sheet of Shaded Spruce is combined with the Neutral Gray in the form of silver acrylic paint.

The metallic black paint really pops on the Golden Lime clay.  I was looking for a unique pattern and found this one among other stencils available at Shades of Clay.  Stencils can work similar to silk screens but can also be used in other ways making them more versatile.

So here are the recipes using Kato clay:

Shaded Spruce

7 parts Kato Turquoise

2 parts Kato Black

1 part Kato Pearl

Golden Lime

1 part Kato Green

6 parts Kato Yellow

1 part Kato Gold

* Any of the base color "mixes" used are from my Clay Color System.

Pantone Fall 2017 Colors Neutral Gray, Grenadine & Ballet Slipper

Along with Navy Peony, Neutral gray is the other main neutral in the Pantone Fall 2017 pallette.   I decided to use it as my main clay color to work with today along with two opposite types of reds, Grenadine and Ballet Slipper.  Grenadine is a very strong orange red where Ballet slipper is more a cooler and softer shade.

I was experimenting with several combinations and love how both of these reds combine beautifully with the Neutral Gray and a little bit of black to make them pop.  I was playing around with these colors and found the Chevron-like patterns the most fun.  I didn't have enough time to make anything from these veneers as I wanted to get this posted so will show you later when I do.

So here are the recipes for these three colors using Kato clay:

Neutral Gray

4 parts Kato Silver

1 part Kato Black

1 part Kato White

Grenadine

1 part Kato Red

1 part Kato Orange

Ballet Slipper

8 parts White Mix # 1-2 *

3 parts Ecru Mix # 2-8 *

1/2 part Kato Magenta

1/4 part Kato Violet

* Any of the base color "mixes" used are from my Clay Color System.

Pantone Fall 2017 Fashion Colors Navy Peony and Marina

I decided to focus on the two blue Pantone Fall 2017 fashion colors - Navy Peony and Marina.

If you have ever done much shopping for clothing lately, you might notice there is a lot of Navy which is almost the new black.  Like black, Navy combines well with a lot of colors.  Pantone describes Navy Peony as "a dependable and anchoring shade that is solid and stable, the hue takes some of the load off of black as a go-to neutral."  I hadn't played with my Bargello technique for some time and I found it was calling me and here is the result.

While the fall color Marina, is another shade of blue, it is much brighter than the Navy Peony and the only true cool color in this fall palette.  While blue is generally a popular color with many, I have found that for several years was not a good seller when it came to jewelry.  This past year, however, it has been slowly increasing in popularity again with Navy still being the top choice.  Combining these two shades could be a real winner.  These sculpted flowers and canes are an example of using both blues.

If you have my Clay Color System, then you already have the Navy Peony recipe in your collection.

Navy Peony

Same as

Navy Recipe # 9-7 *

Marina

3 parts Kato Blue

1 part White Mix # 1-2 *

4 parts Kato Pearl

* Note:  These clay color recipes are created using Kato Polyclay.  Any of the base color "mixes" used are from my Clay Color System.

Pantone Fall Fashion Colors Tawny Port, Autumn Maple & Butterum

For some reason I found myself procrastinating on mixing up the Pantone Fall fashion colors.  Other than the colors Navy Peony and Golden Lime, I just did not find the other colors very exciting.  However, once I began mixing each one of the colors up and laying out my samples on the tile for baking, I felt a little more inspired.

My first thought was to combine the warm autumn shades of red and brown as they are so earthy and rich in color and depth.  The three colors combined (as in a mokume gane blend) reminded me so much of autumn leaves, I had to make some!

So here are the recipes using Kato clay:

Tawny Port

8 parts Crimson # 4-5 *

1 part Kato Pearl

Hint:  When mixing up a recipe batch of Crimson (Recipe # 4-5),

add 1 part Kato Pearl

Autumn Maple

1 part Kato Brown

1 part Kato Copper

1 part Kato Gold

Butterum

1 part Kato Brown

1 part Kato Gold

2 parts Ecru Mix # 2-8 *

* Note:  These clay color recipes are created using Kato Polyclay.  Any of the base color "mixes" used are from my Clay Color System.

Playing with Fall Colors

I always look forward to my new issue of the Polymer Arts Magazine and the fall issue will be out shortly.  The last issue (Summer) was all about color.  Anyone that knows me personally understands how I love color and the main reason why I love playing with polymer clay!

I studied color in art class years ago and have all the various wheels and charts.  I have discovered, however, that color mixing and combining can still be somewhat complicated or even intimidating to others.  This is why I developed a lesson that I called my Clay Color System.

It includes several easy to follow exercises and worksheets for mixing colors and creating color blends and a method for saving the information as a reference.

It is also a method of organization and time management.  My lesson provides more than 50 clay color recipes to get you started and a unique way for keeping track of them as well as the clay that you have mixed up.  This way you do not have to start from scratch each time you need a new color.

Twice a year, I share on our blog the clay recipes for the Pantone Fashion Colors allowing you to add even more colors to your library.  Even if you aren't into the latest fashion colors, it can still (hopefully) provide some inspiration.

So starting tomorrow, I will share with you my clay recipes for the Pantone Fall 2017 Fashion colors along with some ideas on combining and using these warm shades.

Holy CaBezel Scarf Necklace

It was overcast today -- not from clouds but smoke from the forest fires -- so thought I would pop outside and take some photos of our new CaBezel beads.  I wanted to share a few more ideas of how they could be worn.  There is a snap embedded into the back making them interchangeable so they can easily be switched out and worn many different ways or change out the large pendants for a different design or color.

Another way they can be worn is on a scarf.  I show how to make your own scarf bails in my tutorial:  Constructing Accent Pieces for Your Scarves, Sweaters & Shawls.

We add a special clip to the snap base making it easy to interchange from a necklace chain or cord to a scarf bail.  These clips are available in our jewelry supplies of our online store and the snap bases to create your own interchangeable jewelry pieces are in our DIY snap supplies section.

I also want to thank Sage Bray for featuring of our interchangeable beads and Wendy's CaBezel jewelry molds on the Daily Polymer Arts Blog.  If you haven't yet discovered The Polymer Arts Magazine, it is worth subscribing to.  I prefer going paperless and love how you can subscribe digitally.

And I should mention that we are having a Flash sale on all of our snap supplies and in case you missed it, we have extended it for a few more days ending midnight August 13!

New Jewelry Dishes

I came across some ceramic jewelry dishes on Pinterest a little while ago which inspired me to create these new pieces.  I loved the idea of having holes around the edge for hanging earrings.  There were a few challenges in creating these but I was determined to figure it out.

We've had several people ask us how we got the lace doilies to stick.  There are no doilies attached to these but only the impression made from them and then antiqued in paint.  I am happy to say that no doilies were harmed in the process and we can use them over and over again!

These dishes took quite a few hours to make plus several bakings.  The most difficult part is joining the 2 sections and finding the right forms so they maintain their shape each time they are baked.  These dishes are about 8 inches in diameter.  You can hang 21 pairs of earrings on the charcoal dish and 24 pair on the purple one. 

These pieces are now available at the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento.

Holy CaBezel!

When Wendy Orlowski first told me about her new CaBezel mold idea she asked if I wanted some to play with and try out I said yes of course!  I have to say they were love at first sight!  Each shape is so unique and I love the hole as it gives them even more character!  She was trying to come up with a name that might be different than just calling them donuts and I was just joking around and told her the only thing I could come up with was "Holy CaBezel!".

 

This is just the bezel part -- still needs to be filled

As it turns out she decided she liked it (and why not have fun with a name!?) plus added another name in front of each of the six designs after six important women in her life.  I just love it and Wow!!!  I never had anything named after me before so that makes it even more special!!!

So I am excited to let you know that she now has her new CaBezels available at Shades of Clay!  If you are already a fan of her CaBezel molds, they you are just going to love these!  There are six unique designs and each mold comes in 3 sizes!!!  So this is the one that is called Carolyn Holy CaBezel Jewelry Mold:  (Click on the photo to see it at Shades of Clay).

I was quite pleased to see she had named this shape after me as it is my favorite.  I do like them all but just seem to be more attracted to this one in particular for some reason.

I haven't received the smaller sizes yet but they should be here soon and can hardly wait to play with them too.  I will keep you posted on my results.  You can see more samples of what I created so far and how they are mounted on an interchangeable snap in a previous post here.

If the CaBezel molds are new to you, check out this post here for more information and hopefully answer some of you questions.  Wendy even has a great video (click here) to show you how easy it is create your own original pieces with these molds.

In the meantime, you will find all of the CaBezel molds at Shades of Clay (click here).