Sunday, May 10, 2020

Friday, March 20, 2020

Pantone Spring 2020 Fashion Colors Grape Compote, Faded Denim, Coral Pink and Cinnamon Stick

Updating items in my online store is taking much longer than I had hoped so bear with me and eventually I will be having a big sale -- but need to be sure everything is up and running first.  In the meantime, my tutorials are all available and I am having a sale on those -- you can see the details at the end of this post.

I quite like these last four colors -- but then again, maybe they are just growing on me!  I do find inspired mixing up the new shades.  I know some people told me they find mixing the clay colors takes too much work.  They want to just open a package and get playing.  But I find the whole mixing process is a great time to think.  It actually gets my creative juices flowing and as I mix up each color, ideas are running through my head.  I have time to think things through and plan.  It really is a spring board for what I am going to make.


One of the colors I actually didn't have to mix up at all.  I was working on a recipe for the Cinnamon Stick when I suddenly realized that the Kato Copper is a perfect match!  Just to make it more workable, I like to mix in some transluscent.

So here are the recipes for the last four Pantone Spring 2020 Fashion colors using Kato clay.  I hope you have fun with them and find mixing them up to be inspiring as well.  I hope to play with the new colors as soon as all this computer stuff is out of the way!

Grape Compote
6 parts Dark Purple #10-2 *
2 parts Ecru Mix #2-8

Faded Denim
1 part Navy Blue #9-7 *
1 part Kato Silver
2 parts White Mix #1-2 *

Coral Pink
1/2 part Kato Magenta
1/2 part Kato Orange
1 parts Kato Yellow
4 parts Ecru Base #2-7 *
3 parts White Mix #1-2 *

Cinnamon Stick
Kato Copper clay
add some translucent (optional)

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


So now for my sale....  Something to give you inspiration and take your mind off all what is going on in the world for the next few weeks!

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Pantone Spring 2020 Fashion Colors Chive, Biscay Green, Mosaic Blue, Orange Peel and Sunlight

I am currently updating my online store and ran into a major hiccup.  While transferring my items, many were lost and none of the photos loaded.  This has caused me a big headache as I have to go in and fix every single item and when you have several thousand, it adds up to a lot of hours!  And of course things never run as smoothly as hoped and the site keeps crashing every so often.  So if you are looking for something there and it is blank, bare with me for a bit.  After all is done I hope you will find it to be a better shopping experience.


So in the meantime to speed things up, I will share with you five more clay recipes for the spring Pantone colors and the last four tomorrow.  I am sure many of you are keeping occupied with your clay right now while at home more and practicing your social distancing.  I know it is nice to have some good distractions from all the covid-19 stuff we have been bombarded with.  The main focus is to stay healthy -- physically and mentally.

So here are the recipes using Kato clay:

Chive
10 parts Kato Yellow
4 parts Kato Green
1/2 part Kato Gold
3 parts Kato Black

Biscay Green
3 parts Kato Green
1/4 part Kato Blue
6 parts White Mix #1-2 *

Mosaic Blue
6 parts Kato Turquoise
1 part Kato Green
1/2 part White Mix #1-2 *

Orange Peel
Same as Orange Base recipe # 5-2 *

Sunlight
1 part Yellow
2 parts White Mix #1-2 *

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

And I would still like to hear from anyone who is interested in these clay recipes.  (See my previous post here). Sadly I only had 2 responses so if there are not many more comments here or on my facebook page, I may continue these recipes by only sharing through a private e-mail or facebook group.  Thanks and hoping for more of a response.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Pantone Spring 2020 Fashion Colors Flame Scarlet and Saffron

It seems to be taking me longer than usual to finally mix up these new Pantone colors.  I am quite sure it is due to all of the distractions lately regarding the Coronavirus.  It is rather unsettling and probably even more so if you have a large family or kids at home.  So I am sure many of you are waiting for the clay recipes for the new Pantone spring colors so you can preoccupy yourself and create something new.   I have to say though I am finding the spring colors not so inspiring -- at least not compared to past seasons.  I actually find some of them rather boring and a repeat of other years -- just in a different combination.

So I thought I would start off with 2 of the brighter colors.  Flame Scarlet and Saffron.

I noticed that the color Saffron is so similar to last years spring color, Mango Mojito, that I decided it was hardly worth tweaking a recipe that really didn't need it.  So in mixing up the polymer clay, just stick with the mango mojito color and you won't go wrong.  You will find the clay recipe in a previous post here (or click on the link in the recipe below).

In the meantime, here are the recipes using Kato clay:


Flame Scarlet
1 part Kato Red
1 part Kato Orange

Saffron
Mango Mojito (Spring 2019)

For some of you who are not familiar with my clay recipes, these are all mixed up using the Kato clay which comes in the true artist colors.  I created my Clay Color System many years ago and then published it to share with others in 2011.  It is a method for not only mixing up clay colors but also a whole way of organizing and learning how to create various blends and color groupings.

I keep getting asked if I still organize my colors in a photo album.  I quite liked this system but since I keep adding so many new recipes I have since expanded into a "recipe box" which is actually a small drawer organizer on my clay mixing table.  I wanted to share this with you to see in case you like that idea more.


I am also wondering how many of you out there are still using Kato clay and really look forward to these new color recipes?  I am interested in any feedback and please leave a comment telling me what you do use or switched to and if you would like to see these recipes in another clay brand.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Pantone Color of the Year for 2020

The Pantone color of the year for 2020 is Classic Blue.  Pantone describes it as "Instilling calm, confidence and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era".

I certainly feel I could use a lot of this color after my year being off to such a rocky start. Blue never use to be a color I would wear other than blue jeans.  In the past few years, however, I have been adding more colors along the navy and denim line to my wardrobe.  In selling my handcrafted jewelry I have found navy is also in more demand today than just your basic black.


For some reason this color looked familiar and in searching back through the previous Pantone color seasons, I discovered this was one of the Spring 2015 Fashion Colors.  You will find the original clay recipe posted here.

For easy reference I will post it here again using Kato clay:

Classic Blue

8 parts Kato Blue
1/2 part Kato Black
1 part White Mix #1-2 *

* This clay base color is found in my:

"Clay Color System" tutorial available as an instant download
in our Etsy Shop

or manually sent in an e-mail (no vat tax)
from our online store.

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Time for a Fresh Start!

I can hardly believe it has been 6 months since my last blog post.  There was so much going on I was getting further behind so I just had to put my writing on hold until I caught my breath.  I was planning on starting the new year out right when everything came to a grinding halt.  My new years eve and day began with no electricity for 23 hours due to a huge snowstorm that was so heavy, it knocked down trees and power poles creating a real mess!  It was then I wished I had a gas stove or fireplace or even a little camp stove as there was no heat or any way to make a hot meal or drink.  All one could do was bury themselves under blankets to keep warm and wait!


I thought I managed to survive that until I came down with a bad case of the flu bug a few days later.  I was back up and half-ways running when I received the news that my dad passed away.  I was sad for the news but so relieved as he had been in memory care the past year and now he is no longer suffering.  This caused so much stress for my mom as her and dad were very close and they would've celebrated there 70th anniversary this year.


So again, I had to put everything on hold as I needed to head out to Alberta to help and support my mom.  I ended up staying a week longer than planned due to poor weather.  Driving through the mountain pass in winter time is not the best or safest time to travel so I had to find a time that seemed fairly reasonable and then go for it.

It is nice to be home again, safe and sound and slowly working my way at getting back on track but frankly, I wish I could hit a reset button and start 2020 all over again!  Since that is not possible, the best I can do is pick up here at this point and create my own fresh start.  I promise you it won't be another 6 months before I post again!  So I am off and will be back very shortly with my clay recipes for the Pantone Spring 2020 Fashion colors.  Perhaps some spring colors will help us get over the winter blues!