Ring in the Pantone's Color of the Year!

Happy New Year everyone.  I like to generally start out the year exploring new clay colors and mixing up some of the Pantone color recipes.  Pantone actually made the news quite a bit last month with so much talk regarding Pantone's Color of the Year for 2026.  I am curious what your reaction was?

When I first saw it announced, all I could think of was. "WOW, Are they serious?  This must be a joke!"  I have been following the Pantone Fashion Colors since around 2006 when someone first introduced it to me.  A few years later, I started mixing up the colors using Kato Clay but didn't start posting the recipes on my blog until Fall 2011.  Over the years I found each of the season's color palette to be a wonderful mix and provided plenty of inspiration.  The past few years, however, I have found them to be less inspiring as many of the colors are repeated over time.

Pantone Spring 2026 Fashion Colors

When I look at this years spring colors I find most of them are a similar tone and seem more like fall than what you would expect for spring or summer.  

For instance, here are 3 colors from the above Spring 2026 palette that have been used in previous years in fall and winter palettes.  The others are very close variations of previous colors which I will share with you a little bit later.

Colors from left to right:

Marina - Fall 2017

Lava Falls - Fall 2022

Burnt Sienna - Fall 2023

In my eyes, Pantone pretty much hit bottom with Chocolate Mousse (a fancy word for brown) as the color of the year 2025 and I didn't think they could do worse . . . that is until I saw this years!  I actually find the names they use for their colors more inspiring as Cloud Dancer sounds so much better than "white".  So is Black going to be for next year?

I apologize if I sound too cynical, in which I am, but I cannot help it.  To me, a color of the year should be an actual "Color" that is full of life and vibrant!  To me, as someone who also likes to paint, looks at white as not a color but as a "blank canvas" in which to add color.

In the world of polymer clay, it does make a great neutral or contrast in our work.  But working with a large white base or background, however, has a huge challenge of keeping it clean and completely lint or blemish free before baking as well as preventing it from discoloration during the baking process.

Later on I will share with you a few tips that I have discovered in working with white clay -- that is unless you have a pet (cat or dog), it might be hopeless, but I do have tips on that as well.  So here are a few examples of my work using white in my designs which I will talk more on in my next post.

Faux White Stone Marble

Silk screen printing on white clay

Adding white for contrast in Mokume Gane technique.
These are created using the Cabezel Jewelry Molds.