Pantone Spring 2017 Fashion Colors Pale Dogwood and Hazelnut

The last two Pantone Spring 2017 Fashion colors are Pale Dogwood and Hazelnut.  Pale Dogwood is a soft shade of pink which is the opposite to the vibrant Pink Yarrow but would combine well together.  Hazelnut is the key neutral for spring with a natural earthiness.  It could combine well with the deeper Pantone colors like Kale and Lapis Blue which I will experiment with a little later.

In the meantime, remember the color combination I shared in my last post?  I went back to the same colors but this time I created a mokume blend (Julie Picarello style) adding some Pale Dogwood and white mix to give it more contrast.  I quite like this combo and plan to play around with it a bit more.  

So here are the recipes for the Pantone Spring Fashion Colors Pale Dogwood and Hazelnut using Kato clay.

Pale Dogwood

4 parts Ecru Mix # 2-8 *

1/2 part Kato Magenta

4 parts White Mix # 1-2 *

Hazelnut

3 parts Kato Brown

3 parts Ecru # 2-7 *

6 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.

Tomorrow I will post a summary of the Pantone spring color recipes I shared along with recipe cards you can download to print out if you wish.

New Color Inspiration

A new book I ordered arrived in the mail yesterday titled the Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color 

I was pleasantly surprised with this treasure as it is packed full of color inspiration.  This is not only a guide to using  color but also contains more than 60 pages of color combinations based on different themes like "Luscious & Sweet, Spicy & Tangy, Playful, Festive and so on.


The author of this book is Leatrice Eiseman who is a color specialist and prime consultant to Pantone. She has been labeled as the "international color guru" and after seeing this book I totally understand why and I would like to own more of her other works.


I can see I'm going to get a lot of inspiration from this book and I have it handy on our coffee table for instant viewing.


And speaking of Pantone colors...,  Pantone annouced their color of the year for 2012 ... which is Tangerine Tango ...

I love this spicy and hot new color that is described as a "spirited reddish orange ... to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward".


I will be mixing up the new pantone colors soon and will have some new shades of inspiration to share with you in the new year....

A Birthday Gift Set and Color Recipe

Every year we make some jewelry pieces for Dave's mom's birthday and she always looks forward to it.  This year we decided to make her a matching necklace and earrings from our Tie Dye beads. 

Here is a closer view of the actual beads:

The colors in these beads are not the Pantone Fall 2011 colors but they are a favorite of ours.  The main colors I used to make the beads are Purple Orchid (recipe #10-8), Olive Green (Recipe #7-8 -- same as this fall's Pantone Cedar) and a yellow green mix I call Avocado (10 parts yellow, 1/2 part green, and 1 part gold).   I of course combined it with the beige mix. (recipe #2-8).

The earrings are a clip on style.  We generally makes these as a custom order for anyone who requests them.

Coffee Liqueur and Nougat - Pantone Fall 2011 Colors

The Pantone fall color Coffee Liqueur is a rich brown that is very similar to Chocolate Truffle, another one of the Pantone fall 2010 colors.  Follow the same recipe for Chocolate Truffle (see recipe # 3-5 in my Clay Color System) except increase the amount of gold to 4 parts and that is all there is to it.

Nougat is a lighter shade of Coffee Liqueur and makes a great compliment when combining colors.  When mixing up this color I seemed to be missing some sort of ingredient and just couldn't put my finger on it.  I then noticed that other colors on the same Pantone color card palette were a peach tone so when I added a bit of the Emberglow (another Pantone fall 2011 color), it came out a perfect mix.

So the recipe for Nougat is as follows:


8 parts Ecru base mix # 2-8 (see Carolyn's Clay Color System)
1/2 part Emberglow (click here to see the recipe)
1/2 part Coffee Liqueur (see recipe above)


TIP:   When measuring clay for recipes I have discovered I prefer to use a square shaped cutter rather than round.  This makes it much easier for measuring 1/4 or 1/2 parts as you can cut your square from corner to corner and get a much more accurate amount.

Emberglow - Pantone Fall 2011 Colors

Emberglow is very similar to the spring 2011 Coral Rose which was a slight variation of the fall 2010 Living coral and previous to that, Fusion Coral.  Are you seeing the trend here?


Emberglow has a bit more yellow and orange than last season's Coral Rose so is a little more of an autumn shade than summer.

Because Emberglow is so similar to the Pantone Spring 2011 Coral Rose, I just had to tweak the recipe slightly to achieve the new fall shade.  To do this, start with the basic Coral Rose color recipe (# 5-6) provided in my Clay Color System Tutorial.  Keep the amount of magenta the same but increase the yellow to 6 parts, orange to 2 parts and pearl to 4.  You can make a new color chip and saved it as a new color on your cards.  That is all there is to it.

Tomorrow I will share with you my recipe for the color Phlox ...  yummm!

Pantone Colors and New Books Arrived

We have been so busy these last few months filling bead, button and shawl pin orders for stores I hadn't even had time to think about mixing up some of the new Pantone colors for this fall and winter.  I finally had some time today to sit down and study the most popular shades and mix up some new recipes.  I plan to share those with you over the next week or so.  My clay recipes of course are all with Kato polyclay and if you have already purchased my Clay Color System Tutorial, you will be able to utilize and appreciate the new recipes I will be sharing.

In the meantime, some fun new books arrived in the mail today.  I ordered them some time ago with a 1-2 months wait before shipping so I thought it would be a nice surprise when they finally showed up.

The one book is Zentangle 2.  I've seen some really cool work from various artists who have used the Zentangle method for their designs so I was rather curious as to what it was all about and maybe something I could have fun with.  There are several books out to this series but I only wanted one book for now to start.  After reading a book review by Angela Mabray on her blog, I decided to take her advice and skip Zentangle 1 and go right to the second book.

The other book is "Adapting Quilt Patterns to Polymer Clay" by Judith Skinner and Sarajane Helm.  I was quite excited when I accidentally came across this one on Amazon.  I had no idea it even existed and it has been out for several years already.  For the past year I have been fascinated with quilting patterns and have been studying the various types in using them in my future clay designs so this book should be a lot of fun to experiment with.

More Bargello

I'm still experimenting with the Bargello in the same color combo of Honeysuckle, Beeswax and Peapod I showed you yesterday.  This time I used the color peapod as the background and below that shows one done on a black background and a different pattern.

I made a piece that has no background showing at all which gives it a totally new look again.  These are all done from the same blended cane.

What do you think?

More Pantone Color Recipes - Beeswax and Peapod

I decided to start the new year with two more color recipes from the top ten spring 2011 Pantone collection - Beeswax and Peapod.  Both recipes use Kato clay for the mix and you will notice I've added a little pearl or metallic clay of some form to each color.  I find these give that little extra shimmer and added depth.

Beeswax

6 parts Yellow

2 parts Gold

1 part White

1 part Pearl

                                                         

Peapod

3 parts Green

3 parts Yellow

1 part Black

3 parts White

3 parts Pearl

This is a fun skinner blend cane I created with the Beeswax, Peapod and Honeysuckle.  You will find the Honesuckle recipe I shared with you earlier here.  I will show you tomorrow what I'm doing with these colors.

Tutorial - How to Make Polymer Clay Disk Earrings

I thought I would share this tutorial as our Christmas gift to all of our polymer clay followers.  We've been creating these fun disc style earrings in different styles and in custom Pantone colors for several years and are a lot of fun to make.  I've mixed up the top ten Pantone Spring 2011 colors including Honeysuckle which has been declared as Pantone's color of the year.  These earrings are created in this vibrant color but of course can be done in any other color or pattern of your choice.

I used Kato clay to create the honeysuckle color.  Measure out your clay by rolling each color out to the same thickness and using the same shaped cutter, cut out the number of pieces that are in the recipe.

You will need:  10 parts magenta, 1 part orange and 3 parts pearl

Mix your clay thoroughly and roll your clay sheet out on the 2nd thickest setting of your pasta machine (# 2 on an Atlas).  Create a pattern in your clay with a stamp or texture sheet.  Cut out two pieces by first laying plastic wrap down and using a 3 cm circle cutter.  The plastic wrap creates a nice bevelled edge.

  

To make the curved form I use the metal pieces from buttons you cover that are found in any sewing notions department.  For the disc earrings I'm using the 1-1/8" (28 mm) diameter size.

Centre each clay piece over a button form.  Gently pat down and smooth the edges.

You can highlight the raised areas of your piece with mica powders or leave them as is.  I'm using Pearlex in Flamingo Pink on these ones which will give a little more shimmer.

Bake your pieces right on the button forms for 20 minutes at the temperature recommended on your clay package.

After the pieces have cooled, pop them off the forms.  On the reverse side, spread a very thin layer of liquid clay (Kato, Fimo or Sculpey) of your choice.  This will help bond the unbaked to the baked clay pieces.

Take 2 eye pins, or make your own from wire and kink or bend the wire pieces with your pliers.  These bends will prevent the eye pins from pulling out after they are baked and won't require any glue after.

Roll more honeysuckle clay out on the 3rd thickest setting (#3 on Atlas) of your pasta machine and cut out 2 circles in the same size as your textured discs.

Make a mark on the back of your clay disc where you want the top to be and position your eye pin on the back at that spot.

Place your cut clay circle over top of the eye pin, lining up the two pieces at the top.

The clay circle will be slightly larger than the front baked piece so trim the edge with your clay blade or an exacto knife.

Smooth all of the edges with your thumb blending the raw clay into the baked front piece.

Texture the back and side edges with a piece of cloth or sandpaper.  This will help to camouflage any marks or fingerprints.  It will also embed the wire into the clay without it showing through.  One of my favorite textures for this are the mesh type bags that onions or other produce come in.

Bake your pieces again for 20-30 minutes at the temperature recommended on your clay package.

Apply several thin coats of your favorite glaze.  Click on the photo below to read more about glazing.

Hang your discs from your favorite ear wires or for longer earrings and a little more bling, add an extra bead between.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Pantone Spring 2011 Colors

With our Christmas shows now over, we have been catching up on our own Christmas here at home.  Between all the baking and other preparations my husband (claymate), Dave, went through another surgery last week.  We are happy to say that things went very well and he is recovering nicely.  Thanks to all for your prayers and well wishes.

I'm getting back into the swing of things with lots of new and fun ideas in store.  I find mixing colors is a great springboard for inspiration and just finished mixing up the new Pantone Spring 2011 colors.

This new color collection is called "An Exotic Journey" citing exotic destinations like Africa, India, Peru and Turkey as it's inspiration and a way to escape everyday challenges with intriguing color combinations that transport one to foreign lands.  Honeysuckle is one of the most vibrant colors in the this collection and has been declared as the color of the year and I'm already seeing it popping up just about everywhere.

I have a special Christmas gift to all our clayers who follow us, that I will share with you soon.  I will give you a hint.  It involves the color Honeysuckle....  Look for it on this Christmas eve....

And for everyone, we have some great give-a-ways coming up in the new year....

New Look

Last weekend our followers reached 300!  I wanted to do the happy dance and celebrate!

We hope you have been enjoying our blog so far and we will try to continue to share with you more of our latest work and some fresh and new ideas.

I decided that since our home studio now has a new look that our internet studio (blog) needed one as well.  Other than the new color you will notice the sidebar has changed.  We didn't get rid of our favorite links but just moved them into a better place.  They now have their own page in one of the tabs at the top.  I categorized them in different interest groups so they are easier to find.  There is room to add a whole lot more which we will be doing over the next while.

I have enjoyed working in our new finished studio this past week.  At the moment I'm writing several new tutorials that should be published shortly.  I've been also working on some new color palettes for our beads and jewelry.  We have the small rondelle spacers in our basic color palette available for sale but we will soon have them available in a larger size as well as in more color choices.

This palette is in the Pantone Fall 2010 colors of Purple Orchid, Lagoon (turquoise), Woodbine, Endive, Golden Glow, Living Coral, Lipstick Red, Chocolate Truffle and Rose Dust.  I am in the process of mixing up some of these gorgeous fall color combinations into some of our new bead and jewelry designs.

This is our new jewel-tone color palette of lime green, teal, blue, grape, magenta, orange crush, melon, sunshine yellow and almond.

And here is a sample of some new lentil swirl beads in a combination of the magenta, melon, sunshine yellow and lime green now available for sale in our Etsy shop and ArtFire studio.

Pantone Fall 2010 Colors

After a long winter, I hate to think of fall already, but I'm getting a jump on things and mixing up my Pantone colors for Fall 2010.  Some of the colors are very close or a shade or two darker than the spring colors of this year like Lagoon (Turquoise), Living Coral (Fusion Coral) and Woodbine (Dried Herb).  I love how the spring colors can mix and match with the fall ones making them more versatile.

We've had many requests for custom order earrings in solid colors so we created an earring collection in five different styles and a variety of colors that coordinate with our other pieces.  Of course we also do custom color matching for weddings, etc. which can be a lot of fun.

  

  

I'm almost all packed and ready for the Creative Chaos show in Vernon, B.C.   I'm joining up with my clay artist friend, Joan Tayler so I'm sure it will be a full but fun weekend.