Bamboo - Pantone Fall 2011 Color

Bamboo is a soft golden yellow and similar to last season's yellow, Beeswax.  Before that, Golden Glow was the fall 2010 color and very similar except a richer shade of gold.  If you have my Clay Color System tutorial, you already have the recipes for these shades of yellow plus the new Pantone color, Bamboo.  It is almost identical to recipe # 6-4 titled "Lemon Curry".

Lemon Curry was a Pantone fall color from several years back but just a shade darker than this years color, Bamboo.  Adding more pearl or white mix (recipe #1-2) can lighten it up or use it straight for a richer tone.   If you prefer a lighter shade, I would suggest to create a six step color blend with the #6-4 Lemon Curry and White Mix #1-2 to create several lighter shades to choose from.

When matching with my Pantone color chart cards, I found that the 5 to 1 mix was a perfect match.

I like using this shade of yellow when working with Mokume Gane as well as cane work.  It  combines beautifully with autumn colors such as rusty type reds, browns and especially greens.  Here is a sample of some bangles I made a few years ago using the Lemon Curry with a Moss green which is very similar to the Cedar green for this fall.

  

I will continue on in order and tomorrow I will share with you my recipe for the color Emberglow....

NOTE:

Now I do have a confession to make.  If you have my Clay Color System I discovered a slight error when mixing up the Lemon Curry (recipe # 6-4).  I discovered that it should read 1/4 instead of 1/2 of mix 7-8.  It is surprising what a difference of that extra 1/4 can make in the final color turnout even though it is still a nice shade but perhaps a bit greener than intended.  Please accept my apology for this error and make a note of it in your album.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

Pantone Fall 2011 Color Recipes - Honeysuckle

I mentioned yesterday that I would be sharing with you the new Pantone Color recipes for this fall and winter.  I have been following the Pantone fashion guide for some time now and mixing up my clay color recipes to match for making my beads (and now buttons) so our jewelry would coordinate for that season.  I found the colors to be very inspiring when it came to creating various blends and combinations.  One thing I have noticed over the years is how the colors do not change from season to season or even year to year all that  drastically.  The changes are more subtle and there are several common threads that run between them.  In fact, if you have most of the color recipes for the past year or so, all they need is a little tweaking here and there to create the new color for another season.  I will show you how this works with the new recipes I will be sharing with you.

I should explain of course that all my recipes are using Kato polyclay.  I prefer this clay over the other brands since it is a much harder type of clay and I like how the colors are more true for mixing.

Another thing is that these new Pantone color recipes are based on my Clay Color System Tutorial.  If you already purchased my Clay Color System tutorial, you will be able to add these new recipes to your album.  If you do not have my tutorial or use another brand of clay, you can mix up your own recipe just by following the guidelines I will be providing.


My Clay Color System tutorial already provides more than 60 Kato color recipes.  Some of those color recipes I've included are listed on the Shades of Clay site but 54 colors are entirely my own.  Most of the recipes I have provided are perfect for using as is, but many of them are considered "base-type" recipes and intended for creating blends and using as a "base starting point" for creating more new colors by following the Color Wheel and six-step color blend worksheets provided.

Another question I get asked often is if I use any of the Kato color concentrates in my recipes.  I want to tell you here that I do not use any of the concentrates at all and for several reasons.  I have experimented with them a bit and found them to be extremely dry and crumbly so therefore difficult to work with.  I also found them to not be that  concentrated and you still need a fair bit to create a rich color so therefore making them rather costly.   They seem to work best for the mica shift technique and there are some great recipes for this as well on the Shades of Clay site.

Honeysuckle

Pantone Color of the Year

I decided to start you off with Honeysuckle (recipe # 11-6 in my clay color system) as the first color.  Honeysuckle was chosen by Pantone as the Fashion color of the year so it is still a part of the Fall 2011 color palette.  I already shared this color recipe with you on a previous blog post along with a fun tutorial on how to make your own Disc style Earrings.  You can click on the photo below and it will take you there.

You will notice that the honeysuckle shown here might be a darker shade than what is on the Pantone website.  If you prefer a much lighter shade, this can be easily created by adding more pearl or white mix (recipe # 1-2) until you achieve the shade you want.

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.

A Special Story About a Special Lady

I have a cool story about someone we recently met that I had to share with you all.

One of the stores (Donna's Yarn and Craft Centre) that sells our beads, buttons and shawl pins was giving us requests for several custom shawl pin orders.  This customer especially loved the ones with the rich textures and fiesta spiral bead at the end of the stick.  We were wondering who this was until we finally met her in person.

This is Dianne.  She is not only an avid knitter but she is blind!  She is an amazing lady and she shared her story with us and how she can do something without her sight that we take so much for granted.  She explained how her husband helps her by sorting all her wool in piles by color.  The wool is placed into bags and she tags it with that color in braille.

So how does she read a pattern?  Her friend Donna will help her find the right patterns she is looking for.  They are then mailed to Marjorie Arnott who is also blind.  Marjorie converts the pattern, using a special embosser into braille and sends it back to Dianne.

We were extremely interested in how she chose her shawl pins to go with the sweaters and wraps she knits.  Because she cannot actually see them, she would go by touch and how they feel to her instead.  She is especially drawn to the ones we make with deep rich textures.  You might recognize Helen Breil's texture sheets that were used in the ones shown here.

This is one of the shawl pins I made special for Dianne -- She asked for one with roses that she could "feel".    The end of the stick has a "vintage rose" double-sided bead on the end to match.

Dianne is a real inspiration to both Dave and I and we feel we can learn so much from her.  I hope you found her story just as inspiring.

New Store In Town

We are excited about a new store, Electrictree Yarns, opening up in downtown Kamloops this Tuesday.  Caroline is the owner who started out selling her own hand died yarns and knitting accessories on Etsy.  She decided to take the plunge and open her own brick and mortar store.  As you can see, the decor is very elegant with a cozy atmosphere.

The store has a wide range of products for weaving, knitting, crocheting and fibre arts.  They have some really cool yarns that I never even knew existed.  Yarns made from materials like bamboo or pineapple skins for instance.  Or a sock yarn called Tofutsies consisting of wool, cotton, soysilk (a byproduct of manufacturing tofu) and Chitin (made from shrimp and crabshells).

There are soft hemp yarns and a cool paper linen yarn which actually feels like paper until it is softened when washed.

Besides all the yarns, there is a wide range of accessories, books and of course our very own handcrafted buttons and shawl pins.

We wish them all the best on their grand opening this Tuesday and if you are in the area, be sure to stop in and check them out.

New Flowers from Spliced Floral Canes

Here are some flowers I made from the spliced floral canes I showed you yesterday.  All of these flowers are not finished off yet but they are baked and ready to be used for various projects.

Here are some shawl pins I made from the same canes as well.

These shawl pins (and more) were delivered to several Kamloops stores today.  One of the stores, Electrictree Yarns, is new and will be opening next week Tuesday.

Spliced Flower Canes

I made up a bunch of skinner blends to make some spliced flower canes yesterday.  I am generally a stickler for mixing up colors and saving the recipe so I can make it exactly the same again.  My pile of "scrap" clay colors, however were starting to pile up and I decided to live dangerously and use some of it up.  Other than using my favorite white mix (see recipe #1-2 in my Clay Color System Tutorial) for some of the skinner blends, all the clay were colors I already had premixed in my scrap clay box.  I found some gorgeous colors to use -- even a bright yellow and several oranges which came in handy.

I'm just finishing up some pieces from these canes and will show them to you tomorrow....