Combining Colors; the Basics for Craft Design

A big thank you to Kari Ackeret for suggesting this topic. :-)

Oh so many colors! How do you decide which color will pair nicely with some other color? Let's start with color basics before we move on to combining the colors.

The primary colors – Red, Blue & Yellow

The secondary colors – Violet (Red + Blue), Green (Blue + Yellow) & Orange (Yellow + Red)

The tertiary colors – Red-orange, Orange-yellow, Yellow-green, Green-blue, Blue-Violet & Violet-red

For information sake will keep it to primary and secondary for now, but the rules apply for tertiary as well...

Color mixing basics -

Primary colors easily pair with each other, 'nuff said.

Complimentary colors (these sit next to each other on the color wheel and combine easily); Red with orange or violet; Blue with violet or green; Yellow with green or orange.

Contrasting colors (these sit opposite each other on the color wheel and are a bit more challenging to combine; Red and green (think Christmas); Yellow with violet (think pansy flowers); Blue with orange (think Denver Broncos).

Tones (warm and cool) -

Complimentary Cool Tones

Complimentary Warm Tones

Cool tones; Violet, Blue & Green; these will pair easily with silver, pewter and steel (complimentary), but will pop paired with “warm” metals like gold, brass and copper (contrasting).

Warm tones; Red, Orange & Yellow; these pair easily with gold, copper and brass (complimentary), but will really pop when paired with “cool” metals like silver, pewter or steel (contrasting).

Tints and Shades -

Tints and shades are the degree of a color (i.e.. Light Red, Red, Dark Red). Tints are a color made lighter by adding white; Shades are a color made darker by adding black. It's an easy way to combine colors, as they are all the same color just different degrees of it.

This actually takes me back to my painting class in High School; My teacher required us to do a color blend chart for all of the primary colors using black and white in various amounts (ie. ½ white + ½ red = pink). The Chart actually had white and the bottom, red (or blue, or yellow) in the middle and black on top. It didn't go too deeply into each color gradation, but was kept pretty simple; 100% white, ¾ white + ¼ red, ½ white + ½ red, ¼ white + ¾ red, 100% red, ¾ red + ¼ black, ½ red + ½ black, ¼ red + ¾ black, 100% black...but I digress

Neutrals -

You can combine neutral colors (i.e.. White, black, grey, brown, etc.) with most other colors and with themselves to lovely effect.

Now that you have the basics, take a little time to lay out your crafty project, or paint some swatches next to each other and just see if you like the way the colors look together. If you do, well, get crafting!

Just a quick note...

Just a quick note, Juli's Jewels blog has had a little down time. I moved recently, and, well we all know what that's like! My new DSL service should be up and running before the end of the week and then I will show you what I've been doing.

(hint: I've been playing with the new copper clay made by the Art Clay people and some of Skelekitty's fabulous stamps.)

Little Box Pendant.

So today I am trying something different. I saw an article in the newest issue (Winter '10) of Belle Armoire Jewelry that intrigued me. It was "Vintage Lace Assemblages" by Sheri Replogle. So the style of the pieces that she made were totally not my style, but I liked the little box she made to create her assemblages in. She made a little box out of sheet copper and then soldered over it. Okay, so I thought I would give it a try. That is when I realized I lost my magazine...since when has not having the directions to something stopped me. So here we go...

Warning: you must have soldering skills to create this project.

What you need -

Sheet copper

Flux (and flux brush)

Pewter solder

Jump ring(s)

Ruler

Something to cut the sheet copper (I used jewelers metal shears, but you could use a saw instead)

Copper foil tape

Soldering iron (with stand and a really wet sponge)

Soldering tile (the hot metal you are working on sits on this)

Locking hemostats or tweezers or something to hold the hot metal that isn't your bare fingers (no burns please)

A bench block and chasing hammer to flatten the jump ring a little

Okay, ready? Plug in your soldering iron, so that it will be hot when you are ready for it.

Carefully take the copper sheet out of it's package (you might want to wear gloves for this, as the metal edges can be very sharp).

Take the ruler and mark out the size you want the box to be plus 1/2 an inch for box sides. Carefully cut out the overall square for the box. Cut a notch 1/4 inch from each edge on the top and bottom of the square.

Score along the 1/4 inch lines on all four sides of the square and gently (with flat nose pliers if you have them) bend up the two short sides of the square. Then, bend up the long sides and wrap the long ends around the short sides.



Take the copper foil tape and wrap it over the edges of the box, including the overlapping pieces (this will help seal it). Burnish the tape down (I used a bone folder for this, but you can even use just your finger nails).



Turn your box upside down and place it on you soldering tile. Use your flux brush and liberally brush flux all over the back of your box. The flux cleans the metal and helps the solder flow.

Now for the fun part, soldering! Holding the soldering iron in your dominant hand and the solder in the other hand, melt some solder off the roll and onto your box. Start with a tinning layer (you know how to solder, so you know what this means) all around the box on the outside, and then flip the box over and do the same on the inside. Okay, so you can flip the box back over and build up the solder to the level that you prefer now. I like mine a little on the thick side.

When you have the solder on the box to your liking, get the jump ring settled into the locking hemostats (or hold it with the tweezers, if that's what you have) and brush it with flux. Brush the box with a bit more flux where you want to place the jump ring. Hold the jump ring in place and add a bit of solder to the tip of your soldering iron and flow it over the jump ring, securing it to the back of the box.

Clean the finished box with a damp cloth.

Voila! You can put anything you want into your new little box. I will probably make a little collage in mine an then seal it with resin. I'll let you know.

Trying to get out of my rut...

Okay, so for reasons too many to name, I have been feeling a little bit cranky-pants lately, which has thrown me into a rut. I craft for stress relief (every wondered how I made so much jewelry, now you now!), well anyway, I have been in such a funk I wasn't crafting AT ALL (horrible what with the nice fixed up workspace and all). So, today I decided "FUNK OVER" (well at least that was my goal.
I recently picked up a copy of "Collage Discovery Workshop" by Claudine Hellmuth and have been perusing it for ideas for my little tiny collages. Well, what with the "FUNK OVER" idea, I decided to stretch my self creatively (really give my brain something else to concentrate on entirely, as it where.). I stopped of at Michaels (you know, the craft grocery store), on the way home and picked up the worlds smallest (okay well maybe not the smallest...) stretched canvas (4x5 inches) and some cheap brushes (I wanted to stretch myself, but not go into hock to do it.). I had plenty of artsy-craftsy supplies at home to complete the rest. So please take a minute to look at the following pictures to see how I spent the last couple of hours. These are all new techniques to me, but I think I did okay.

Scary Craft's Night of the Creators

Last night I attended Scary Craft’s Night of the Creators. It was my first time. It happens the LAST Tuesday of the month (except November-January) at Side Show Studios on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. (Side Show Studios is an interesting mix of Art Gallery and Tattoo shop. I like it.)

Anyway, back on track…Scary Craft. The group last night was Krissi, Yoli, Di, Char, Khai (?), Becca and me. From what I gather, there is often a tutorial or theme for the evening, but not last night. Last night was just working on whatever project you brought. It was a very laid back evening, a nice combination of yakking and crafting.

Krissi was working on little mermaid pendants and a kitty plaque (mmm, love the smell of burning wood). I’m not sure what Yoli was working on, but it looked like tags. Di was working on super sparkly mini hats. Char finished a painting of a smoking penguin for Di. Khai(?) was making curtains. Becca was mostly getting out of the house and hanging with people (I feel you sista’) but she worked on a picture in her notebook. I was doing some domino and bottle cap collages (mostly barely-dressed babes).

For those of you who know me, the hardest part of the evening was getting out of the car. Once I get warmed up, I can do okay. I made the decision to go when Facebook told me I might like. I ran home to throw together some stuff to work on (I never sat down, that would have doomed my resolve). The hubby handed me a hot dog, which I ate standing up. I hopped back in the car and got on the freeway drove straight to Side Show, pulled into the parking lot and sat. It took me about 10 minutes to convince myself to get out of the car and walk into Side Show. I did it though and had a really good time. Scary Craft = not too scary.

I will be going back next month, which is good as I promised I would do a wire-wrapping tutorial. Hope to see you next month.

Where do you work?

I have been thinking about my craft/ workspace a lot lately. Why, because I get to change it.

Currently, my workspace is a portion of the guest room upstairs. As you can see, I have pretty much taken over. I try to keep my work desk somewhat clear so I can actually do work on it, but the workable area is pretty small. My bookcase has overflowed onto the floor, which is also where I keep things I just can’t put anywhere else right now, like the dehydrator and pasta machine. I can’t actually use my sewing machine because I would have to move all the stuff that is currently residing on top of the sewing table. Obviously, there is no place for anyone to sleep on that bed. Also, with the way the room is built and the furniture is situated, there is no walking around space on the floor if Buddy (the super dog) decides to hang out with me while I craft (the cats manage to find a place to curl up, but that’s because they’re cats, they don’t require as much space as a sleepy dog).

Last summer, my daughter/assistant/supermodel, Denise, moved to Tucson with her boyfriend. After plenty of long, hard thought, my hubby and I decided to redo her room as the guest room, and I will get to take over the spare room as my studio. It will still be a long time before I can complete all the work, as there is a lot of furniture to move, a spare bed to dispose of, etc. In the end, I will be able to have almost all of my work stuff in one place (I still have to keep the torches in the garage).

So, where do you work? Leave a comment on my blog about your workspace (with a link to a picture if possible). I will pick one of your comments to win a collaged domino necklace. Deadline to enter is May 31st. I will pick a winner on June 1st and contact you about sending out your necklace.

And now for something completely different...

This is my first Artist Trading Card (ATC). I was feeling just a tiny bit stressed out about the big craft fair weekend that I will be having next weekend (May 2nd & 3rd). Frankly I was overwhelmed. I had about 15 pieces that needed to be finished, as well as a a bunch that needed to be priced and carded. I had so much to do, I actually made a list. (Those of you who know me, know how I feel about lists.)

Well...I craft to relieve stress (which is why I have so much to sell, hehe), but the thought of making more jewelry made me a little more stressed (gasp). So I was trying to clean up my paper area, when I picked up my bag o' images and (many from the ARTchix Studio) and an ATC kit fell out onto my lap. I had purchased it some time ago for inspiration in my bottlecap and domino designs but most of the images where too big. (In the past I would have given the stuff I can't use to my daughter, but she doesn't live that close any more.)

So anyway...I thought I would try out the ATC kit. It had a bathing beauties theme. This is what I came up with. I don't know if the scan really does her justice, but you get the idea. I had a hard time keeping the glitter to a minimum. I painted a little bit of glitter on the star fish and let the rest of the sparkle come from the blue shell border on the bottom.

Just to let you know, I figured out how to turn her into jewelry anyway. I scanned her so that I can change her scale and print her out and put her between glass and turn her into a soldered pendant. But this way, I can keep my original ATC as inspiration. By the way, I have begun a second collage, called a twinchie (2" square), that actually has a jewelry theme. I'll let you know how it turns out.