Ahhh ... Fall Colors

I'll admit, I'm not a summer girl. Give me cozy sweaters and jeans. The return of burgundies and plums to our wardrobes is one of the reasons Fall is my favorite season.  Needing to boost my earring inventory for upcoming Fall Art Shows and wanting to combine my newfound love of metalworking with my first love - beadwork - led to my latest designs.  I love spending my mornings hammering away in the studio and then stitching up some delicas with the TV in the background in the evenings. I think it makes for a nice soft-hard balance.

After trying several dozen combinations of silver, copper and brass with colors from Pantone’s Fall 2015 Color Report, I narrowed my Show offerings down to six.

The combination of Marsala, Cashmere Rose, and Stormy Weather in the earrings on the left is one of my favorites.  A delica mix of soft purples and rose golds inspired the pair on the right.

Our brains may be wired to think that Fall equals dark colors. But I hope these Cadmium Orange/Berry Red and Lipstick Red/Chocolate Truffle combinations prove that bright reds, whether casual or dressed up with a shine of gold, are a great transitional color choice.

Neutrals always do well in my booth, so two combinations made the final cut; classic black and white, and I’m also in love with Reflecting Pond (a midnight blue that goes great with everything), and Amethyst Orchid.

I shared my collection with my sister, my sister-in law, and three friends, and asked which they liked best. One couldn’t choose, but four selected the same pair– the black and white. 

Do you have a favorite?

Farewell, Radiant Orchid

A little bit brown, a touch red, Marsala is my favorite color from Pantone’s Spring 2015 Color Report, so I was beyond thrilled to see it named Color of the Year in the WSJ this week.

“It has an organic and a sophisticated air,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, Pantone’s color advisory group. If that brings to mind farm-to-table cuisine, bushy-but-coiffed beards and urban dwellers’ growing obsession with farm life, that is exactly the cultural phenomenon that Pantone—and the design world—are addressing here.”

Organic and sophisticated. Precisely how I felt about this color the first time I saw it. The day the color was announced, my Cyber Monday order of zircon rondelles in dark cognac appeared in the mailbox – and they look to be a good match for Marsala. Can’t wait to pair them with Aquamarine.

So, while wreaths, pinecones and garland make their annual appearance throughout the rest of the house, it’s beginning to look a lot like Spring on my bead table!