Friday, February 11, 2011

Color Inspirations & Rotting Fruit

Where does one find colors to inspire?
Everywhere!

Where do I go if I'm in a color rut?
First stop.....Google!
I will do a search for fabrics....kimono fabric, sari fabric and it's always inspirational for me. Here are a couple of sari fabrics that inspire in color and design...and colors I wouldn't normally put together.



I also Google things like images of rotting fruit..."weird" you say...maybe, but look at the colors in there :)  There is really no limit to color inspiration if you keep an open mind. 


Another way to be inspired is by the stone or bead you're working with.
Here I used the colors from the stone to create the setting and necklace....I also let the designs in the stone tell me where the colors needed to be by letting them flow from the stone.


For the Ipil Ipil pendant I took the colors of the cabochon and incorporated them into the rope.


I confess to getting stuck in color ruts all the time and the best way for me to get out of one is to play with clay...for some reason I put colors together better with clay than I do with beads.  Sometimes I take designs straight off my beads for my flatwork designs.


I think the best tip I can offer is to not let yourself become limited as to where color inspiration comes from....nature is always good but often the effects of Mother Nature are overlooked.  Rotting fruit, moldy things, rusted things all make for great colorways. It's also fun when someone compliments your color choice and asks you what inspired it....and you get to answer "I was watching a peach rot".

7 comments:

  1. LOLOLOL!!!!! Mikki, what a great start to my morning, and the perfect end for the blog post! I LOVE your approach!!!!

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  2. LOL you are so funny! I have to admit I never thought of using rotting fruit as color inspiration but hey that is kinda pretty!

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  3. Can't say I've ever used rotting fruit for a color scheme base, but I have used rotting leaves, and metal. Crusty rusty things inspire me too! ;)

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  4. Ok, so you definitely opened my eyes to a new way of looking for color!
    Thanks, I think...:)

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  5. I'm going to look at rotting fruit in a whole new way now...in fact, I can't wait to watch it rot :) It's amazing how we sometimes overlook the beauty in our everyday experience. You have truly opened my eyes. Thank you so much, Mikki!! You are brilliant!!

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  6. Thank you for posting such interesting posts. Love this.

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  7. The rotting fruit didn't inspire but ohhh the sari materials, just a quick Google and so many stunning colour combinations......thanks for the idea

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