Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Bead Color Ideas: Metallic Emerald

Trying out new combinations of bead colors every month is a great way to exercise creative muscles and experiment with palettes, but it’s not often that I actually get to use any of the concoctions I come up with. Right now I am working on a lariat inspired by a palette from last year, and it’s working out so nicely that I wanted to try again and find a great palette for some beads I want to use up soon.

Although I want to make use of all the great things in my bead collection this year, I hadn’t intended on actually working through my supplies methodically the way I did during the destash challenge. I was going to go for a more spontaneous inspiration method. Still, I find myself drawn to using up and finally bidding farewell to some older beads, including all of my Toho cubes and triangles. I’ve already started using some of them up, but I needed to explore some palettes for some lovely silver-lined green triangle seed beads.

Emerald Sea Bead Color Idea


I started with a palette that I knew I’d like right away, with gold freshwater pearls and dark blue lined aqua 11/o’s. The elegance of the gold pearls and the mysterious quality of the blue seed beads blend perfectly with the metallic sheen of the triangles. This palette could be used for both Egyptian and aquatic themes – two of my favorites.

Emerald Garden Bead Color Idea


Next I went with some bold colors for a spring look. Canary yellow and purplish cobalt iris seed beads add a lot vitality to the dark green triangles. I like the intensity of the yellow with the darker colors, and the way the shimmer on the cobalt makes it all more sophisticated than your basic opaque brights. I think this palette would be perfect for floral designs.

Emerald Wings Bead Color Idea


For the final palette, I wanted to add another shade of green. I’ve used these emerald triangles before with dark greens and browns for a pine bough effect, and I wanted to see how similar colors would look – and if they could have the same freshness without being too obvious. I used metallic June bug and transparent dark topaz to complete the trio. I’d really like to see this palette in action, and see how the greens play together in an actual pattern, perhaps with a beetle or dragonfly theme.

What are you favorite combinations for dark green?

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