Spring Things

My new palette is so much fun! 

Switching to 1/16" mandrels has brought my overall bead size down, and has really helped me get a better handle on my smaller bead press.  Making smaller beads is forcing me to really think about surface decoration in a more precise way.  Soon, with practice, I might even be able to apply it in a more precise way!  :)

The straight-sided lentils are on a base of Canyon de Chelly, and include silver leaf, TerraNova2 frit, a twistie that included some silver glass and surface decoration in Ivory and Black.

The nuggets are on a base of Silver Pink, and include silver leaf, TerraNova2 frit, another twistie including some silver glass, handmade murrini and surface decoration in Ivory, Black and Canyon de Chelly.

  

Back on the Wagon

It's only been a few weeks, and already I miss my Winter Colour Diet, so I am shifting my gears back to where they are more comfortable grinding along. This time, however, it is not really a diet.  I'm making a bigger commitment to myself this time, and I expect this to be somewhat long term.  The rules are a little stricter this time, too, and it all starts today!

I am allowed to use the following colours as 'staples', and replenish them as I run out. These will not be subject to change, and are to be considered a permanent part of this new palette of mine, for as long as I'm using it.

• EFF White
• Black (The last of my Vetrofond for now, to be followed by Tuxedo and then Hades)
• Clear (REI Crystal for now... I may have to change it up as I don't have much left)
• EFF Ivory
• EFF Dark Ivory
• EFF Copper Green
• EFF Opal Yellow
• CiM Adamantium

I am allowed to use the following opaque, transparent and silver glass colours. I am starting with around 1/4# of each colour, and can choose to either replenish them as I use them up or switch them out for new colours once I've depleted that initial amount:

• EFF Silver Pink
• CiM Canyon de Chelly
• CiM Commando
• CiM Poi
• CiM Sepia Unique
• EFF Dark Grass Green
• EFF Ink Blue
• REI Mystic Grey Blue
• DHX TerraNova2
• DHX OK326
• PRC Abe's Ivy
• PRC Sasha's Silver

I am allowed to use metals, dichro, goldstone, and the miscellaneous shards and frit I have on hand more or less indiscriminately.

Once things get going, I need to switch things out with enough regularity that I test at least one, and preferably two colours per week.

Here's a family shot of all of the colours together, but they're not in the same order I listed them in above. Normally this would bother me, but I'm feeling sort of relaxed today.

Why am I doing this?
It helps me to focus at the torch to not have a lot of colour distraction. Limiting the number of colours I am 'allowed' to use forces me to be more creative in other ways. It also gives some structure to my learning process and helps me to determine which colours I will do testing with. I get to be a little flexible, since some of the colours are only in the palette temporarily, which should help me not to get too bored with it all.

Getting to know the colours really well is super-important in this art form, because if you can't predict what they will do with one another, it's impossible to reliably make things that don't look like crap.

Why am I telling people about it?
I just like to share. Also, secretly, I hope that someone reading this will choose to play along with me, and we can share war stories about colours that don't behave very nicely together, and choose the next colours to enter the palette together. Fortunately, I'm willing to settle for just blasting it into the blogosphere.

How did I choose the colours?
I'm not really sure how or why, but every time I make a palette out of my head, it seems to have a similar composition to it.  Some general guidelines that I use (consciously or unconsciously) seem to be as follows:

• Because I chose eight colours as 'staples', I needed to be strict with myself and not build on that too much in order to keep the set manageable.  I decided I was allowed four additional opaques, four transparents and four silver glass colours.  That gives me 20 colours total, which is my working maximum at any given point in time.
• I need at least four different transparent colours in the palette, with a good range of saturation. For example, Sepia Unique is fairly light, Mystic Grey Blue is sort of light but also semi-opaque, Ink Blue is of medium saturation and Dark Grass Green is a little more dense than that.
• A mix of light and darker opaque colours. For instance, Silver Pink is pretty light, Canyon de Chelly is sort of a medium, and Poi and Commando are both a little darker.
• No hue overlap. I chose the opaques first, and then chose the transparents to 'fit' with them. I deliberately chose transparent colours that were close but not identically hued to the opaque colours I'd already picked. 
• The rainbow. I always seem cover the whole rainbow in my own muted way, selecting at least one colour from each rainbow hue group. I don't know why I do this, and I never do it on purpose, but I can't seem to help myself. (Silver Pink, Sepia Unique, Canyon de Chelly, Opal Yellow, Dark Grass Green, Commando, Copper Green, Ink Blue, Mystic Grey Blue, Poi)
• The staple colours are all colours that I just can't see living without right now, whatever else changes. I'm sure everyone's 'staples' are different, and mine will probably change over time, but this is where I am right now
• I am afraid of bright colours, so I only use a few of them at a time. So silly.
• Perhaps most importantly, the eight 'rotating' colours are all colours I'm interested in testing and learning more about for one reason or another.

Test Results :: Yellow Ochre

1 - Plain, 2 - Plain - reduced, 3 - w/ Silver foil, 4 - w/ Silver foil - reduced & encased, 5 - w/ TerraNova2 frit, 6 - w/ Elektra frit - reduced, 7 - w/ Copper Green, 8 - w/ Vetrofond Black, 9 - w/ Opal Yellow, 10 - w/ Ivory

Because Vetrofond Yellow Ochre is an 'odd lot', batches of it vary.  I have two different kinds of Yellow Ochre -- I have some rods that are more yellow in colour, and smooth, and then I have some rods that have a rough texture to them and are more greenish.  I have a slight preference for the greenish variety, but I like both and they aren't really much different in terms of how they behave. I tested the more yellow variety here.

General Impressions
Yellow Ochre, like Ivory, is a pretty soft opaque colour.  On my imaginary scale where Opal Yellow is 1 and Black is 10, I'd put Yellow Ochre at around a 2 or a 3 to describe its 'stiffness'.  It's a pretty flexible colour in that while (again, like Ivory) it is sort of violently reactive to silver, it seems to behave somewhat normally around other colours.  It's a little bit streaky, which can be fun.

I didn't try it this time around, but this colour makes interesting silvered stringer.  It is also good as a base for organic designs when you want a colour that will 'pop' a little more than Ivory.  I have also really enjoyed it in vine cane with some of the other Vetrofond odd lots like Swamp Moss and Lemongrass.  This is another colour I am hesitant to encase too deeply.

Reduction
Reducing Yellow Ochre by itself does not have any apparent effect on the colour or texture of the bead.  (Bead #2)

Reactions
Yellow Ochre behaves very similarly to Ivory in a lot of ways.

Silver sort of blackens (greyens isn't a word, right?) Yellow Ochre, and sits flatly on top of it. This is almost identical to how silver behaves with Ivory. (Beads #3 & #4)

Like with Ivory, the reduced silver glass colours tend to pop more on Yellow Ochre than the ones that require striking in a neutral flame. (Beads #5 & #6) I got some colour in the TerraNova2 frit, but because of the reaction with the Yellow Ochre, the little frit bits all have a black outline that sort of obscures the colour.

With Copper Green, Yellow Ochre develops a black outline. (Bead #7) I'm going to be a bit of a broken record and point out how similar this reaction is to how Copper Green behaves with Ivory.

  

There are no real reactions between Yellow Ochre and Black, Yellow Ochre and Opal Yellow or Yellow Ochre and Ivory.  There's a tiny amount of colour bleed between Ivory and Yellow Ochre, and that's just about it.

Here are some fun beads, some of them new and one a year old, made with Vetrofond Yellow Ochre: