Re-inventing the colour wheel.
Colour is a subject that some designers are just plain scared of; they turn from left to right trying to determine their colour direction. Here is some simple advice for the colourphobic.
1. Stick to colours in the same family to create subtle tonal looks-no need to get all weird getting into complimentary palettes and what not. If you are working with beads, play with them before stringing, to see how their tones go together, or find photos of the kinds of beads you want to use, then print and collage them, to see these effect before investing in them.
2. Find things that already have the colour sense you want. Perhaps it's a great blanket or an antique shoe, or a child’s' plastic toy, even though the piece is not jewellery you can still use it as inspiration for colour direction. Of course there is also, looking at other jewellery work from the distant past or current. I find incredible inspirations from going to my local museum and looking at jewellery from the ancient past. Whether, it's ancient Chinese beads, or Central American turquoise, museums are store houses of history and ideas. Take a small pad with you and write down the colour stories you have seen there. A visit to the gift shop may also provide you with beautiful colours of post cards of what you have seen.
3. More on the current world, a great day of shopping can give you a lot of ideas. It can also, show you, what's hot and what's not. Here is a clue-look for whatever is on sale, this is probably NOT the hot trend. Small boutiques are a great place to look for new and up and coming trends. The bigger the city, the better the trend shopping-from Bangkok to New York, big cities have their fingers on the pulse. If you want to be a real style sleuth-take along a digital camera and click away to capture the hottest colours of the year. Just make sure you do this discreetly-it’s not appreciated in many stores and boutiques.
4. Get personal. Forget all I have said above and look at your own personal-emotional-response to colour. Don't try to be too clever just go with your own flow and stop worrying about trends. There is a definite group of designers who succeed under this working model. Perhaps it's genetic, but some people seem to have some incredible innate sense of style. For the rest of us, there is colour forecasts, trend services, fashion reports, style guides, the list goes on......