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Fashionable Color Theory: Black and White 2

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This guest post was written by Corissa McClay for MakerCraft.

I’ve always found color theory useful in how I design my jewelry, which is why I’m sharing it with you. And here we are at our final color theory post. The first three were Monochromatic and Analogous, Complementary and Triadic, and Black and White with color. If you haven’t read them go check them out.

No Color Allowed

This final post is some general tips on using black and white by themselves, without extra colors to accent them. I’ve always had issues with jewelry designs that didn’t use any color. I’d feel like they should be the easiest thing to design; no color equals less problems. But that’s never been the case. So here’s my thoughts on the subject. Feel free to leave your own in comments.

Keeping Jewelry Classy

On thing I love about black and white is that when you get it right it looks amazing. It matches pretty much any outfit, and can often range from incredibly simple to very complex. In fact, my favorite black and white design I’ve ever made was for my mom to wear when I got married.

Making that taught me a couple things:

  • Natural stone is great for classy black and white jewelry: I used hematite and pearl in this. If you’re going for classy nothing is as good as pearls, and the hematite was earthy and solid enough to match. I had originally thought about going with glass, but in the end the natural colors worked best.
  • Balance is key: You don’t want one color to overwhelm the other. If you have too much of one or the other you’ll limit what you can wear it with (black on black makes for bad contrast). You can also throw off the design. Too much black can leave your design feeling heavy, while too much white can look washed out. In general, I think it’s best to make sure your jewelry is well balanced.

Since then I’ve felt better about designing in black and white, which let me pick up a couple more tricks.

  • Match jewelry color to material: You can get around the issue of how heavy looking an all black piece of jewelry can be by using the right material. A translucent or semi-opaque glass or acrylic bead will lighten the design, and let you work in all one color. Sometimes you can use the translucency to get shades of grey as well, which also adds visual variety to your design.
  • White is a statement color: Yes, bright colors attract attention. But an all white necklace against a bright colored outfit will glow. It’s a good subtle look, and if you use lighter acrylic beads you can get a long, maybe multi-strand, necklace without having to worry about weight.

Go non-symmetrical: Black and white are natural opposites. Think the yin and yang symbol. The colors are in balance, but not necessarily put together in a symmetrical way. Black and white are easier to use in more creative designs and patterns because you know they go together. Here’s an example of this:

So there are my tips on designing with black and white. I’m sure there’s more. If you’ve got some, share them in comments. And if you’ve made a necklace with our app using these colors, let me know so I can show it off!

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Fashionable Color Theory: Black and White

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This guest post was written by Corissa McClay for MakerCraft.

Welcome back! This is the third post in our Fashionable Color Theory series, and this time we’ll be talking about how to use black and white to enhance colors in your designs. First we’ll recap though. In our first post we went over the color wheel, and talked about how to use monochromatic and analogous color schemes. In the second post we built on that and introduced triadic and complementary designs. Those four are some of the most used color schemes. But black and white don’t fall into those categories, so we’ll be doing this post and the next one on black and white!

Black and White: Color Enhancers Extraordinaire!

So how do you use black with other colors? The best answer is: however you want! One of the best ways though, is to use it to enhance the other colors around it. Take a look again at the picture at the top of this post. That necklace uses a lot of black, but the red is really what steals the show! That’s one of the best things about using black in jewelry: it immediately makes all the colors around it stand out.

The first necklace was fairly balanced between the two colors, but you can see that the rule holds true even when the jewelry is mostly black. The gold in the design stands out, because it looks incredibly vibrant next to the black. This will be true of any color or shade. Vibrant colors, like cherry red or emerald green will stand out like sparks. Paler colors, like pink or baby blue will soften the darkness of the black around it. That contrast will make them stand out as surely as the vibrant colors.

And white? It does much the same thing, but in a much softer way. Black can be harsh. White, as it’s opposite, is gentler and easy on the eyes. So while it enhances colors it does it in a way that isn’t aggressive. Compare this necklace to the design at the top of the page.

In the first design the combination of black and red was aggressive and hard to miss. This second necklace is gentler. The red stands out and draws your attention, but it’s not likely to be read as harsh or forward. If you’re looking for a way to use only a small amount of color, and have a simple, elegant design white is the way to go.

Fashion Bonus: Matching Jewelry to Outfits

There’s another bonus to using black and white as the predominant colors in a jewelry design. They’re incredibly easy to match with clothes. Do you have a vibrant, colorful outfit? Pick one of the colors to use in the design and match it with black or white for your design. The pieces of color in your design will tie in with the color in your clothes, but won’t be overwhelming. Additionally, a monochromatic outfit can be matched with black or white and one color. A white dress with a necklace in blue and white would be cool and light. Red and black worn with a business suit in black or grey would add just the touch of color you’d need to make it interesting.

And that’s not nearly all. There’s one more post in this series, and in that we’ll talk about using black and white exclusively, either by themselves or together. Stay tuned! And if you have any interesting tips or ideas for using black and white with color let us know in the comments!

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Color Theory for Jewelry Makers: Part 2

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This guest post was written by Corissa McClay for MakerCraft.

As we move into fall things are getting rainy and dark, and people start adding color to their outfits to fight back the weather-change blahs. That makes it the perfect time for the second post in our Fashionable Color Theory series!

Review

Last time we went over the color wheel and monochromatic and analogous color schemes (Go here if you missed it).

They’re fairly simple color palettes, and great for accenting and spicing up an already colorful summer outfit.  But the fall makes us (me particularly) ready for something a bit more complex, or eye-catching. So this time we’ll be diving into a couple more color schemes suited to fall.

Complementary

A complementary color scheme is made up of two colors directly across from each other on the color wheel. One of those is what makes the fall so lovely:

Complementary color schemes are great, because there’s so many ways to use them, and they’re so easy to recognize. They really pop, because the two play off of each other making each seem brighter and more bold. That makes them the perfect antidote to a rainy autumn.

You can use them a couple different ways too. For something subtle you can pair a single color piece of jewelry with clothes that complement it. You can also go bolder and use the complements in a single piece.

Triadic

The triad color scheme is exactly what it sounds like: Three colors. The trick though is picking the right colors. In this case it’s three colors that are equidistant on the color wheel, like so:

 

The triad creates a vibrant design. A word to the wise though; Pick one color to be dominant. If you try to balance all three colors equally the design can become confusing and difficult to follow. Balance it right, with one dominant and two accents and you’ll have a harmonious design to brighten your day.

Once again, pairing this with clothes is easier than it might seem. You have three colors to pick from. To make your jewelry a bit more subtle you should match you clothing colors to the dominant color of the piece. That will make it blend in a bit more, and let the accent colors be your main contrast. Flip that approach, with one accent matching your clothing, and you’ll have a design that springs out and takes center stage.

That’s the basics of complementary and triadic color schemes. Take some time and play with them, and see what you come up with. In the next post of this series we’ll talk about black and white, and how to use them with other colors, and by themselves.

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Color Theory for Jewelry Makers

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This guest post was written by Corissa McClay for MakerCraft.

Color in jewelry is crucial, but when you have too many options, sometimes it’s hard to use. Which colors go together? How can you get contrast without the colors clashing? Where’s the line between colorful harmony and an assault on your eyes? I know a thing or two about color theory for jewelry, so if you want to improve your designs, read on!

The Basics

This is the color wheel:


All those dots of color add up to a wealth of design information. From here we can tell what color necklace you should pick if you’re wearing a blue sweater, or what colors to place next to each other for extra sparkle.

But how do we get there? There’s so many ways you can combine these colors, and that doesn’t even cover all the shades (pure color mixed with black)  and tints (pure color mixed with white) in between them. It’s easy to get lost in all the options.Luckily, we have a road map, and that’s the specific ways of combining certain groups of colors. There’s a lot of them, ranging from a fairly simple monochromatic set, to split-complement or modified triads. The two I’d like to start with are monochromatic and analogous.

Monochromatic simply means that you are only using one color. However, you also have access to all the shades and tints of that color. It’s a combination that’s easy on the eyes, and easy to design.


This narrow range of color makes it very easy to use while still giving you choice. It also makes it easy to pair with an outfit or other jewelry, since there are very few competing colors.

Analogous is a grouping of colors, usually three or four, that are adjacent on the color wheel.


 

Small groups of colors that are near each other on the color wheel naturally work together. Using an analogous color scheme gives you a bit more freedom in color choice. Getting the balance right between the colors could be tricky, but when it’s done right you can get great results.

Suggestion: Pair a couple mostly cool colors (blues and darker greens) with a nearby warm color (yellow-green). The cool colors form a solid, multi-colored base, and the warm color provides just enough contrast to be interesting.

Analogous color palettes can also be applied to combinations of jewelry and clothes.Find the dominant color of your outfit on the color wheel, then count two colors over. Jewelry in that color is almost guaranteed to look great with your outfit!

This is just a taste of the options available to you. In the next post I’ll go over complementary and triad palettes. Later on we’ll also go deeper into how you can use these themes to pair outfits with jewelry. In the meantime, play with these two themes. Share your favorite combinations in comments, or send in your designs. We’ll feature some of our
favorites in later blog posts.

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FaveCrafts 365 Color Your World!

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Did you know the color you surround yourself with does influence your mood and creativity? It’s true and you’ll be surprised what mood those colors put you in.  Need energy? There’s a color for that! Need to relax? There’s a color for that too!

Are you in a color rut?  Click here for inspiration!

Streak your candles with color by checking out this fun project.

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FaveCrafts 365 Color Theory by Mother Nature

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My mother was a genius at color theory, but those genes were not passed down to me! I’ve discovered an easy way to figure out color coordination and have a relaxing walk in my backyard. A colorwheel is a very handy tool for color theory, but do you have other tools you use? Share!

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