We're All Ears :: Living Coral

I truly didn't think that I would even have any beads for this month's challenge of the Pantone Color of the Year, Living Coral. So I decided to challenge myself with 15 minutes on the clock to pull out all beads that I could find, art bead or otherwise, that was even remotely in that particular hue. I surprised myself! I took a few liberties with the color, trending a bit more to a brighter orange than coral for some beads, but you get the gist.

At the same time I pulled out an assortment of art beads that might work. Found a few!

Next I decided to go back to the color palettes that I shared in the inspiration post.  I decided that I would try to make one pair of earrings for each of the five palettes. That gave me a lot of choices for accent colors! Unfortunately, my time was limited as I started this on Thursday night, and I only managed to make three pair, but at least I have ideas for some future earrings!

And finally, I can reveal to you what I created!

Focal Point Foliage
I came upon these perfect little disk beads from Heather Powers of Humblebeads that were coral with little green foliage. Serendipity! I then found some moss agate briolettes and some faceted Czech glass for some additional hues of olive green and peachy-coral. I love the copper wire and spacers that play off the warm tones of the peachy-coral polymer clay.

Trippy
This palette calls for a mix of bright hues and funky patterns. I had these vintage orange glass beads with the sunbursts. I found these great ceramic headpins in aqua from Michelle of Firefly Studios and rubber O-rings for movement. Perfectly trippy in every way!

Under the Sea
I lucked out in my Humblebeads stash to find these flat tablet beads that had a pattern that fit this palette perfectly. The shapes on the polymer clay beads remind me of coral reefs with colorful fish darting to and fro, like the little coral beads dangling at the bottom and topping it off with a bespeckled midnight blue goldstone.

I have to say that this exercise was a good one for me. Sometimes I let the coral beads take the lead, and other times they were just a supporting cast member to another hue. And even though I didn't have time to work up all five palettes, but at least I have some ideas for Shimmering Sunset, and Sympatico.

Let's see what beauties you made with Living Coral!

We're All Ears :: January Inspiration :: Color of the Year 2019

Drum roll please.....The winner of the Emergency Earring Making Kit is.... 

Sarajo Wentling!

I will send out a little earring goodie package just for you!

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I find the Pantone Color of the Year forecasts rather intriguing. I don't always enjoy their choices, but I do love reading the rationale behind the pick and seeing the color palettes they put together to go along with it. I don't always use this color forecast to determine what I use, but I think that as creatives in any medium it helps to be up on the latest trends, even if I don't want to follow them (I like what I like and don't like to be told what color to use!).

PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral

An animating and life-affirming coral hue with a golden undertone that energizes and enlivens with a softer edge

Animating? Yes. It has a quality of being vibrating and shimmering, especially when placed against darker shades, or blue hues, the complementary partner. I also think that this color represents the vibrancy of life, especially since it is actually the namesake of an endangered species in our oceans that I would hope we would all want to fight to protect. So in that respect, I think that it can be a life-affirming hue. So yes, I agree with Pantone's statement about the energizing shade with a softness that makes it approachable.

As usual, Pantone has put together 5 color palettes. What I like most about this is that it shows me possibilities that I might not have thought of for combining colors. I like to see the individual color names (I would love the job of naming colors!), but I also like the color harmonies that show them in connection with one another. I like to use as many of these palettes to inform my choices for my earrings, that is my personal challenge. Which palette are you most drawn to?

I am not sure that I have many beads in this Living Coral color (maybe a trip to the bead store is in order?), but I will try to find what I can to create as many pairs in as many palettes as I can with this special, energetic color. Pick your favorite combination and make one pair (or more!) of earrings to show off. Come back on January 18th for the reveal and add your link!