Well, yes I am a color junkie. I love color! As a young child I found color fascinating with my first big box of crayolas. The thrill of opening a new box of color pencils. Why I even loved emptying the pencil sharpener to see the crazy, discourse of shavings that remind me of a parade of confetti. Crazy color reminds me of the spice market sari silk ribbon! But beyond my personal color issues, have you explored color, like really explored color?
Taking a watercolor class in college to fill an elective with an easy class, I soon learned that I had never really seen color. I still am ever so grateful to my art teacher who required that we go out and look at the stark white snow on a cloudy day, on a sunny day, as the rain diminished its worth. I learned to train my eye to see every shade and nuance of color. Green was no longer the color of a leaf but the platform for jumping off into the millions of hues of green that we see every day but blur together under the easy title of green.
Using my watercolor class as a jumping off point, color became alive for me, a living, breathing creature that I could no longer harness. I was now able to see every intricacy of color and the games that light played with that color. So how could I still ogle over this new found passion and be able to incorporate it into choosing colorways for art, crafting and even paint on the walls? Options are good thing but my optical clarity was overwhelming!
Color is passion and using color with fiber is what makes our projects soar, makes it calmly state comfort or just exudes subtleties of one color that bring it deep context. Art is created with our use of color or lack of it. So how do we choose our colorways when the process can be overwhelming? I have a few suggestions on how to choose yarn colors for your next project. Choosing color should be joyful!
Monochromatic color -the use of color in the same color spectrum. Monochromatic colors stay with the same color, introducing shades and nuances that deeply define that one color spectrum. While you can create your own monochomatic colorway, Darn Good Yarn offers chiffon ribbon ombre packs and many of them are within one color spectrum.These packs offer that singular color with subtle shades in hue.
Complimentary color- colors that are close to each other on the color wheel. Warm or cool colors compliment each other and enhance the colorway but add a deeper intensity to each color. Complimentary colors may include a colorway such as pink, gold, and burgundy ...all close to each other on the color wheel but each have their own integrity.
Darn Good Yarn has a multitude of options for complimentary colorways. How about something luscious with our Gumball Silk Yarn. Above are the colors hot pink, sunflower and magenta. All complimentary and yes, used in combination each has it own character and also promotes those around it. What would you make with this complimentary combination?
Contrasting color-juxtaposition of colors that are complete opposites. Okay so this is where Darn Good Yarn really shines! We are, after all, color junkies. We love throwing absolute opposites together so each color says "here I am and I am bold and beautiful". Then, the color beside it holler out "hey, I am just as amazing"! Contrasting colors provide us with a visual explosion of color. Pop! Pop! Pop!
As complete opposites, these colors each show their strength when used in unison. Contrasting color gives each color its own bold character and they pop with integrity side by side. Above, I have selected a few hanks that offer us color right in the same skein. How about the orange and blue in this Divine Chiffon Ribbon? Or this rich dazzle of colors in this silk blend fingering weight with its colors of great depth? And then there is the super playful recycled hand-spun Punky Chunky in assorted flavors! Last and far from least (as we are loaded with color at Darn Good Yarn), how about our recycled sari silk ribbon? This color is "At The Bahamas" and has a bit of everything in it! The banana split of fiber color!
Don't stop there! What if you took fiber and different colors that you love and created your own craziness of color? Color has no limits so I say go with your gut! But if you want a bit of color info, check out artfactory.com for more details on color and how it works. Honestly, you know what you want for color.
Looking for color and fiber swatches? We also have a great sampling of colors in case you want to see colors first hand and feel the fiber. And the staff at Darn Good Yarn is always here to help you if you are really stumped...though we could be some where over the rainbow, too! xo Janis