Thursday, February 18, 2016

CLOUD BRIDGE ~ An Allegory Gallery Design Challenge

Who or what is Pantone, and why do they can dictate the "it color" for the year. 
I went to their website -  still can't figure out what they do? Can anyone explain it to me?

So, this year's color of the year is actually two colors - rose quartz and serenity.  







This photo of Andrew Thornton's Allegory Gallery Cloud Bridge kit called to me.
I don't know why, because I'm not a huge fan of pink and blue together. I once had my house turned into a nursery by mistake. Apparently, the contractor couldn't read my directions. 
He changed it the next day.



Crunched for time; preparing for an out of state art festival and ensuring the gift shop had new pieces in my absence, I decided to work some simpler designs. 


rose quartz chips with river rocks
assorted rose quartz
First up are two bracelets using the some of the rose quartz and river rocks from the kit.

I added sterling silver accents and my hand-crafted toggles.




This color palette actually worked quite well with a few gorgeous glass beads from Andrea Pirkey that I've been hoarding for a several years.



The seed and small glass beads for the perfect accent for this lovely floral focal. 

I love the simplicity of this design.










Rose quartz and pink glass from the kit with blue glass from my stash make this fun bead pop!









Thanks to Andrew and William for another great challenge!

And, THANK YOU, for stopping by.
I hope you'll leave a comment here or on my Facebook page.









3 comments:

  1. These are all such pretty pieces! I especially love the necklace. I'm more a pink than blue person, but those blue seed beads set off that lampwork focal so perfectly!

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  2. I love the bracelets and the wonderful necklace you made! The focal is perfect with the seed beads!

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  3. So... what is Pantone? Pantone is a company that has a mission to codify, standardize and name color. They create swatches that are used throughout the industry to make and match color. I think when we look at product design, we take for granted the color of things. For instance, when a designer is creating a kitchen mixer and they have it manufactured, they can't just say, "Make it red." There are literally millions of shades of red... so the designer has to use a specific code to get the color they want, so that there aren't any miscommunications. As far as fashion is concerned and how they pick the "it" color, they select a panel of Influencers. These people are industry professionals, like fashion designers, magazine editors, costume designers, and stylists. The panel attends runway shows (breaking down colors used), take polls, run panels, and trend spot. Once they collect the data, they then figure out what it means by putting it in a cultural context. And then, when the color report is created, it is distributed to manufacturers, designers, and magazines/media and some use it as a style guide. This effects everything from advertising, to clothes, and even the color of cars! It's pretty fascinating! While the reports don't always jive with my aesthetic, it's interesting to see how it is used. I think of them almost like a secret decoder ring!

    Anyways... so many fantastic creations! Sometimes you've got to simplify to let the beads speak and I think you've done a great job doing just that. They've got such a lovely elegance. I love that they can be worn separate, or stacked together. And I like how you played with the color palette in the necklace. The addition of the green gives it a completely different vibe. Nicely done and thank you for participating! :-)

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