I write at the end of a truly manic week here at Nursery Knits UK. Christmas orders are starting to come in and, with the Wish-Bear giveaway now closed (congratulations again to Lotus Girl), my needles and hook are constantly in use. I can't wait for Christmas!
I've been overwhelmed by the lovely comments on my facebook page about my products, particularly about the colours I choose. Several of my facebook followers have said that they wouldn't have thought to put the colours together in the way I do, so I thought a blog post was long overdue.
Now, I'm not asserting myself as an expert in colour here. There are some wonderful crafting artists out there with amazing eyes for colour that are far superior to my own, but I have picked up a few useful tips along the way and here they are.
1) KEEP IT SIMPLE
I find that a maximum of five colours works best. Three gives it a real sense of balance. If going for three, I prefer to choose two that are closely related (a deep purple and a lilac for example) and a contrast. With five, it's nice to mix them up a little more. I think I always have at least one "out there" colour in the mix though: it keeps things interesting. I rarely use more than five colours, though, as it can look a little confusing and messy.
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Silver, Storm, Sage and Denim (Stylecraft Special DK) |
2) LOOK TO NATURE
We live in an incredibly beautiful world and (to misquote a famous paint manufacturer): "it knows the colours that go". Quite often the most successful colourways are the ones that come from nature, rather than man-made things.
Take autumn for instance:
In this one photo we have reds, purples, golds, greens, browns...a whole palette to choose from! The star blanket above was inspired by a stormy sea crashing onto rocks.
3) PINTEREST!
Pinterest is amazing! I got started in colour by looking at Pinterest. I have a board featuring beautiful scenes from nature, another which has nature scenes with paint sample charts beside them, and another which has other crafter's suggestions of colourways. Go crazy but remember the essential things like sleeping and eating and going to work etc. etc. Pinterest is amazing but also a procrastinator's biggest enabler.
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| From my board: "Views I'd Like to See" - Sunset in Yellowstone Park. |
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| From my board: "Paint Sample Colours" |
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| From my board: "Yarn Combo Suggestions". |
4) EXPERIMENT!
Honestly though, a lot of colour choosing is trial and error and that is where a lot of the fun lies. Play with colour, try things out, be bold, be brilliant!
5) GO WITH WHAT YOU LOVE.
I hope you find that helpful as a starting point :) Have fun!
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