Colliding Colors – Kaleidoscopes Anyone?

Color has always played a big part for me, when it comes to needing inspiration.  I love looking at other people’s jewelry designs, and they do inspire me.  But I am also aware that, aside from some relatively common designs, I can’t copy them.  But I can use them as a base and take them further.

Anyway, sometimes it works wonderfully well; sometimes not so much.  And I had the same problem with my lampwork for a long time until I finally hit my “look”.

So lately, I have been trying to come up with some new thoughts.  I have a another class with Sherry Serafini coming up, and I want to be able to stretch myself a little more this time.

Since color speaks to me, I turned to kaleidoscope designs.  And I am here to share some with you, hoping that you will also find your own “ah-hah” moment. 

Creating Kaleidoscope Designs

I did design all  the kaleidoscopes you see on this post.  And interestingly enough, they all originated from my beads and jewelry.  Sometimes you can tell right off; sometimes you have to look really hard before you see the beads.  And some, like the one at the top of the page, you just have to take my word on, LOL.

Before you think I am some sort of wizard with the above (talking about making these with my beads and jewelry), please note that I used photos of my beads and jewelry to use as a base for my “colliding color” designs.  I wish I could say that I was talented enough to put each piece together, but alas; I used the magic of digital photography.

So while I can claim that I made the beads and jewelry behind the photos, and I can claim I created the kaleidoscope look via digital magic, I did not actually sew these designs (well, the ones that look like they have beads, anyway).

Color Inspirations

One thing I have a tough time with is with combining colors so that they look good together.  A lot of times what I think will be really cool ends up looking like mud when I see the project as a whole.  But with these renderings, I came up with some neat combos.  Hmm, maybe I am not as bad as I think I am when it comes to color!  I just need to be a little more balanced I guess.

Anyway, I set up a page called Kaleidoscope Designs From Jewelry that you can take a peek at — pretty much just all photos!

Enjoy, and may you be inspired!