Colouring Mixing Polymer Clay Pantone Fall 2012

So I finally got round to a day of colour mixing for Pantone's colour predictions for Fall 2012.

As clayer's already know polymer clay does come in a vast range of colours, but I've learnt a lot about mixing my own colours using a fantstic book called Polymer Clay Colour Inspirations by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio.

If you are a clayer but haven't come across this book I can highly recommended it as it takes you on a journey of discovering colour with polymer clay, with some great worksheets and beautiful tutorials to boot.

Personally I work with the primary colours of polymer clay being Blue/Ultramarine, Magenta/Red and Yellow, colour mixing to create my own palettes and also working on Pantone's colour predictions for the latest trends in colour.

Colour Mixing with Polymer Clay

To help with my colour mixing I use my sample colour strings created from my chosen primary colours to help me determine the right mix of colour to achieve my new Pantone colours, again you can learn how to do your own colour strings with the book Polymer Clay Colour Inspirations.

My Pantone Fall 2012 Colours in Polymer Clay

Here are my mixed colours for Fall 2012, I'm delighted with the results.  The bottom three colours Tangerine Tango, Pink Flame and Ultramarine Green do need adjusting with a little more white, as with clay the colours can come out darker once cooked.

Source: pantone.co.uk via Clare on Pinterest

Now its time to start incorporating my new colour palette into my designs.

Part of Handmade Monday with Handmade Harbour

My attempts at a Bettina Welker Technique

I fell in love with Bettina Welker's Nightgarden Pendant when I first saw it on Flickr and when I saw she had a book coming out with the Nightgarden Pendant and lots more I had to have it.

Once it arrived my first thing I did was chck to see I had what was needed to create my own pendant.  I set about searching the internet for coloured liquid clay here in the UK and I couldn't find a supplier anywhere, so I decided to improvise! here are my attempts at using translucent liquid mixed with the smallest amount of oil and acrylic Paint.

Actually some of them don't look too bad, but just not quite right.  So for a few months I put it aside and then recently decided to trawl the internet again for liquid clay determined to get some even if I had to purchase it from overseas.  This time my luck was in I have found a UK supplier, I was so happy I ordered a few colours and once they arrived I started practising the technique again, it's not as easy as it would seem.  I just fell like I am missing something maybe from the amount of colour I am using or the technique in spreading.  One piece I was happy with and created this pendant from it.

This technique reminds me of looking at the clouds and finding shapes from them and every time I look I see something different.  I also tried it out on a round bead just to see what it would turn out like here

I am pleased with the bead too, needless to say further attempts at the technique have just not turned out quite right so lots more practise will be needed.

Pinched Petal Necklace - Polymer Clay Color Inspirations

Here is my 2nd completed project from the Polymer Clay Color Inspirations Book by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio.

I decided to create the necklace to go with a simple aqua dress I purchased at the beginning of the year and haven't had a chance to wear yet (as seen in the background).

I used my colour scales of Yellow and Blue matching 1/16 of the blue side as the closest colour to the necklace. I then created a three colour skinner blend using the matched colour for the middle and using white on either side and a touch of turquoise fimo soft at the edges.

For the centre I wanted something striking so I created a two skinner blend using my primaries of Cherry Red and Sunflower Yellow. I aslo decided to create three centres rather than the one shown in the project, alternating the shades of the centre.

I am really pleased with the results and it look great on, now I just need somewhere to wear it.

More from Polymer Clay Color Inspirations Book

•  Pivot Strand Necklace
• Colour Inspirations

Pivot Strand Necklace - Color Inspirations

Here is my first project piece from the Polymer Clay Color Inspirations Book, its the Pivot Strand Necklace. I decided to go with Red as it's my favourite colour but also because I needed a piece to wear for my Nieces christening last weekend.

I made my usual error of not fully reading the project and missed that part that says you should round off edges of the beads once cut, bad habit of mine as I am always too eager to get started and miss something.

I am however pleased with the piece and it went great with my outfit. I have also got some more Fimo colours in Raspberry, Cherry Red and Lemon (still need some more but the local craft shops in the area seem to only stock what I am presuming they think are the most popular colours). So I have continued working on my tasting tiles to find the colour that would be my primaries for my palettes starting base which would appear to be Magenta or Cherry Red, Yellow and Pacific Blue, needless to say I have run out of Magenta but I'll have to order that online. What I have found out from doing the tasting tiles is that although two packets colours for example Raspberry and Magenta seem quite similar once mixed as tasting tiles difference in colour can be more obvious.

Also I've done some colour scales using the basic fimo classic red, blue and yellow for reference. I've pretty much read the whole book now so am going back to start working over what I've done as some bits didn't quite sink in and I have started using Maggie Maggio's blog as reference too as she has been adding some extra bits in reference to the book, it's been a great help.

Colour Inspirations

For a while now I have been a bit frustrated with my colours when using my clay, I have never been getting quite the colour I have imagined in my head and have been working a lot on guess work a bit of this and a bit of that and ending up with quite a lot of mud.








I ordered Polymer Clay Colour Inspirations Book by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio. Its a great book and I have been working through the exercises. Here are my collages from one one of the exercises for my interpretation of the what the colours mean to me.

From the top they are Cold/Warm, Earth/Rich and Vibrant/Hard, though these are my interpretations of these colours when asking around the family what the colours said to them they had differing feelings from the colours.