Colour addict

With the new tila beads and 2,8 mm drops out I'm of cause planning to order beads soon. (Yepp, I haven't got my hands on any tilas yet.) And that got me thinking about how often I buy beads just because of a tempting colour name. Many of the seed beads I have are in special colours, often lined, frosted, marbled or i some other way treated with one or several finishes.

I love colour and especially seed beads and czech fire-polished can be found in so many interesting colours and finishes/effects. When I buy those beads I often end up buying a colour instead of a bead, i.e. the want to get this specific nuance is bigger than my need or want for new beads.

Of cause there's a risk, buying beads this way. Some colour names are more attractive than the actual colour. It's easy to be disappointed or end up buying beads that look nice in the close-up photos on the bead shop's website, but are too bland IRL. But who can resist names like rose bronze silverlined alabaster, gold metallic plum, copper pearl-lined olive, gold lustered green tea, crystal champagne orion, opera mauve copper, gold lustered dark rose, tropical topaz, alchemy and crystal moonlight?

I got some chaton montes in rose water opal just because the name was so lovely. Despite the fact that I'm not that fond of cutesy pinks or -- at the time -- opaque opals.



Apart from that there are even more colours I buy or want to buy after acutually seeing them (usually in an online shop or directly in the manufacturer's colour charts online).

As for Swaroski custom coatings I like the fact that some shops still sell bicones by the each so I can get a colour without ending up with a lot of beads I won't use as sparkly crystal isn't my style (also, I think the sparkle makes it harder to see the actual colour, the one feature I love, as it just reflects light). Now that you can find so many gorgeous rivolis I enjoy buying that as well instead of a bunch of beads -- plus, with the depth of the rivolis you get a more intense colour than in the regular 4 mm bicones. As I've already discussed here.

You can't really do the same with seeds, but then again, the size of the beads means that the colour looks better when you look at a pile of beads together rather than a single bead. [BTW, that's the reason you sometimes get disappointed when you use your beads: they can be so much paler in your beadwork than in the vial or the close-ups online as you use fewer beads and they might blend with the other colours.]

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Curious about the colours in the beads above? In the first pic you see czech charlottes in denim blue with picasso finish and Miyuki hex cuts in matte metallic patina iris. In the second pic I've got Toho SuperNova Hybrids in matte crystal apollo gold, Miyuki silver-lined milky light topaz (dyed) and Miyuki Duracoat galvanized dark berry.