Monthly bead soup palette catch-up post

So... Not blogging regularly has meant I've missed posting my monthly bead mix inspiration posts. Therefore I'm making a long post today, showing palettes for three months: february, march and april. Going from the newest to the oldest.

April

For april, I made two palettes as I couldn't choose which one to use. For the first palette I used rose gold and aquamarine, a very pretty combo that I mixed up with some white for an even more summerlike colour combination. Then I just had to do another sweet mix using light pink beads mixed with the same rose gold and white beads.

I really like mixing rose gold or copper with mint/aquamarine or pink right now (minus the white, it was just added for the palettes, personally I like very simple colour combos). But for some reason I never mix mint and pink in the same mix. Though if you're curious about the result I've got this pic for you:

March

I never meant for the april palettes to feel so similar to the previous month's mix, but I guess spring has made me fond of soft, sweet colours. I don't love pastels, far from it, but sometimes you can't help but find these kind of colours so pretty. The linen cord is like a softened pastel version of Radiant Orchid so the mix can also be said to have been inspired by the Color of the Year.

This combo is similar to this cat necklace. As mentioned before, I really like the combo cream and brown as it goes so well together with many colours: pink, purple, green, russet, blue, turquoise, teal etc.

February

Going backwards makes the february palette look boring as it's the one with the least colour, but you have to remember that I made this one after the dark january palette and the equally dark and colourful december and november palettes. It was a nice break from the dark colours in time for spring -- and I promise that this simple, neutral colour combo looks very nice and sophisticated in real life!

Here I used Swarovski pearls, but you can also find the same or similar colours in silky multi-coloured moonstone or (semi-)matte metallic glass beads.

January bead soup palette

Thanks to a very generous an unexpected christmas gift, I spent the holidays playing with swarovski crystal pearls -- and drooling over the blackberry pearls, which I then finally got to see IRL. I decided early on to use some of the pearls for the january palette and here it finally is -- or, well, I couldn't choose so there's two variations and three pics for this month's bead mix.

The last one is the same colours as the first palette, but using different beads and chain.


You can also go with just one of the colours plus black (matte metal or shiny faux pearls):

Belated monthly bead soup palette

I think I never got around to showing the december bead soup palette on this blog last month. It's really just something I threw together. The idea was to use elegant, dark colours and so I ended up with black, bronze and purple (eggplant) in beads with interesting textures that add a bit of shadow to the colours.

If you prefer crystals, you could make the bead mix in e.g. jet, crystal dorado x2 and purple velvet or amethyst. Purple velvet is colder than amethyst or eggplant, but still works in this colour mix. If you don't like purple, burgundy or dark green could be good substitutes. Black ibiza has a silvery metallic shine. If you don't want that, use plain matte black beads instead.

October & November bead soup palette

Forgot to make a version in english of the November soup, which I threw together one day. As it was my birthday in the beginning of the month, I had already planned to include purple months earlier, but never thought about the rest of the bead mix. When looking for a good purple beads, the crystal sliperit rizos caught my eye. They have some purple in them, but also the coppery rose gold you might otherwise associate with apollo/capri gold. Just for fun, a colour that bridged the intensely coloured rizos and the crinkled pearl glass beads was added in the guise of sparkling ginger-lined amethyst AB triangles.

Ideally I would've wanted to use Swarovski's new blackberry pearls in the november palette, but I haven't got my hands on any yet. Thinking of making a tiny order of swarovski coin pearls for the birthday money I got from my aunt Elsa. Because you can't resist purple crystal pearls (nor coin pearls) even when on a bead ban...

October was another palette I just threw together, or rather made from a photo I took for another reason (namely Sequintastic September). You can read more about the components of this mix and see variations on it in the Sequintastic September reveal post.

September bead soup palettes

Just before september turns into october, I got a monthly colour palette together. Didn't think I could manage so first I just threw something together from an old photo illustrating a post on using multi-coloured thread in beading (as seen here), but then I made this palette. As I didn't want to waste a photo I thus ended up with two palettes for a month that looked like it would have to make due with none.

Both palettes are very autumnal, perhaps because I feel wistful about missing many of the beautiful, sunny september days while being too ill to enjoy them (ironically I'm writing this with the sun shining on a blue sky outside the window *embarrassed*). The basic theme was green and red(ish) as so much of nature and in the gardens are turning into that colourway: the apple trees, rowans, swedish whitebeams (oxel), virginia creeper, himalayan balsam etc -- and soon even more will follow like the aronia and the japanese maple.

For this, my second palette that you can see above, I just picked up three of the six shades of the new luminous delicas that I couldn't manage to avoid buying some time ago. Three earthy, autumnal colours.

My original, just-something-I-whipped-together palette focused wholly on thread. More specifically, it was all about this space-dyed braided silk thread from Stef Francis (may remember if from the Challenge of Travel reveal). The colours can easily be changed by using lightly coloured transparent beads instead of clear beads. Topaz yellow hues will add a warm autumnal tint to the colours while black diamond (transparent grey) will add a dark antiqued colour.


These are two rather different palettes, but to me both speak of september. The latter palette is more about apple trees; green leaves mixing with green and rose-to-red apples (matte waxy apples can look more rose than red). The former is more about changing leaves with its earthy, warm hues. Now, for that autumn forest feel, you might need to add some stronger colours too (brown, red, yellow, even green). This is a very soft palette, but I like it that way too.

August bead soup palette

Well, the bead mix inspiration of the month is late too, as usual. Like some of my earlier palettes, this one's pretty much just thrown together using a few of my favourite colours. But instead of a last minute hodgepodge, let's call it a tribute to coppar and velvety soft, shimmering matte metallics.

You can use the colours together or just go with either light copper satin or dark copper satin depend on how dark you want your colour scheme. I'm sure there are many gorgeous matte metallics to combine with these, but, alas, I didn't have any in my stash.

Unfortunately, I just realised I made a huge screw up. The typo is one thing (it's matte metallic dark raspberry iris, nothing else), but I got the piccies in the wrong order: the middle colour is "the raspberries" and the last one is dark copper satin. Oops....

July bead soup palette

Well, just got a lot of cats before the weekend so this monday I'm doing things a bit differently and will just be showing this colour palette -- if you want another cat, check out the last version I made of the Julle digital doodles on my Flickr page.

You might recognize the silk cord from this post, but I think the colours look better in this photo. The beads are also a new addition -- one that made my sis wonder what was happening: something must be wrong or at least weird when I buy blue stuff. I opened the envelope and showed the beads I'd bought, most in more or less my usual colour palette (gilt lavender, black diamond, brown-lined montana, mauve, paprika etc) which perhaps made this colour stand out even more in her eyes. It was the first thing she saw and the first thing she commented. To my defence, it's a slightly violet purple so it's not such a big leap as it might seem to those who know of my disinterest -- yeah, let's call it that -- in blue.

Anyway, this month's palette turned out to be an analogue colour scheme. Just two items, but they are both variegated which add some depth and life to the mix. The silk is mainly blue with periwinkle, blue-violet and violet. The beads are in a similar blue with mauve accents. It's a simple palette, but one with a lot of colour to draw the eye towards it while at the same time being calm and serene.

For this palette I chose to use colour-lined seed beads. I really like this type for two reasons. First of all because of the interaction between the colour in the glass itself and the colour of the lining, I love seeing what happens when combining colours this way. Secondly, this bead finish combines the qualities of both transparent and opaque beads. It has the depth, shine and lightness of a transparent bead paired with the solid colour of opaque beads. If you haven't tried colour-lined beads, but want something with more opacity and impact than transparent beads, but without the "flat" appearance of opaque beads, you should give this bead type a go.

June bead soup palette

While I'm blogging anyway, I might as well also put up the june bead soup I made for my other blog. Once again a simple mix, this time in sort summer colours: lavender blue (white opal tends to get a blue or purple tint when some finishes, such as apollo gold, are applied), pink, purple and matte metallic.

May bead soup palette

I don't normally show the monthly bead mixes on this blog first, but this month's an exception.

For May I went with a simple, cool colour combo using sand (which is a cold beige), icy sage and purple with hints of rose. Two of the three bead colours are pretty expensive, but there are many other similar shades that are more humane price wise.

As usual the beads have been selected from my limited (hey, everything is relative and it's very limited in my eyes!) seed bead stash so I didn't really choose between matte or shiny surfaces, it just happened. I this case, though, I it feels like the colours look very good in a silky matte finish.


Now, I do realise that we all have our favourite colours and than some colours and combos keep popping up even though I try to vary my palettes. This time it was purple again and in many ways it's a muted -- sun bleached, perhaps? -- version of the november palette of last year or a cooler version of the pink-and-green june palette. Heck, it might even be similar to the december palette when you think about it. What can I say? My bead stash is dominated by certain colours, but I am trying to broaden my views. But I rarely buy beads based on them matching beads I already have -- especially seed bead purchases are just about my falling in love with a nuance. And sometimes I get an idea for a palette using bead colours I don't have, but can't really justify shopping for colours or bead types I rarely use just because I want to create another palette.

April bead soup palette

Well, the month is almost over, but I still have a monthly palette to show. Nothing special this month as I had my focus elsewhere, but hopefully still a nice mix.

This is one of those simple mixes where you start with beads with a multi-coloured finish. In this case, I took a strand of dark purple and silvery beads and added more silver. I then also added some light vitrail rizos to show yet another violet-and-silver bead finish. The vitrail beads adds some pastel tones to the mix, but you can also omit them for a darker mix as done below.

Of cause you could pick up some other tones than silver and purple from the magic violet. Looking closely you'll see a rainbow of colours accompanying the purple: blue, fuchsia, gold and even a smidgeon of green.

Promise you something nicer and more thought-through next month. Can already now tell you it will include purple. Of cause.

March bead soup palette

March equals spring so for this month's palette I wanted to toss together some light, bright colours. From sober (the muted february palette) to sunny.

This is a really simple mix with a favourite of mine in the Swarovski range: padparadscha, which is a kind of pink peachy tone, as delicious and juicy as tropical fruit. It's also a great colour as it goes together with all the usual metal colours of jewellery findings, from silver to antiqued brass. For this particular mix, however, it'd be best to stick to shiny silver or gold to bring out the brightness and lightness of the beads.

And, by the way, the transparent topaz can be substituted with gold (plate) for those who prefer a more opaque and solid yellow hue.

Padparadscha is a versatile colour that suits many different palettes and seasons. For an autumn version, you can use an earthier green such as olivine or khaki and substitute e.g. light colorado topaz or lime for the yellow topaz.

Februari bead soup palette

The month is soon over, but it wasn't until now I could post the february palette. It was due to a couple of things, one of them being my reluctance to pour out two colours of seeds in one heap as I would have to sort them after the photo shoot...

This time I went with muted wintry colours -- a brumal palette in cold hues for everyone who likes earthtones or muted colour schemes -- and don't mind working with cold colours in the cold february weather (here it's nothing but snow and ice outside the window).

In this palette size really do matter: both frosted opal apollo gold (a Toho hybrid) and luster stone grey vary in hue depending on the size of the beads. Here, they have a darker and has an almost violet-blue tint as the beads are smaller (sizes 11/0 and 4 mm respectively), something you don't get (as much of) in the larger beads. Below you can see this as 6 mm luster stone grey fp beads are added to the blend next to the 4 mm fp in the same hue at the bottom right corner.

 

January bead soup palette

January is almost over -- or at least two thirds of the month is -- and I haven't shown the latest bead mix. Maybe it's because it's a simple thing I threw together as I couldn't decide what to do with the mix that was originally intended to be the first monthly soup of the year (because of the winter colours in it).

This is a really simple mix of light earthtone colours. The kind I like to use. The pearls add a nice shine to the colours. For a darker mix, you could use brown and olive green pearls instead. For more colour, consider adding a light purple or mauve hue to the blend.

I like the two neutrals beige (here champagne) and brown (bronze) as they go so well with many of the colours I like such as purple, rose, green, turquoise, teal, mauve etc. If you don't know how to mix a colour, why not first try and mix it with brown and beige? Might sound slightly boring, but it works great with some colours, especially if using matte or silky finishes -- which of cause includes fibres and other textile supplies like silk ribbons. My siamese cat necklace is a variation of this type of colour combo.

December bead soup palette: the finale

Yes, I might have forgot to show the last two versions of the december bead soup as there was a lot of things happening in mid-december. And now December (and the year) is almost over... So instead of seperate posts, here's a summary of all the four posts I wrote on the other blog.

First a recap of what the first two versions looked like.

For the third week, I wanted to add colour and my first choice was brown and dusty purple (or more precisely burgundy pearls). Crystals in light burgundy and alchemy were also added. The light burgundy crystals are of the kind that makes you go "I promise it looks better IRL...". Hence why I did one version without both the crystal beads and rivoli as you could see at the top of the post. But I still stuck with them, thinking they'd work better once I added the last colours. 

The burgundy pearls and matte brown leather also works well as a colour combo in their own (see end of this post).

For the finishing touch, I added more matte beads. Now focusing on light rose and gold tones. The rose and topaz luster beads are one of the reasons I kept the light burgundy crystals as they bridge the gap between the dusty rose and dusty purple tones.

As with all bead mixes, it's worth adding and removing different beads to find a combo that suits you needs. You can either do as I did and start with a couple of colours and add to that -- or you can go the other way around by first just throwing in all colours you like in the mix and then remove the ones you don't like or feel doesn't fit in.

Personally, I'm rather fond of the simplicity of the first combo while others might prefer the last with all it's various hues. Others still might prefer the alternative version that you saw at the beginning of this post. Either way, it's not just about the colours themselves, it's also about the proportion between the colours and how they are grouped within the design. Sometimes it looks best if you mix up all the colours, other times it's better to separate them into group and use them in different parts of the design -- as illustrated by the pic below where the final "bead soup" has been divided into three lots.

And so here it is, my december bead soup palette experiment. Maybe I'll do it again sometime, though there are other variations I want to try first. Whether you like the result or not, I do hope it still might have inspired you to play around with your beads and try different colour combos.

December bead soup palette: part two

As I mentioned in part one, this month's colour inspiration/moodboard is a bit different what with beads being added to it every week leading up to christmas when it will be complete.

This week, I didn't add new colours as much as I just added new hues and a different finish, mixing shiny with the matte metallics of the first week. Mixing finishes and surface effects (like celsian and lumi brown here) adds depth and interest to a simple bead combo. So if you want to make something using just a couple of colours, focusing on hues and finishes can be a great way to make it less flat and boring.

You might recognize the added beads from this post, by the way.

December bead soup palette: part one

Hope you're not getting tired of snow photos (because there'll probably be more if the snow keeps falling), but just for a change it'll just be beads today.

During the weekend, I pondered whether to do something a bit different for Manekis Pärlblogg what with the advent sundays coming up and all. I went back and forth, but at last I decided I will do some fun weekly feature up until my winter break (usually don't blog between a few days before christmas to new year's day).

So what is this new idea? Well, instead of the usual monthly colour palette, I will make a very simple two-colour palette for week one and then add beads every week for the following three weeks. When I came up with the idea and posted the above palette on my other blog, I still didn't know what to make for the following weeks -- and did get cold feet a couple of days after posting -- but now I do have a plan.

The base of my four-week soup is a matte metallic mix -- even if you can't really tell from the photo that the leather is metallic -- made up of matte metallic patina iris hex cuts and braided matte bronze metallic leather. (A cheaper and easier-to-find alternative could be brown leather and frosted teal beads, but of cause that won't have the same shimmer.)

By the way, I will make another post later today or tomorrow that'll illustrate how I ended up with this combo. Because it was not the colours I started off with.

November bead soup palette

As it's my birthday in november, I wanted to use some of my favourite colours in this monthly mix: purple and copper. To create some variation I opted for more turquoise/blue hues instead of my favourite greens.

Cyclamen opal satin is an interesting colour from Swarovski that I've shown on this blog before. Uncoated, it's a sort of lilac pink that those who dislike pink might not like, but add a satin finish and it becomes a gorgeous purple (unless backlit). Cassiopeia is another nice colour I've mentioned before here, made from a turquoise-teal-aqua-emerald-amethyst hurricane glass. The different colours are easier to spot in the larger size of daggers, as you can see here (though that's a tricky bead to find now).

Old rose ox is a type of copper plating that's similar, but not identic, to antiqued copper-plate. In the photo below I made a variation using matte metallic copper fire-polished glass beads instead.

This mix works without the copper tones too and as such it can be used with silver coloured or oxidized/gunmetal/black findings as well as with copper findings. Below you can find a "copper free" bonus palette with the same blue(ish) seeds as above.