Saturday, July 7, 2012

Bead Color Ideas: Wasabi Summer

Have you ever been stumped by beads in your favorite color? I recently treated myself to some lovely bright wasabi green Czech diamond-shaped beads, and have been pondering the perfect palette for them ever since. The beads are gorgeous, with a Picasso finish on the edge, but something about them makes it difficult to find the right colors for an equally gorgeous design. Their size is part of the problem - they are rather chunky - so getting the right balance of color is a challenge.

Fairy Garden Bead Palette


I tried out a variety of color trios, looking for a combination that was just right. The first color that jumped out was a soft purple-lined crystal in size 6/o. It makes a nice contrast for the lime green, but it needed another solid color to balance with the Picasso finish. To complete Fairy Garden, I added canary yellow 11/o’s for a bright, flowery look.

Gelato Bead Palette


The wasabi diamonds have a nuttiness to them, thanks to the Picasso finish, so for the second palette I tried some soft, creamy colors that would bring to mind pistachios and Gelato. Here, ceylon cream 8/o seed beads, and lustered turquoise 11/o’s become ice cream’s sophisticated side.

Sushi Bead Palette


I couldn’t resist taking the wasabi name literally, so for the final palette, I used Sushi as inspiration. For white, I chose opaque crystal AB, which has a beautiful shimmer. Dark transparent emerald both contrasts with the white, and complements the bright green beautifully, drawing everything together.

Have you ever purchased beads for their color, and found them difficult to match?

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5 comments:

  1. Hi! I have used similar beads with fabulous results, especially in chunky bracelets and earrings.

    For your chosen bead color, my favorite color combos are turquoise and medium purple or tomato red and orange.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lime and wasabi greens are among my favourite colours. I like to pair them with dark violets and pure black.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've definitely had that problem before. I like your second combination the best.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've had that problem too. More than once. Especially tricky since I love beads with all sorts of finishes, linings etc that aren't always easy to match with more common colours. (At the moment I'm looking for the right sage/grey -- or perhaps brown/rust? -- to go with my silky opaque purple picasso-edged coin beads.)

    Sometimes it has happened that I've bought a bead because I love the colour and just have to have it, but the shape is so not what I usually use so even when I find matching colours, the beads themselves are a hopeless match... Which only proves that I need more beads, right? I do have a valid reason to go bead shopping. *lol*


    Have you considered mixing wasabi with fuchsia or similar tones? Colourful is probably the least that can be said of such a colour combo, but I really like it. Some dark purples could be added too or turquoise depending on what kind of colours one likes the best. The other day I saw another combo using wasabi/lime, pink, brown and cream that was kind of nice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My go-to combination with your color is actually teal and chocolate brown. I like "wasabi"--the color has always escaped a name for me =)

    ReplyDelete

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