Rose of Sharon Jewelry

Color plays an important role in our daily lives and for handmade jewelry artists it is our foundation. If you've been making jewelry (or buying handmade jewelry), you are probably automatically drawn to certain colors and color combinations. Today I want to challenge you to explore colors outside of your comfort range.

As I look at my blooming garden, I can see literally thousands of ways Mother Nature paints with color. So grab your camera (or even your camera phone) and walk your neighborhood looking for color samples.

Print out your color inspiration pics and then sort out the ones you are immediately drawn to. These are probably colors within your normal comfort zone. Take these and set them aside for another day. Your challenge now is to work with the remaining picture's color schemes.

This week, sort through your beads (or take a trip to a local bead store) to find the colors in one or two of your challenge pictures. Seed beads come in thousands of colors so you could find exactly the right hue for under $2 a tube.

Working with color requires some thoughtful effort. I discovered a wonderful color resource for all artists at the papercrafting blog at Shimelle.com. June: A Month of Colour can help you explore color and your relationship with color. Learning about how you relate to colors can help you expand your color selections in new ways when creating or buying handmade jewelry.

Didn't know you have a color relationship? Everyone does  - but we don't usually think of it in those terms. Colors can make you feel happy, calm, sad or excited. I prefer clothing in gemstone colors. Why? Because they make me feel vibrant and alive.

Join the conversation on color! You can leave a comment by clicking the comment link in the left column. Tell us about your favorite color combination and how it makes you feel.