Colors matter

Every crafter has their own way of starting new projects. I begin by choosing colors. Sometimes even before I have a pattern or design I see a beautiful shade of yarn or a pretty pastel pencil and I simply have to use it. It of course leads to stashes of pretty yarn laying around my apartment and waiting for a divine inspiration to visit me. One way or another, composing colors is a major part of preparing projects.

Color Theory in a Nutshell
According to color theory there are 3 primary colors that cannot be created by mixture of other colors: red, blue and yellow.

Secondary and tertiary colors are created by mixing the three colors above in different amounts. For instance green is a mixture of yellow and blue and orange happens when we spill some yellow ink over red.

When choosing colors for a project you have 3 options: one color, harmonic composition or contrasting colors. Here are some ideas of how to do this and what to pay attention to.

1.Single color projects – consider who the project is for (a baby, a guy, a pink-loving friend) and where will it be placed (in a dark room, outside in a green garden or on a white wall)

2.Harmonic composition – to achieve harmony means to create something visually pleasant. To choose harmonious colors you can use analogous colors – that are next to each other on the 12 parts wheel of colors (ex: light blue, green and light green). There are usually 3 of them and one of them predominates. You can also get inspiration from nature. If human eye is used to it because of something that already exist, it will be pleasant (ex: brown and green)

3.Contrasting colors – to pick contrasting colors or complementary colors choose opposing colors on the wheel (ex: red and green, yellow and blue).

Having said that, I like to experiment with colors (and supplies) and see what comes up. The point with crafting after all is that you enjoy what you do!