Color Combinations For Jewelry Making Using The Color Wheel

Finding the right color combinations for bead bracelets and necklaces can be as overwhelming as choosing paint colors for your home. With so many colors and shades of gems to choose from, a color wheel can be helpful to provide ideas for winning complementing colors. 

The color wheel holds entirely new meaning when we understand its components and which color mixtures result in others.  Take a moment to analyze the statements below while looking at the color wheel graphic above. 

• All colors are essentially blends of Red, Yellow, and Blue - these are known as Primary colors. 
• Mixing equal amounts of the Primary colors results in Purple, Orange, and Green - these are known as Secondary colors. 
• Mixing Secondary colors with their adjacent Primary colors, or mixing unequal amount of Primary colors result in Tertiary colors. These are Amber, Vermilion, Magenta, Violet, Teal, and Chartreuse. 
• Colors on opposite sides of the color wheel are known as Complementary colors. Examples are Blue and Orange, Yellow and Purple, Red and Green. 

Now that we've covered the basics of color theory, let's look at some practical color schemes that you can integrate into your jewelry.

Complementary Color Scheme

Rectangle Color Scheme

Analogous Color Scheme

Triadic Color Scheme

Square Color Scheme

Split Complementary Color Scheme

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Sometimes looking a color wheel for ideas can provide just enough direction activate the creative mind to create something beautiful! And of course, there are many other ways to match colors when dealing with whites, grays, and monochromatic tones. Use your intuition and do what makes you feel great!