An end to the color workshop

Finally, this is my last post about the color workshop I took with Tim McCreight. (Well until I add color to a finished piece of jewelry and not these samplers.)

Tim had some unusual media with him for the workshop. One of which was flocking. (Like what use to be on wall paper. When we bought our house, the front room had gold carpet, a fingernail polish pink wall and red and silver flocked wall paper. God, it was awful!) I tried some of the red flocking. It came with an adhesive red paint that was used first; then the flocking was sprinkled on. I hated it! (Almost as much as I hated that wall...... and Tim's example looked really nice.) Anyway, I tried scraping it off before I ended up torching it off (and breathing in all those toxic fumes from the polyester it is made of.) The damn thing would not totally burn off. It just turned black and stuck. So, I ended up scraping it off after all.

I found some flocking in a mini-pack of colors at Michael's. I can't believe I bought it and tried it again. This time I used a plain glue before sprinkling on the flocking. I'm not crazy about it but at least I don't hate it.

Michael's also had some really cool glitter and mini glass marbles. So, of course I tried those too, but just the marbles.) They are really interesting little things. (I like little things. My husband gets mad when I tell people that. I never did go for tall, dark, and handsome. I'd rather have a short and handsome type.)

My main concern with these "kitschy" color mediums is their staying power. I suspect they will fade over a very short time period. Which brings me to my conclusion about using color with the silver.

Which is ...... color for color sake is never good. Color is a design element which needs to work in harmony with the other design elements. It must play an integral part to the total design if it is to succeed. I love the look of silver and the contrast of textures, lights and darks, and positives and negatives. Unless a piece tells me that it "needs" color (remember my jewelry talks to me) I won't be using color arbitrarily any time soon.

At least not in my jewelry. But..... a piece of sculpture could be no holds barred for any form of color media.

Playing with resin, is next on my list. But I'll try it out without using the fine silver.