Cape Fuchsia

This week I decided to try one of the flowers on my list, the Cape Fuchsia. Latin name Phygelius, this plant is native to South Africa, and not related to fuchsia.

I made a few flowers that had the wrong kind of bell at the bottom before I remembered to keep it simple. 

I used 3 shades of matte red to make these flowers. The flat 5 petal flower has the matte transparent cherry in the center of the petal, matte transparent Siam ruby filling out to the edges which are matte transparent ruby. I test color combinations by making these flat flowers because you can usually see the subtle differences in the beads. With these reds it was still hard to tell. I used the same three colors in the tubular flower, there the gradation is a little easier to see. I find using colors that are close to each other adds to the overall effect even if the difference is not readily apparent.
The centers of the flowers and insides of the petals are a yellowish orange color.  I used a faceted oval bead to reflect the light and mixed yellows for the stamens.