March

Spring rains have finally replaced the snow and the first greens are slowly appearing. My bead board is still covered in orchid, cayenne and sand. This month I have been exploring the colors available in Czech seed beads and I discovered the best opaque orchid yet, and decided that as for reds, the Czech colors are the most vibrant. There just is no replacing the qualities of glass mixed with gold by using dyes. Next to the Czech beads the Japanese reds look very weak. I also have been using the pearl cream and eggshell colors over the vanilla or ivory available in Japanese. The Preciosa beads also seem to have larger center holes than some of the Miyuki do which was a surprise. I have finished an entry for the My Lovely Beads contest in the first triad, now I am moving towards working in the blue, freesia, and hemlock color scheme. The flowers should be up soon, and that palette has good spring colors.

Only one month until the closing date for the Fire Mountain contest, and with the start of April I also get to begin my beading for The Battle of the Beadsmith.  I have been paired against Glenda MacNaughton from Australia. Her Etsy shop, Daxbeadartpatterns is filled with some beautiful designs, and I can't wait to see her Battle entry. I am not sure what I am making, but I have some ideas to try. It should be a busy month.

February

Snow and more snow and still more snow to come. One of the few good things about it is that the light is much brighter all around with so much snow on the ground. I have started buying cut flowers just because there is so little color anywhere outside. 

Between the weather and mercury retrograde it has been a long month during which I have made little progress. I did finish a necklace with hellebores and snowdrops that I am considering entering into the Bead and Button contest, but the $50 entry fee is a bit of a deterrent. Completing the project in a timely manner satisfies the challenge of my being able to enter, should I decide to.

 I have spent most of my bead time these past few weeks trying to figure out what beads work for the radiant orchid, sand and cayenne triad. My local bead store decided to go out of business (too much snow and ice) so I have been buying more beads than usual before they are gone. My latest choice for radiant orchid is the Miyuki duracoat semi frost s/l lilac 11-4426 and semi frost s/l lavender 11-4248 mixed with some Toho gilt lined lavender opal, all size 11. I have made sample flowers with every shade of pink to purple in French, Japanese and Czech beads I have been able to find and depending on the light any one of them could be a good match, but few match each other. My preferred size beads are the 15's, and I haven't had much luck finding a bright orchid in them. The s/l mulberry 1655 is close, but not very radiant. I don't know why I am so obsessed with this, but my choice for African violet last year was so different from what other people had I am determined to get it right. I made a set of color swatches by saving screen shots of the Pantone colors on my iPod, then I printed it out on high quality. The radiant orchid was the same as my swatch from Lowes, so I am hoping all the other colors translated as well it did. I have been matching them to beads as well, and they aren't the colors I would have thought. I just bought many more beads that might be sand, but I haven't made samples yet. 

Radiant orchid and seed bead colors

Pantone's color of the year is one of my favorite colors, but it isn't the easiest to find in beads. Finding the exact shade of pink/purple/fuchsia that is Radiant Orchid was made a lot easier by comparing the beads to a paint sample card from Lowe's. To Pantone's credit, the color is exactly the same as the color on the orchid flower that recently bloomed on a plant I bought last year. (Just Add Ice orchid- I followed the directions to give it three ice cubes a week and it is the first one I have ever had that bloomed again!)

I narrowed my bead choices to two types. The color difference between the Japanese beads and French beads is enormous, yet both seemed like they could be radiant orchid. Once I poured out the colors and placed the trays next to my swatch it was clear the Japanese beads were a better match. 
In direct sunlight the opalescence of the French beads seemed to catch the color, but it wasn't as obvious in artificial light.

In any light the Japanese beads were a lot closer in color. The size 15 beads shown here are all Miyuki, number 352 is Fuchsia lined aqua luster and the transparent bead is number 1620, Semi-frost transparent lavender. The silver lined bead is number F23.

I made some sample flowers out of the various beads, and the thread color made a big difference with the French beads. I used both rose and light purple Nymo thread and the resulting flowers were totally different.

The triad for the My Lovely Beads contest also includes cayenne red and sand, so now I need to find beads that match those colors as well.