1-B: Butter Yellow
2-B: Carrot Cake
3-B: Brown Butter
4-B: Fondant Leaves
It makes me chuckle when I see the photo that Doug chose for this months B-Series Color Recipe Palette. Not that it is particularly funny… but it is the one flower I made for the cake, that I didn’t actually like very much. It was included just for an extra punch of color to fill an empty spot.
Since I wrote about the cake last week for the Vol-082 A-Series Palette post… I won’t try to make a long story even longer. Instead, I decided to share a bit of info about the whole process of what it takes to be able to bring these color recipe palettes to all of you, each and every month.
The whole color recipe palette thing came to be, way back on June 8th, 2008 with this Rhododendron and Fern inspired palette.
Up until that point, I had been sharing some color mixing advice and a small collection of color recipes I had made and collected over the years. It wasn’t until Doug had taken this lovely photo in our garden of the Rhodie in full bloom, that I was inspired (with some prodding by Doug), to create a color recipe palette using colors from the photo.
With that, came more photos and more palettes, until the 2 complete palettes (A and B series with 4 colors each) were being created every single month. Now today, we’re at Vol-082-B. That equates to over 656 color recipes that I’ve mixed up over the past 7 years!
Back in the early days, polymer clay artists had their own blends of colors that they worked with. And I assume a few of their ‘secret’ recipes were shared around the community from time to time. There were also a few published recipes in books for making faux amber and jade and imitation stones. But in general, if you wanted a color other than what came in the package, you had to mix it up yourself.
Fast forward to today, and practically everyone and their dog has color recipes available. Though we have yet to see anything that is presented quite like we do… with the color chips overlayed onto inspirational photos… and the clever stories of course (and recipe names) that accompany the palettes ;-)
Any way… during the making of all these PcT color palettes, Doug (and in a few cases our daughter Willow), have taken a lot of beautiful photographs… which all needed to be cropped and edited to include titles plus the color chip overlays.
I select 4 colors that I think go well together, from each photo, and cross check that the palette isn’t too much like any of the previous Volumes. The colors then receive their names… which also have to be cross checked to make sure there aren’t any doubles. (I once made two different shades of purple that I named Butterfly Garden, that an astute member picked up on even though the palettes were created more than a year apart. I guess I thought it was a really pretty name!)
After all that, the colors are then mixed until I get an exact match. More cross checking. Doug then creates the actual recipe cards and gets everything published here at the blog and at the library web site and in the weekly newsletters.
So as you can see, it is quite the lengthy process… so long that I’m guessing most of you stopped reading before even getting to this point in the article… LOL
I do hope you enjoy this inspiration for our next Vol-082-B Series color recipes for March 2015, and learning more about how these colors actually come to be.
Everyone who is subscribed to our Polymer Clay Guest List will be able to download the following recipes free, one per week on Friday mornings during the month of March 2015:
- Butter Yellow (Recipe 082-1B)
- Carrot Cake (Recipe 082-2B)
- Brown Butter (Recipe 082-3B)
- Fondant Leaves (Recipe 082-4B)
[wp_ad_camp_1]…Butter Yellow is the buttery yellow color of this Gumpaste flower decorating the carrot birthday cake I made for Doug’s Mom’s 80th Birthday. Carrot Cake is the rusty orange color found in the center of the flower, but just so happens to also be the color of the moist rich carrot cake inside. Brown Butter is the brownish tan color of the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting that covers this cake… it’s the first time I tried that icing recipe and it is really good! And Fondant Leaves is the soft dark teal green of the fondant/Gumpaste leaves I made to compliment the flowers on this yummy cake.
The recipes described above are from the Volume-082 B-Series Palette. They are free to download for everyone subscribed to the Polymer Clay Guest List, Friday Email Newsletter.
If you want to see the Volume-082 A-Series Color Palette that paid library members will also receive during the month of March, then click here: Sugar Rose Palette
Just a beginner here. Since my color mixing hasn’t worked well (your recipe cards will be a boon). Thanks for the videos too, Cindy, because sometimes it really helps to see a thing done. ~Cariad-R
Thank you very much for the recipes. I save them in a special folder for inspiration. I love experimenting with colors and also making flower canes. These color recipes help me to get started. ~Marijke
Can you say MUD!! I have had my fair share of mixing the wrong colors together. I have never had a course in color theory and learned pretty quickly that is is difficult to always get the desired result. But thanks to your color recipes I’m doing a lot better now! ~Katina-K
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If you would like more information about the Members Library, here are some direct links:
Library Member Benefits and What Others Are Saying
Order Page for Color Recipe and Video Back Issue Packages
Become A Full Member at the Library
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I won’t lie, Cindy… this one is making me hungry ;)
Monique U. (A Half-Baked Notion)
Lovely colours Cindy. We do appreciate all the hard work you and Doug have to do to bring these to us, also the story behind each new one
My nephew enjoyed the carrot cake I made him and we had a wonderful time together. Now he’s back home in Atlanta. You have inspired me to make more flowers…cheers xx……
After mixing up and baking 422 color receipes (my first batch) no one appreciates your color receipes and the time consumed to get us the final ones more than I do. It’s like the Neverending Story of Color and I can’t tell you how many times I have ran over to get my receipe books to look up a color combination that would fit the bill for my project. Thank you for all the work you two do. The Carrot Cake receipe looks delicious! :)
Thank you you guys! It means a lot to hear you say that. It is a lot of work, and I sometimes wonder if it is appreciated. It is good to hear that you three thinks so. :)
I appreciate you and your hard work, too (along with Doug’s, as well, of course : ) !!!! Fridays are always special because of your blog and videos!
I’m proud to continue being one of your “astute members” ; )
Thank you so much Maria! You have been a complete pleasure to have as part of our sweet little clay family… it makes me very happy that you are proud to be an astute member! :)
I missed out on a few of the blog posts. This palette is so warm and beautiful. I am always amazed at the beautiful color recipes you come out with and the lovely names for the palettes as well as the stories that go with each. Thanks to you and Doug for all your hardwork- the thought that goes into each recipe and tutorial, the testing, filming and teaching. Your are awesome!!
Cindy,
I appreciate all the effort you putting into these tutorials. Sometimes, when we are new to it, we want our product to come out looking exactly like yours does the very first time we make it. Mostly the beginner jewelry makers. Well, I have found out that it does not always look as pretty as yours does, and some feel that they cannot do it.
But one thing people must understand is that it is going to take time when working with polymer clay to get it right.
I have been making animal figurines for a long time for Christmas ornaments, and really enjoyed making them.
Then I realized that people made jewelry out of the clay and it gave me an excuse to make something else with the clay.
When you put out a new video, and I try to make it look just like yours, it is not going to happen the first time. At first I got discouraged, and then when I get the pattern right, the beads would be lop-sided.
So it takes time to get it all together, and I am realizing that now. At first I was upset that I could not do it, but now I see that it is going to take time. I have made things to give to people, and then I throw it away because it looks like a kindergarten child made it for Mother’s Day in a project the teacher helped the kids to take home. Ha-ha-ha!! Of course I am very hard on myself when I make something, and I am getting over it now.
The things that I made the first time that did not turn out right, I realize now that my experience as I go along will improve, and go back to that series, and make it again. Now I can make a round bead, but am having trouble getting the holes centered.
The techniques you are teaching us runs into all of the polymer clay products because of the nature of the clay and it is teaching us to handle it.
Main thing, is to stay with it, and if you get discouraged the first time you made it; go back later and do it again as it will turn out differently with more practice.
I really appreciate all that you do, and I am learning so much from watching your videos.
I made the Abalone shell, and mushed up my pretty colors too much and it more or less turned into a rock that I find in the drive way. It was pretty, but I wanted it to turn out with the pretty colors that you created. So I will go back and try it again.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, and you are definitely appreciated.
Suzanne
You bring up some excellent points Suzanne! Just like you would never expect a child to be able to run marathons or do pirouettes the very first time they took their first step… you also wouldn’t expect them to get discouraged if they fell down after taking only one step.
Adults or anyone else learning a new skill should not expect to be a genius the first time they try something new nor should they quickly give up when their project isn’t as good as the teachers, the first time they make it.
Every once in a while, you’ll see a newbie do a perfect job the first time… but that is almost always a result of them having skills in another area. For example a skilled seamstress might try polymer clay for the first time and do an incredible job, right out of the gate… but maybe her knowledge of working with color… different challenging fabrics… or years of working with her hands… may have made a big difference in her learning curve.
Whereas, another person of equal intelligence, may have never worked with anything crafty and runs into unexpected results along their learning curve.
Things that everyone should always remember… Skills are learned… Skills build on other skills… Skills need to be practiced… Big skills are just a collection of little skills, all which can be learned over time…
Skills should not be linked to intelligence or self esteem in a negative manner…
What I mean by that is, just because someone has more skills than you, it does not mean they are smarter than you or a better person… it just means that they learned small skills, on which they kept practicing until they became really good at it.
I am not down on myself that I know nothing about diesel mechanics… nor should anyone that knows nothing about polymer clay feel stupid if they burn their first piece, because their oven had hot spots and they didn’t know about tenting!
However, you should link your skills to your self esteem in a positive manner…What I mean is you should feel proud when you have developed new skills… after all you did the work to get there didn’t you?
As a teacher, I do my best to pass along the skills I have learned so that you can learn them as quickly and as easily as possible. If you put in the time you need to (everyone will be different, depending on the skills they already bring to the table), then you will make things that you consider as good as mine or better, very quickly.
If you get down on yourself, give up or want to just ‘skip to the good part’ before learning the necessary skills, then you won’t ever be able to make things that you can feel proud of.
I want everyone to try to think of yourself in the same kind manner you would think towards your own child learning how to walk. Proud when they take a step forward, encouraging when they fall down, and expectant that they will get better in time. They always do and so will you!
Just wanted to let everyone know that Cindy’s comment was re-posted by Dixie Ann over at Facebook… and that there are a bunch of comments over there from other clayers as well. Here is the link if anyone is interested… Walk Before You Run