1: Garnet
2: Ruby
3: Poinsettia Leaf Dark
4: Wild Wasabi
5: Poinsettia Leaf Light
Today’s post is for all the Kato Clay people who follow this blog. Sue Fisher, a valued member from Australia, has provided another one of her original, Kato Polyclay color palettes. For obvious reasons, she calls this one, Poinsettia.
Hi Cindy,
You said “keep ’em coming”, so here’s another Kato palette for those who want to start doing the Christmas thing.
Last year a friend gave me a poinsettia that had the most beautiful rich ruby red bracts. After several months of not accidentally killing it, it occurred to me that it would probably be a good idea to match that colour in polymer clay in case my temporarily-green thumb turned brown again. It took more than 30 attempts and can’t be done at all without Kato Red Concentrate, but I finally came up with a colour I was satisfied with. This Poinsettia Palette is built around it.
Garnet is the deep brownish red of the oldest bracts, and Ruby is the wonderful showy red of the bracts in full display that caused me so much trouble to match. Poinsettia Leaf Dark and Pointsettia Leaf Light are taken from colours of the foliage, while Wild Wasabi is the colour of new buds as they form. (I was originally going to call this last colour [plain] Wasabi, but you’ve already used that in one of your palettes so I changed my colour name slightly; Wild Wasabi is actually the name of a cheese flavour here!)
Since this palette is based on something real — most of my palettes are just a selection of colours that I think look nice together — I’ve attached two pictures to illustrate it. The first has the colour chips overlaid on a photo of the poinsettia that inspired them, and the second is just the colour chips in the usual arrangement for anyone who wants to see them all presented the same way.
(And yes, the poinsettia is still alive! Needs re-potting though. :D)
~Sue-F
SF-005-1 Garnet
- 2 parts Red (Kato)
- 7 parts Magenta (Kato)
- 1 part Green (Kato)
- 1/4 part Black (Kato)
SF-005-2 Ruby
- 4 parts Red Concentrate (Kato)
- 3 parts Violet (Kato)
- 1 part White (Kato)
SF-005-3 Poinsettia Leaf Dark
- 14 parts Green (Kato)
- 2 parts Red (Kato)
- 2 parts Orange (Kato)
- 1 part Black (Kato)
SF-005-4 Wild Wasabi
- 12 parts Yellow (Kato)
- 1 part Green (Kato)
- 1/4 part Black (Kato)
SF-005-5 Poinsettia Leaf Light
- 1 part Green Concentrate (Kato)
- 6 parts Yellow Concentrate (Kato)
- 10 parts Yellow (Kato)
- 2 parts Orange (Kato)
- 1 part Brown (Kato)
To download a blank recipe card that can be duplicated and used for keeping your collection organized, click on the following link: Polymer Clay Recipe Card
If you like receiving these Kato color recipes, be sure to let Sue know in the comments section below. It takes a lot of time and energy to create polymer clay color palettes. So I would like to say thank you very much Sue, for sharing your work with everyone.
| ************************************************************************************************** | ||
| ** Index of Previously Posted Guest Color Palettes: 2009-07-10: Eleven Sculpey III Color Recipes [Carrie-W] 2009-08-02: Six Sculpey III Color Recipes [Carrie-W] 2010-02-07: Kato Polyclay Vol-009-B Pansy Flower Palette [Sue-F] 2010-02-13: Kato Polyclay Color Recipes | Spice and Serenity [Sue-F] 2010-02-27: Kato Polyclay Vol-015-A Blue Hosta Palette [Sue-F] 2010-03-10: Kato Polyclay Vol-017-B | Alpine Succulent [Sue-F] 2010-04-19: Kato Polyclay Color Recipes | Bouquet of Violets [Sue-F] 2010-09-05: Kato Polyclay Color Recipes | Rich Metallics [Sue-F] 2010-09-24: Kato Polyclay Color Recipes | Seaside Cottage [Sue-F] 2010-10-18: Kato Polyclay Color Recipes | Poinsettia Palette [Sue-F] |
||
***********************************
Sue perfect timing for your kindness in sharing this wonderful color palette with us. The richness of the reds is just wonderful with the greens fitting in perfect. Thank you For sharing your hard work with all of us.
Uuuuuuggs, Peggy
Then we have Cindy and Doug who invite Sue to share her colors with us. This shows how giving and kind you two are. A special thanks for posting Sue’s previous color palettes with us also. You give and want the most for your students. I love being a part of this clay family. Thanks to the both of you. Many Uuuuugggs, Peggy
Those are so beautiful! Thank you for sharing them with us!
@Sue F – OOOooOooooOoo, THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN..!! You’ve outdone yourself this time Sue! Magnificent colors, and just in time for working on Christmas/Holiday projects..!!! Once again I thank you from the bottom of my Kato loving heart..!! Hmmmm, I guess now I’ll have to get some of the concentrates – I just love these colors!
@Cindy Lietz – Thanks again for publishing Sue’s recipes! They sure help this color challenged gal a lot..!! *LOL*
Peace, Love, & Clay,
~Lisa :)
OK, NOW you’ve done it, I’m going to have to order some Kato clay just for these. They are absolutly stunning. ( Guess I’ll just have to figure a way to get the clay out of the street after the bus runs it over. :) )
@Ken H: roflmao
I don’t use Kato myself, but Sue your color palettes are always so inspiring and carefully put together. The last few you’ve contributed have been really lovely!
Thanks, everyone… I’m glad you like them! :)
@Lisa Whitham: Yes, you’ll definitely have to get some of the concentrates! LOL They’re wonderful — I’m using them more and more — and the red is definitely the best. (Closely followed by the green, in my opinion.)
@Ken H: Perhaps you could try one of these:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bs602i_action.jpg
Even *I* don’t have one of those in my toolkit, but I reckon it would work better than the bus method! ;D
(Actually, once you have the knack of conditioning Kato, it’s no more difficult and not much more time-consuming than conditioning Premo. But it is a different process.)
Some day I’m also going to play with Kato and it will be due to your beautiful color palettes, Sue. In the meantime I’ll put the recipes in “Sue’s Corner”. Thanks for your generosity in time and artistry and thank you too Cindy.
@ Sue F – I don’t think the neighbors would like that very much! :) . I have a book by carol Blackburn and in it she uses Kato, she slices it up (like a block of cheese) and works it that way, will have to try again, Tried Kato before I had that book. I especially love the reds.
Absolutely gorgeous colors Sue!
I have problems getting the right shade of burgundy using Premo (I was trying to match a dress I had and found I just couldn’t do it – each attempt was either too brown or too orange or too pink). I wonder if these Kato concentrates work for other clays, like Premo? At this point, I just don’t want to buy new types of clay as I have a lot of Premo and I feel comfortable using it.
Now that I look at it, I think that your “Ruby”color is the one I was trying to attain using Premo!
@Maria: I have an amazing collection of red colour chips as a result of trying to match that poinsettia, so I know exactly what you mean!
I’m pretty sure Kato Concentrates would work with Premo too. I do mix regular Kato and Premo in various proportions from time to time, and have never had any problems with that.
When I get a minute I’ll try mixing up a Ruby equivalent with Premo. I’m pretty sure I’ll still need to use Kato Red Concentrate, but I’ll use Premo colours instead of regular Kato. If I do come up with a good colour I’ll post the recipe here.
Thanks Sue, the colors are just gorgeous. So jewel like. I love them.
How about a Poinsettia Cane Cindy? Anyone for a tute on this from our beloved polymer clay tutor? They would look fabulous on beads in a christmassy necklace like the holly berry cane beads.
@Sue – thank you! I would really appreciate it. Yes, it was rather funny how I kept working at getting that color I wanted – I’d constantly go to my daughter with the mixed clay and dress and go” Yes?” and she’d shake her head each time “No”. I finally would up using the other colors of the dress to make the coordinating necklace. It was very frustrating!
Oh what a great idea on the pointsettia cane. Would love that also.
Thank You Sue for all of the Kato receipts . I recently started useing Kato clay. I like it for making canes I t may my my fault but when useing other clays the canes are not as sharp. But, what ever it is I love working with clay and the video lessons by Cindy and of course Doug with his wonderful camera work.
@Maria: The following Premo recipe is fairly close to my Kato Ruby above. It’s not quite as intense, and Alizarin Crimson always seems to produce a slight graininess to the colour to me, but it’s a reasonable approximation both under halogen lighting and in daylight.
6 parts Alizarin Crimson (Premo)
2 parts Cadmium Red (Premo)
2 parts Fuchsia (Premo)
1 part White (Premo)
NB: Kato cures shiny but Premo doesn’t, so I buffed my Premo conversion-testing colour chips before comparing them with my Ruby colour chip. The recipe above doesn’t match so well in its matte state!
Oh, Sue, these are fabulous … and so timely! Again, thank you so much for all the work you put into developing these colors and then just your willingness to share them with us.
Questions about concentrates … will the package actually say ‘concentrates’?
I’ve seen packages that include the primary colors in a set, but I don’t know if these are just regular colors or if they are concentrates.
Beautiful!!! Does this mean we are going to be making some Christmas Items?????
@Carolyn: My Kato Concentrates aren’t in their outer packaging any more, but from memory the notation that they are concentrates isn’t anywhere on the front of the packaging, but instead is printed near where the barcode is.
Just to make it trickier, however, there is also a four-pack of ordinary Kato polyclay primary colours.
The concentrates are darker than the ordinary primary colours, but unless you see the two packs side-by-side the difference might not be obvious. The green is your best indicator here: ordinary Kato Green is a medium-light colour, where Kato Green Concentrate is definitely a dark green.
I’d be most inclined to go by the pack description wherever you’re buying your clay from. If it says “primary colours”, I’d be fairly certain that it isn’t concentrates.
As far as I can tell, you could probably also go by the order in which the colours are packed. Kato Concentrates go Blue, Red, Yellow, Green; the primary colours pack of ordinary Kato polyclay goes Red, Yellow, Green, Blue. (I think.)
@Sue- Thank you soooo much!!! Can’t wait to try it out! The best thing is that the recipe you made doesn’t necessitate my going out and buying the concentrates (but I think it wouldn’t be bad to get them, anyway…)
@Sue F. – I’ll keep looking. I’m sure mine are not concentrates. Thanks for the searching tips.
thank you Sue!
Beautiful colors! How nice of you to share these, Sue! And thanks to you, Cindy and Doug, for allowing Sue to share these here also. This is very helpful to Kato users… (and thanks, too, for the Premo version of your color, Ruby Sue!)
Thank you, Sue! I work mainly with Kato clay and really appreciate the work you’ve done in coming up with these gorgeous colours. I also appreciate the fact that you put them into palettes. I find I spend so much time trying to put together nice palettes and when I see yours it not only gives me a ready made set, it gives me an idea of how I can put together my own.
Beautiful palette! Thanks Sue. “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” LOL
Gorgeuos colours Sue, thank you so much for sharing
Sue, Thank you SO much for creating these recipes, and then even better, sharing them! I am just really getting into using polymer clays, and while I have painted for a long time, I’m not brilliant at mixing colours. Having access to recipes such as this not only gets me able to start creating something a bit off of “straight out of the box” but now I can look at these recipes and figure out; okay, I like that colour but I want something a little more blue, and I can work on shifting your recipe into something that I created!!