1B: Peony
2B: Daisy
3B: Moss
4B: Mushroom
I have always loved this gorgeous Peony Flowers that bloom in my garden during the Springtime. A couple of years back, we picked a whole bunch of the blossoms to take to my parents 40th Wedding anniversary. Everyone was delighted to have the brilliant color as part of the celebration. It is a very fond memory for me.
But I’m a bit concerned this year. Due to some unseasonably warm weather for us up here in Vancouver over the last few weeks, the buds for my peonies are already peeking out of the soil. A severe cold snap at this stage would definitely harm them. And that could mean no Spring bloom :'(
If that happens though, at least I have photos thanks to my husband Doug. He is the one that snapped the picture shown above. As soon as I saw it, I could feel the inspiration coming on to create a polymer clay color palette for you guys. And now here it is.
The recipes for each of the following 4 Spring colors will be released during the month of February in Volume-021 [B-series]. Everyone who is subscribed to my Polymer Clay Guest List will be able to download them for free. They will be emailed to you one per week on Friday Mornings throughout the month of February:
- Peony (Recipe 021-1B)
- Daisy (Recipe 021-2B)
- Moss (Recipe 021-3B)
- Mushroom (Recipe 021-4B)
Peony is the sultry Hot Pink so dominant in this wonderful Peony blossom. Daisy is a soft creamy white of a Daisy that makes a pretty garden companion for the Peony. Moss is the greenish brown of the moss that covers the damp rocks and soil under the Peony bushes. And Mushroom is the deep soft brown of the tiny mushrooms, growing in the shadows of the towering flowers.
Your recipes for different colors are priceless and such a time saver. I took index cards, printed the color and recipe on them then glued a baked sample on the card. Now when I need that just so color I can just find it on my index card and whip it up with out the waste and mistakes of finding just what one I need. Fantastic!! Thanks. ~Yvonne-B
I’m new at polymer clay but after encouragement from Cindy on my blog I got up enough courage to start playing. Color has been fascinating for me. After doing some color mixing experiments that went horribly wrong, I am excited to start using the color recipe cards! ~Judith-R
I love how you take inspiration for color palettes from your environment! It’s so much more fun than just looking at color swatches. ~Karen-B
The recipe names listed above are from the Volume-021 B-Series. They are free for everyone who is subscribed to my Polymer Clay Guest List. If you want to see the Volume-021 A-Series Color Palette that will be released in February for paid library members, then click on the following link: Polymer Clay Color Recipes | Blue African Violet Palette
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If you would like more information about the Members Library, here are some direct links:
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I love peonies also. The ones in my garden are pale pink, but just as lovely. Now when I see them I will also think of you. Thanks, Cindy.
You might be able to put some burlap or something to help protect them.
Thanks guys!
Your Peonies sound pretty Carolyn. If they lasted longer I would fill my garden full of them.
Good idea Ken. Don’t have burlap, but maybe I’ll pile on some leaves or extra compost. That would protect them should we get any cold temperatures. Will be doing some gardening tomorrow so I’ll do it then.
Oooh,that’s a pretty pink! Of course your inspiration flower is gorgeous. Your DH takes such beautiful pictures. I hope the lovely peonies make it through any low temps you get “up there” where you live!
@ Cindy: I haven’t had time to try any of these recipes yet, but I intend to try the peony recipe tomorrow. I think it will make a beautiful color for one of the hearts you taught us last month.
Cindy,
I have gone back and gotten all of the recipes that are free on your site, as well as the ones I pay for with my membership. My question is this: Some of your older recipes call for colors that have been discontinued. Do you have a secondary option to use for those? Do you know of another brands color that may be very close to the one no longer available?
Off hand I can think of only one of the discontinued colors, though I know there are more. The color I recall is coral, and I believe it was a sculpey III color. Any help would be appreciated, as I know you work your tail off doing the recipes and videos!!! Please know your work and help is very much appreciated and does not go un-noticed!!!
Have a blessed day,
Tiffany
Hi Tiffany,
Thanks for your kind words. It is a pain with manufacturers discontinue certain colors. Even though it is theoretically possible to recreate the color, it will have different mixing properties than the original. So the best thing to do is just set aside any recipes that you come across which use discontinued colors.
As you probably have noticed, all of my latest color recipes are based on Premo clay colors that have been around ‘forever’… which means that they will probably continue to be available will into the future.
I have been working with polymer clay for about 10 years (more seriously for the last 5 years), and I’m always trying to learn new techniques and come up with new projects. There is always something new to learn about polymer clay — such a versatile medium. I do a lot of “try outs” on my own, but find I save a lot of time by viewing your videos and reading about others experiences with the clay.
Thanks, Dianne
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts Dianne. It’s great to hear from some of the more experienced members around here. Feel free to share your knowledge and insights whenever you see an opportunity to chime in.
Hello Cindy,
Ever since Fimo has been producing softer clays, I’ve found cutting canes more than a bit problematic, especially since I am now making very small canes. I recently bought some pre-cooked canes which were kept their shape but were relatively easy to slice in very thin pieces. Do you have any idea how to produce these canes? They remained flexible. Do you know if baking at a very low temperature for a short period of time would achieve this condition?
Thank you for your consideration.
@Sally M: I take it you are using the canes for nail art? That is usually what people use tiny baked canes for.
To make your canes a little more flexible, you can add Sculpey Mold Maker in tiny amounts to your clay before making them into your canes. As far as only partially baking your canes, there can be some problems with uncured clay ‘breaking down’ the cured clay. I would not bake them for the extended time I usually bake my beads at though. So for timing you should really experiment with that.
I just found this downloadable Web Resource; it is titled…
2015 Premo Accents colour chart for discontinued colours
It shows 8 colours including Blue Pearl, Red Pearl Fluorescent Green, etc and recipes for replacing them. Hope this is useful to someone!
Wow! Super useful. Thank you so much, Doreen!
Hi Cindy,
Now that some of the Premo colors are being discontinued, are you going to offer color recipes for the discontinued colors. A number of your recipes have “denim” in them. This is the only one I can think of off the top of my head that is being discontinued. Or, does Premo offer a color mix so that we can recreate the denim color?
Hi Susan, I did not know they discontinued Denim (and Navy) until you mentioned it. What a pain in the butt! I love the new colors (Wisteria and Periwinkle), but I hate it when they discontinue colors to make room for the new ones. At least these two are colors that can be easily mixed. Sculpey has given provided a chart for replacement recipes.
Here’s an addendum to the comment I just made. I went and mixed the color recipe that Polyform gave to replace Denim and it is similar to Denim but not the same at all, it is way darker. I have created a recipe that matches it much closer. It is not as simple as their 1 part Ultramarine + 1 part Rhino Gray… but it is closer. (On a side note, rhino gray has had a couple of versions… one more gray and the other more tan. I no longer trust the consistency of this color anyway and have not included it in any of the new recipes.)
My Denim Replacement recipe is:
2 parts Ultramarine Blue (5562 Premo)
1 part Ecru (5093 Premo)
1 part Turquoise (5505 Premo)
1/4 part White (5001 Premo)
1/8 part Black (5042 Premo)
** Please note, although my Denim recipe is an exact match, it is a higher pigmented color than the original Denim was so it may need a little less of it, if using in a color recipe.
Color mixing is very complex and it doesn’t help when the manufacturers keep messing around with their color lines. I will do my best to tweak what needs to be tweaked when we put together the new color recipe sets. But it will take some time.
Hopefully this helps!
Cindy,
If your recipe is an “exact match”, what do you mean by a higher pigmented color?
Susan
It is visually the same but the colors are more concentrated. This happens because I have to use different colors of clay which have different pigment saturation. (I have a video that explains saturation.) If I was Polyform I wouldn’t be using clay to make the color, but actual pigments. Their recipe makes the clay look the same but it isn’t as strong as the recipe I had to make, in order to get the exact color match. Which means my color will dominate over other colors it is mixed into… not by a lot… but by enough for me to notice anyway.
Cindy, I want to know if the recipe from Sculpy Polyform for the discontinued NAVY color is close to what it should be and if not, do you have a recipe you’ve made up for us.
Thanks
Christine,
Can you tell us the Sculpy Polyform color recipe?
Hi guys, Polyform’s recipe for Navy is 20 parts Ultramarine to 1 part Black. If you try and replace it in a recipe that contains Navy however, you may need a little less Black or a little more Black, depending on what the other colors in the recipe are.
Cindy, Can you elaborate on what you mean by other colors. For example, do you use less black if the other colors are light and more black if the other colors are dark?
Yeah kind of… the best way to go about it is to mix a sample using the old colors and then try to match it using the other colors you still have. Color mixing is an art… that is why it is so tricky for many people and we created the color recipes in the first place.
We are currently working on a new format for the color recipes and I have created new replacement recipes for the colors that had Navy, Denim and Sea Green in them. The new recipe series won’t be ready for a while yet though, and they will have a price for them. But we think people are really going to love the new format!
Thank you, Cindy!