Lets face it, in my circles, rainbows are IN. I've always loved using rainbows for things so it's an easy way to play with tons of different bead colors. Putting something in rainbow color order may be one of the most satisfying things in the world to me. Rainbows mean so many things and above all, joy. I think we could use more joy lately.
I created a "vintage rainbow" earring and bangle set that went up north to the Crooked Tree Art Center in Traverse City, MI and I think the set sold in the first month. It was one of those sales that felt bittersweet, I know it will be loved but I already missed having it in my stash. So I started beading another one since the beads were still pulled out. I posted it on my social media and someone asked how much and then if I could make one with purple. We're purple people, purple is no problem for me. The "vintage rainbow" color grouping came from my obsession with the colors in the movie Joker: Folie à Deux. I needed to pull some slightly different colors to incorporate purple and then I couldn't decide between a plum-purple or a royal-purple, so I used both.
Then I had some beads break while I was working on this one. This is somewhat common, particularly with the matte seed beads. The thread from the broken bead didn't want to be stitched in (without possibly breaking more beads) so I decided if I was shipping something off without the customer seeing it in person first I'd feel bad if they noticed this flaw. So I made a second one for them. I, personally, don't mind a few flaws and threads showing on the interior of my work. It happens, and it shows that it's made by hand and not by a machine, but I also pride myself in high quality work so it's bug me if I was shipping off something with that little black thread showing! Consequently, it looks like I'll see them at a ska show coming up, so I have an extra now at least. I am still not bored of beading rainbows so it works out fine.
Back to the beginning of this post...organizing things in rainbow color order...I was recently gifted an entire stash of impeccably organized Delica seed beads from someone who's family member had passed and left lots of supplies behind. They were all organized by number order though. Delicas seem to be assigned a number as they come out in new color batches (I'm not 100% sure on that, so don't quote me). The low numbers like 10 are your basic opaque black which has been around since the beginning of Delicas but the numbers go up into the thousands. The number organization was really cool to see because it showed a clear pattern of say, the 12 galvanized pale colors that came out together that are clearly a group number order. I took photos of each organized box but my art-brain doesn't work that way. I lean into colors when ideas are culminating and I need to see, say, all the blues together at one time to find the right options. So I spent days keeping the numbers in order but grouping them into drawers by color. Looking a the side of the drawer system that these came in is now so very satisfying.
It feels good creating and spreading rainbows, like a low-key Lisa Frank. I'm putting the bangle with the thread showing on the interior up on my shop HERE.
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