Polymer clay color palettes guaranteed to look great

As I practice making polymer clay pieces it becomes obvious that you need not only to choose great colors but the lightness should have some contrast as well.  I sometimes make a lovely color palette but the colors all blend in the piece because they are too similar in lightness.  i.e. not enough dark vs light colors

As I continue to play and learn about using polymer clay colors I thought it would be great to have a resource for color palettes that anyone could use to make a stunning piece with.  Here are some of the palettes I love

Ecru (or beige) ,  turquoise and black - I just love how the ecru and turquoise create a green when blended.  Check out the Jessama tutorial here

Navy, turquoise and bronze

Alizarin crimson, blush and white

In general terms I think you cannot go wrong if you choose a bright primary type color and then use a light neutral and a dark neutral.  Here is my experiment with some scrap red, dark bronze and pearl mixed with a little bit of the bronze.

Color challenged

I have never had a really good eye for color.  I always thought it was something that artists are naturally born with. I have been struggling to create striking color schemes with polymer clay.  It has become obvious to me that you have to have some contrast of light and dark or the colours seem drab.  Choosing those colours isn’t easy for me.  

At a recent workshop someone recommended a beading color book.Beader’s Guide To Color.   It’s very interesting and I’m realising that perhaps you can learn to create good color schemes.  There is some science to all of this, and I’m all about the science.

In fact in a previous life I was a computer programmer and have created a couple of apps over the last couple of years.  I just finished working on one to help me create and save polymer clay recipes.  I’m calling it Clay Box and it’s available in the App Store

I just recently started making a few Christmas ornaments and really liked this green I mixed.  Now I have it saved in the Clay Box app so I can find it again next year.  As well as sharing it with other clay addicts...

Delicious metallics

Whenever I make something with metallic clays I feel I want to use them in everything I make.  The mica adds such depth and character to the clay.  Just look at this veneer I made today. Anything I make with this will look interesting.  

It can take a while to develop some good techniques that work with mica clay.  Using a texture stamp to make a mica shift and then shaving off just the right amount of clay can be tricky and takes practice.  A really deep texture stamp is helpful. As you can see the design is really clear below.

Even simple mica shifts can add depth and interest.  The silver charm below was made using a ripple blade.

Pretty much anything you do with metallics will be fantastic.  Just mix a bit with any regular color clay and it will look delicious.

Mud...or is it?

Some polymer clay artists mix their own colours using the three primary colour clays.  I have found that when I try to create a splendid new color I usually end up with mud. Sometimes if it doesn’t seem too awful I will use it in a cane or technique but I have always ended up regretting it.  The colours don’t seem brighter when used and it bothers me.  Better to stick it in the scrap pile for use later.

J

The light purple in this mosaic cane was a little muddy, not too noticeable here but not nice in larger amounts.

I was pondering the distinct lack of dark brown in the Premo clay lineup and then thought, well it’s just mud. Maybe I can make my own?  I found this article and spent an interesting day playing with browns and creating faux Onyx from a book by Carol Blackburn

Basically if you mix equal yellow, red and blue you will get a brown. As you add more red you get a reddish brown, more yellow gets closer to a yellowy tan and blue seems to darken the brown.  If you mix in too much blue and yellow you get a greener brown.

Here are some things I made with my browns.

Rose canes

By chance I decided to make a horse charm from one of my large rose canes. It came out so well I decided to make some more.  Rose canes are super easy to make,  Fiona Abel-Smith has a great tutorial video.

I really like the darkest version. The colour blend is Premo white/blush/alizarin crimson

Here are some other things I made with rose canes

Fluorescent polymer clay

Like a lot of people new to polymer clay I started with a sample pack.  I was hooked pretty quickly and now have a large collection of Premo colours.  In my sample pack were two colours I just didn't think I would use, fluorescent pink and yellow...

I finally decided to experiment with them and I love the colours once they are blended.

I was really looking for something bright to put under a lace cane I made but the colours are quite nice on their own. The lace cane is a tutorial by Turtle Soup Beads here