 |
| In case you're wondering why there's only 5 beads, it's because I didn't want to waste eye pins until I got the colors right. |
Okay, I need help. Sorry about the picture--of course I had to be holding the camera the wrong way.
This is a beautiful center of Our Lady of Good Counsel. This is one of the new rosaries that I was hoping to get out soon in my shop; but look at it. I can't put it in the store like this!!
I could use your advice. I'm having trouble coordinating colors to match this center. What I had in mind looked so much better than how it came out. I wanted to use the same colors for the beads and rose as that are also in the center, but it's not at all coming out right.
So what do you suggest?
In the picture, what I have are navy blue mixed with tan. I tried using a peach/orange with blue but it didn't look good at all. I tried using more brown, but it didn't look right either. What am I doing wrong? Too much blue? It looks like someone that had paint on their hands got blue paint smeared all over the beads.
I'm having trouble with the roses too. I tried a dark blue rose but it was too dark. White doesn't work because there's no white in the picture. I tried a white w/ blue (as shown) but that doesn't look right either.
What the heck am I doing wrong?!
I asked Dennis, my husband, while holding up the rosary: "What is wrong with this rosary?"
He said, "Too many beads." No joke, he was serious.
I said, "It's a rosary! There's supposed to be that many beads!" Funny thing is that at the time, I had only made one decade.
After explaining the problem to him, I asked him again what he thought was wrong with the rosary, he eyed it and said, "I don't know; is it the proportion of the beads?"
I then understood why me and Dennis were looking at the same rosary but seeing different things: he is a mechanic and has and always will see things in size and proportions, not colors. So he is no help to me at all in this respect.
So I need your help; don't worry about offending me because you can't say anything worse than I already know. You have no idea how many good selling rosaries I've had in the store and it's thanks to customers who were nice enough to leave input on how I could improve/or sell.
So leave it! :-)
Becky, I may be off here, too, but I'll take a stab at it. I think Dennis is onto something, but it's not in the dimensions of the components. I think it might be the proportions of the colors. Sometimes I think when you have strong colors, you have to weight them in different proportions in order to prevent it looking like the colors are fighting each other. I've run into this problem before with home decorating and outfits. What if you let the dark blue of the center stand alone, against a backdrop of the neutrals in the piece, with multi-colored roses similar to the ones in the Our Lady of Guadalupe rosary? Does that make any sense? You could use a variety of different tans, orangey peaches, terracotta, gold, etc., either swirled or plain, or just pick one to use. Then have the roses be dark red with orange to gold in the center. Actually, because of the richness of the centerpiece, it might be cool to have the beads swirled, keeping the colors rich and the beads visually "textured," but still basically solidly neutral (autumnal, Rembrandt, Renaissance type colors). That might be neat. It would really make the dark blue in the center stand out, but quiet the overall effect, and give the richness of the golden neutrals a lot of heft. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteOh, and don't worry about hurting my feelings, either! ;) My ideas get put through the wringer in my house, lol!
Robin, what the heck do you do for a living??? You are way over my head here--half of the colors that you mentioned, I'm going to have to Google! This is why I love input, I learn so much!
DeleteI like these ideas; the multi-colored rose is interesting, I might try one and see how it works. I agree with the texturing too. As you have also said, I may need to do some colors that have nothing to do with the center at all, and just let that stand alone. I did that with my O.L of Fatima rosary and it turned out good.
Becky, I am just a housewife. But I love to garden (mostly flowers) and have a hundred-plus year old house we've been renovating for years. So, I've run into lots of color dilemmas over the years....not always resolved to my complete satisfaction, though! I also have four daughters, so we all love to play what my husband jokingly calls "color, color, color" whenever the opportunity presents itself. None of which means I know what I'm talking about of course, lol! But it's fun to talk about, and try different things. Thanks for asking for our input! The rosary you came up with is beautiful! :)
DeleteMaybe try making the center of the rose a sort of rusty orange and leave the beads as they are? Definitely think it's a lack of orange! (Or orange/tan beads with the rose as-is?)
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree the dominant color is orange! I tried using orange/tan yesterday though, and it didn't look good at all. Sometimes what I see in my head looks waaay different when I actually have it made in my hands. This is a tough one, thanks for the input!
DeleteI like Robin E.'s suggestions.
ReplyDeleteLena
Thanks Lena!
DeleteI honestly don't like the contrast with the dark blue and the bright white. I would try instead two different shade (light and dark) of the same color. I would try for this center green or orange or purple beads. Hope it helps.
ReplyDeleteYep, the rose has got to go, I agree. I tried with just a dark blue rose, but strangely, that didn't work either. It just looked like a dark blue blob and you couldn't really see the petals or definition of the rose. White doesn't seem to be working either.
Deletethanks for your input!
Okay, and here I'm going to be different. :) I'm not really liking the tan in the beads. Perhaps if you went in a different direction and pulled in one of the pink shades from the clothing? Or perhaps the golden tones from the halos? Or, as I think is just another way of saying what Silvana suggested, maybe colors that compliment your center rather than match it. This looks like a tough one to work with!
ReplyDeleteCassie, I think you may be onto something. As I was saying in my reply to Robin E, I did this with my O.L of Fatima rosary. The center itself is mainly blue but I made the roses yellow; back then I didn't really try to match colors with the centers, I just did yellow to match the golden rim of Our Lady's garment, which you could barely see. But for whatever reason, it worked!
DeleteThis center will definitely need some experimentation.
Thanks!
Thanks for the input, everyone, this has given me a lot to think about! I'm not yet sure which direction I'm going to go because as Cassie said, this is a tough one! But from my gutt feeling and basically what everyone has said (without actually saying it), I know what I have right now does not work. I have mentally crossed off a lot of "what not to do's."
ReplyDeleteI think in the future (or maybe the next post, who knows?) maybe I will post a few other "problem" rosaries; I have muddled through a lot of them and did the best I could but never been completely satisfied.
I think I will continue to work with this one--it will be my ongoing project. :-) Soon, hopefully, I can post it and you can give me your opinion.
I think you need to ask Our Lady what she wants....
ReplyDeleteA good suggestion, and she was the first person that I asked! :-)
DeleteI think you need to ask Our Lady what she wants....
ReplyDeleteSome good suggestions were already given, but I think if you did the darker blue for the beads (with perhaps just a slightly lighter colored blue if your you're looking for "two toned beads") and then make the roses a "warmer" color (maybe pull in the colors from Our Lady & Jesus' clothes and the color around their heads) you'd have striking contrast without it being too "busy". The darker blue beads would pull the colors from Our Lady's veil and the roses would be warmer and pull in the "other colors". I'm sure it will be beautiful whatever you decide. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
ReplyDeleteGreat suggestions Marijanna, thanks! I'm really excited about showing you guys the finished results--everyone has helped probably more than they know. :-)
DeleteI also heard you got to meet Dominic and Mary! It meant a lot to her and they both had a lot of fun, so thank you!