Perfect Green Beads | Polymer Clay Tips For Mixing Shades of Green
How To Get the Color Just Right For Your Next Jewelry Making Project:
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Mixing polymer clay colors is a common challenge for many beginners… and even more experienced clayers as well. So today since we are well into Spring, I thought that I’d give you a few quick tips on how to work with the color Green.
- If you are going for natural Greens such as the ones you would find in leaves, use Yellow to lighten the color and Blue to darken the color.
- If you are going for more of a graphic look to your designs, use White to lighten your Greens and Black to darken them.
- To give your Greens a lovely muted tone like some of the Olive Greens and Dark Mosses, use a small pinch of Red to tone down the color. The more Red you use the more brown the color gets, so be careful and add the Red slowly.
- Purples can be used in a similar manner as Reds, to get a dusty look to your greens. Because Purple is a mix of Red and Blue, it will also darken your color as well. Go slow with Purple as well, or you will end up with mud.
- Blue and Yellow don’t always make Green. Some colors are made of many different pigments that may not mix as predictably as you would think. I find Premo colors which are based on artists pigments to be fairly predictable and easier to come up with color recipes. Kato Polyclay is also supposed to be good. Fimo can be trickier, and Sculpey III is the worst.
Experimenting with your color mixing is a good way to learn how to get colors to suit your jewelry making projects.
If you would like to read some more articles about color palettes and color mixing polymer clay, click the “09:Color Recipes” Navigation Link in the left sidebar column of this page. Or here a few direct links to recent color palette photos:
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@MJ: Thanks! I hope it does encourage experimentation. That is the best way to learn about mixing colors!
@Maria: That is an excellent tip Maria! I haven’t tried that combo yet but it sounds like a good one. Very unexpected. Isn’t it weird how some of the pigments work?! Thanks for sharing your navy polymer clay recipe!
@Illaya: You are welcome! It sure is great when things work out that way! Congrats on the commission!
Once again your posting has come just at the right time. I have a commission that requires several shades of green. With this I will not make the mud mistake. Thank you Cindy.
re color mixing: my friend commissioned me to make her a navy colored beads necklace. It took me a long time, but I finally hit upon the colors to make it with Premo clay: purple and sea green. Instinctively, it feels like they should make mud, not blue and I am amazed every time this beautiful color comes out from this mixture.
Hi Cindy,
Great info on how to obtain the various green (and for that matter any color) shades. Should encourage experimentation.
MJ