Spring 2012 Color Inspiration

Hello Gemstone Lovers:

As I mentioned in my post about autumn colors, Pantone is a pretty good place to get some insight into new colors and trends.  So it was back to Pantone to check out their picks for Spring 2012.  Need a way to boost your mood?  Get a new outlook?  Update and look forward?  Then try adding a few of these hues into your accessories to up-date and change-up.  Naturally, I love the fact that one of the colors mentions a mineral by name, Sodalite Blue.  Might have to do a post on just that particular stone ...

I'm a little bummed that they didn't present the colors in that nice color-block format that they did for fall, since it was a nice, easy way to pick out some Lunar Blue items for our own color rainbow match.  So I made my own color blocks for matching! (This was harder than it looks.)

This palette has a lot in common with the autumn one, which is no surprise, since people don't want to have to buy all new clothes and completely repaint the interiors of their houses in order to feel "in sync" with the world.  The major difference seems to be that these are turned up a notch - a little brighter for the light colors, and a little darker for the contrasting colors.  It all seems to be more enriched compared to the cooler seasons behind us.  Again, not a surprise, since people want to add a little punch to their environment and dress this time of year. 

I particularly like the purples, pinks, and sage green colors in this group.  Certain hues of amethyst, rose quartz, peridot, and turquoise will match perfectly.  So will smoky quartz, picture jasper, yellow jade, and the deeper side of both lapis lazuli and sodalite.  A great selection of fun stones to work with!

October's Birthstone: Opal

Radiant, colorful opal is the birthstone for October. There are several theories about the origin of the word “opal,” but the most probable is that it is derived from the Sanskrit word upala, which means “valuable stone.”

The aborigines of Australia have an ancient story about how opal was created. The Creator descends to earth, bringing a message of peace to humanity. The Creator’s foot touches the earth, and the rocks in that spot suddenly come to life and begin to glitter in a variety of brilliant colors. Those sparkling rocks became opal.

Most of the world’s opal, 95-97%, is mined in Australia--hence the creation story--with a small amount produced in the Americas. Opal is related to quartz; but unlike quartz, it is not a mineral. It is instead a kind of silica, and is found in various types of rocks. The most commonly found colors of opal are greens and whites, and the red/black combination is the most rare.

Opal’s most notable characteristic--its glittery, colorful radiance--is know as “play of color.” In the 1960’s, scientists discovered that within opal, tiny spheres of silica interrupted the passage of light through the gemstone, causing the light to refract. This answered a question that until then no one could answer--why opal produces the lovely play of color that makes it so popular.

If you’re looking for an alternative for an October birthstone, pink tourmaline is a beautiful choice. Because it is classified as a semi-precious stone, it is more expensive than opal. Tourmaline comes in a variety of colors, including one called “watermelon” which is green on the outside and pink on the inside.



Photographs of Opal by Opals-On-Black
Photograph of Tourmaline Ring by Liverpool Design Festival

Gemstones as Minerals

I am fascinated by minerals.  We so often see gemstones in a final form as faceted stones or polished beads that it can be easy to forget what these substances look like in their native state.  The Lyman Museum in Hilo, Hawaii has a small but excellent collection of minerals.  Each specimen is notable either for size, rarity, or beauty.  Here are a few that particularly caught my eye ...

I spotted a huge, beautiful brown zircon, cubic, almost two inches on a side.  Never seen one that shade or that size.  There was a pyrite sample with the characteristic cubic box shape.  This one had several "boxes" stuck together at the corners, the largest appeared to be about 2.5 inches on a side.  The pattern isn't unusual for pyrite, but this one was smooth and perfect.  The surface of the crystals was shiny and almost mirror-like.

Some of the minerals had colors that surprised me.  There was a flourite sample with colors ranging from orange and burgundy to teal and lime.  A stunning chrysocolla from Arizona was a vibrant, glowing, light blue green.  An azurite sample was a deep, dark midnight blue, and sparkled like stars from reflections off of the facets of hundreds of tiny crystals.  Even the rose quartz was notable.  It was a perfectly uniform gorgeous pink, studded over with crystals.

The collection contained a sample of carved minerals.  This included ones I'd seen before, such as jade, carnelian, and malachite.  But there were other carved items from minerals I haven't seen used this way very often, such as lapis lazuli carved into a statue of a horse, and a head carved from aquamarine.

The petrified wood samples were excellent.  There were not simply small chunks, but full circular cross sections from trees, with rings preserved now as stone.  The process of turning something like a tree into a stone is amazing, and in this case left behind small crystal filled geodes right in the "wood."

Such a wonderful visit is always inspiring.  The next time I pick up a smooth bead of azurite, I will remember the spectacular mineral of midnight blue, with stars flashing. 

Adding to Autumn's Color Palette

As I mentioned in my previous post on color trends, people do get bored with the same thing year after year.  Yet in spite of that, they are cautious of change.  They are even more cautious of change in a tough economy.  So color leaders have their hands full creating new palettes.  They have to consider moods, current events, technology, lifestyles, culture, and more.  For the palette to be of use in fashion, it must contain a fraction of colors from previous years (so we can still wear some of what is in the closet), something new (so things feel fresh), and yet stay true to the season (so we remain grounded.)

There are more new palettes each season than you can shake a paintbrush at, so part of the fun is simply finding one that you like.  Pantone, being a leader in color, produces seasonal palettes for fashion and decor.  Naturally, their palettes, and all the other fall palettes, have to be out for the industry to use far in advance of the actual season.  Pantone had the Fall 2011 palette available in February of this year.  For women, it looks like this:

I enjoyed going through the Lunar Blue collection and producing our own version of the Autumn jewelry color palette.

One of the phenomena I noticed was that (of course) gemstones are often composed of many colors, or swirls of related colors.  Unakite, for example has both the 'emberglow' and 'cedar' hues in a single stone.  Wood jasper has a nice combination of both "coffee" and "nougat."  "Phlox" and "orchid" can be found in both shaded amethyst and flourite.  So with cleverly designed gemstone jewelry, you can accent any aspect of the color palette you desire.

Jennifer

So Why Color Trends, Anyway?

Olive pearls and citrine are a perfect
late summer combination, and they
serve to welcome Fall, too!

Seasonal colors can seem quite predictable.  We have all been through enough seasons to have an idea what colors generate what associations for the time of year (BTW, I happen to be in the northern hemisphere).  Autumn, for example, is usually characterized by rust, umber, brown, gold, amber, forest, and other colors you might find in falling leaves (even if you don't have any leaves in your neighborhood.)  These are the go-to colors that appeal to most people during Autumn, and people will wear them and place them in their environment more often during Fall than any other time of year.  So if each season has its typical colors for us to use, why do we still have "new" colors in fashion and decor all the time?

I will admit - before I began to study color more closely, I thought the idea of "trending" colors was not terribly important.  Fashion can seem frivolous in the face of tough economic times and hard scientific facts.  And certainly part of the fashion industry exists simply to promote its own existence.  But the other side of this picture is the one where "trends" keep people interested, focused, active, and even happy.

Color is a critical part of our environment.  We take in more information from visual input than any other sense.  Color is one of the most prominent visual factors.  For humans to be mentally engaged and interested, color needs to be present in the environment, and used in ways that get our minds working.

Color can dramatically effect our mood and outlook.  When times are tough, people look for ways to feel more up, and color is a big part of that.  Colors in clothes, jewelry, decor, and even cars is a critical tool for keeping us consumers upbeat and interested enough in new products to want to spend our hard earned money on them.  This in turn keeps our economy chugging along so we can keep our jobs that generate said money.  Ideally, anyway ...

Even with the cycle of colors from season to season, people get bored wearing the same colors in the same combinations year after year.  Our need for interesting visual input always keeps us looking for something new.  Consumers put demand on the fashion industry for variation, and the fashion industry does the same in reverse, creating demand by making old combinations outdated.  Thus we have the preferred fashionable color trends that come to us each season of each year.

So where do these colors come from?  They generally resemble or pair with the canonical colors for the season, but add a new spin or twist to keep things interesting.  I spotted a line on the Fidelis Art Prints site that puts it succinctly, "Colour trends are based on observations of the world around us, taking into consideration social issues, technology, lifestyles and the moods and aspirations of consumers. It is from this information that colour experts such as Pantone and Benjamin Moore, forecast colours palettes that will most appeal to the consumers during a time period."

Jennifer

The Color of Stones: Meanings, Uses, Psychology and Fashion

Color is powerful.  Colors are fraught with symbolism, tradition, and psychological influences, much of which we internalize only subconsciously.  Everyone has personal preferences, but none of us can escape the context of our own culture.  This context shapes how we perceive color, and how it fits in as an integral part of our lives.

Gemstones and glass have been chosen and created specifically for their colors for thousands of years.  All forms of personal adornment have included colorful stones, shells, and wood since prehistoric times.  Colors were chosen to convey status, mood, wealth, and other information.  Some stones were only to be used by the ruling class, or in places of worship, because their color was considered sacred.

Today the psychology of color is a major area of research, since it has direct applications in industry, politics, marketing, medicine, sports, education, and just about every other sector of society.  Color can change how we make purchases.  It can change how we cast our vote in elections.  It can make us feel energized, peaceful, or tired.  It can change how we perform in sports and on exams.

One of the primary aspects of gemstone jewelry creation is the use of color, in harmony, unity, or contrast.  Similarly, the buyer of gemstone jewelry makes their choice largely influenced by the color of the piece.  Again, we all have personal preferences, but are likely to move towards pieces that have appeal for a variety of reasons.  For example, white might not be one's favorite color in jewelry, but in western culture most brides choose white pearls for weddings, and sport white diamonds on their fingers.  The context and symbolism of a wedding greatly influences our choice of color.  And the reverse remains true - white gemstones bring up thoughts of weddings, new starts, cleanliness and purity.

So to delve deeper into color, I've been doing a bit of research, and will be posting a series on "The Color of Stones."  I'll be posting about some of the symbolism, studies into color, the nature of chakra points, and some of their interrelationships.  This will give consumers of gemstone jewelry some insight into their own minds - why they choose the colors they do, and conversely, how they can choose colors to enhance their own moods and possibly change the perceptions of those around them.

So stay tuned here for information on color you can use to improve your gemstone jewelry buying awareness!  Not to mention interest and fun ...

Jennifer