Margie’s Muse
by Margie Deeb

THE ELEMENTS: The Air Palette

Excerpted from The Beader’s Color Palette (Watson Guptill, June 2008)

In her organic, curving style, Margie Deeb surrounds blue chalcedony with ivory and shades of purple and sky-blue. Photo by Margie Deeb. The layers of cleavage planes within labradorite create iridescent glimmers, called “labradorescence,” that refract light back and forth. Blue dyed chalcedony enhances these small universes full of color. Necklace by Margie Deeb. Photo by Margie Deeb. To learn more about color for bead artists, visit the store at MargieDeeb.com

Air symbolizes the winds of change and forces of transcendence. In the Tarot and ancient magic, air is represented by a sword, and speaks to us of freedom, wisdom and power.

The color palettes for air range from breeze-like pastel wisps to muted storm-gray rhapsodies.

More important than color itself is how the beads interact with light. Choose luminous stones that appear to dance with light, or glow from within. Materials that are transparent, translucent, or have an iridescent finish form the basis of the ephemeral air palette.

SUGGESTED AIR PALETTE MATERIALS

Clear quartz is a must for air palettes, as if it is air in crystallized form the way it tosses light around, and is both transparent and translucent. It often contains wispy veils, clouds and rainbows in each bead. Amethyst and ametrine are great air palette stones with their transparent color. You’ve seen lavenders and purples in the sky, and occasionally the yellows that ametrine and citrine contains. Iolite is the blue of rainy days and thunderclouds - a muted grayish blue - and works beautifully with the stones I mentioned above. Labradorite is similar, yet much more brown and gray. Good specimens are filled with magical rainbows (see photo left). For translucence include rose quartz, lavender fluorite, or blue lace agate. Rainbow moonstone furnishes Iridescence to your air schemes. And motifs of feathers and the sword symbolize air.

Think light, ephemeral, movement, and change - the very essence of the air palette. If you can sense those qualities in your materials, your composition, and your colors you’re on your way to creating an integrated piece of work based on one of the most fundamental element of air.

SUGGESTED AIR PALETTE COLORS

Mistral Wind

Shimmering
Sylph

Iridescence & Light

Gale Force

About The Author

Artist, designer, musician, and color expert Margie Deeb is the first to author of several beading books about color, including the popular The Beader’s Guide to Color and The Beader’s Color Palette (June 2008, Watson-Guptill).

She teaches color courses for artists, interior designers, and beaders and her free monthly color column, “Margie’s Muse,” is available on her website. She produces a free graphically enhanced podcast, “Margie Deeb’s Color Celebration,” available on iTunes.

Her articles have appeared in "Bead & Button" and "Beadwork" magazines, and she writes a regular color column in "Step-by-Step Beads" and "BeadBugle.Com" She has appeared on the 2008 PBS show “Beads, Baubles, and Jewels” speaking about color. Visit Margie’s website for her books, patterns, jewelry, inspiration, and more: www.MargieDeeb.com .

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