The Color Wheel - Complements and Split Complements

Several years ago, I took a six day course on the use of color in painting. The local instructor was very knowledgeable; her text was a self-published book “Color is Exciting”. Velma Bartlemay brought the subject alive, and all of us students ended up with a thorough background on techniques of paint mixing and hue and tint color composition.

There is a terrific website entirely devoted to color. Check it out at Colour. Hundreds of essays are submitted daily about lots of different ways that color affects us, and great tips and techniques when working with color in any type application. One piece of writing is featured on a daily basis.

Back to the Color Wheel: As you probably know, complementary colors are those colors directly across from one another on the color wheel. Littletownmart gives this example of a color wheel and further explains...

Split Complementary Colors are "one off" from the opposite color. Pick a color, find it's complementary color, then select the two colors on either side of the complementary color. Split Complementary color schemes can use two or three colors.

Note :
Click here for an excellent and in-depth discussion and teaching on colors and the color wheel.

New super washed wool sock yarn arrived in the mailbox yesterday, and the blue and pinkish colors are outstanding. The use of split complementary colors in the skein will make the colors pop out.

Example 1:
In the smaller ball of yarn, to be used for baby booties, the manufacturer (Cascade) made good use of split complementary colors in that yarn lot. The color red is directly across from blue on the chart. Split complementary colors of pinks and oranges in the yarns (grayed down reds which are split complementary colors to the blue) are married with the grey (a grayed down blue).

Example 2:
The larger skein of predominantly blue yarn is paired with its complementary color of orange and its’ split complementary colors of yellow and orangish-reddish hues: another use of split complementary colors that the yarn manufacturer skillfully applied to this yarn lot.

However, in knitting, when various colors of yarn are put together, the eye often play tricks. Another knitting blogger, Kristin, at KnittingKninja says:

colors are changed by the presence of another color. Two objects I’ve knit really demonstrated this truth to me. My daughter’s … jacket is knit in bright purple wool, and I added stripes of two different blues, both blues that have a lot of yellow in them. Next to the purple, the lighter of the two appears to be a pale sage green, but on its own, the ball of yarn is a blue-grey.

So remember, even when we carefully select our colors, sometimes the juxtaposition of the colors can make the end product a different color mix in the perception of the eye.

That is the art of putting colors together: even when we use color wheel matching techniques, the eye pleasing arrangement is not always what is anticipated. Sometimes, it comes out even better! In this case, the little jacket swatch shows a very effective and elegant use of complementary colors.

It is a good thing to keep that old color wheel in mind when selecting colors in room décor, knitting articles of clothing, etc. And check out the fun site Colorspeak, where you can make up your own color palettes. Lots of web designers have input on commercial use of color and address the issues in a low-key, conversant manner.

Dog, Cat & Rat - Peace on Earth

contributed by Darlene on Ravelry:

This is an amazing video of one of the homeless in Santa Barbara and his pets. They work State Street every week for donations. The animals are pretty well fed and are mellow. They are a family. The man who owns them rigged a harness up for his cat so she wouldn't have to walk so much (like the dog and himself). At some juncture the rat came along, and so no one wanted to eat anyone else, the rat started riding with the cat and often, on the cat. The dog will stand all day and let you talk to him and admire him for a few chin scratches. The mayor of Santa Barbara filmed this clip and sent it out as a Christmas card.



Why can't we all just get along like these guys?

Spring Cleaning: Copper, Silver

It is that time again ...Spring Cleaning. My copper and silver needed baths and a buff. Wanting to be eco-friendly, I decided to research a few home remedies to make that precious metal shine. According to Freedom Moon Works:

Eco-friendly alternatives to commercial cleaning products:

*are less polluting to manufacture;
*are less likely, in some cases, to cause injury if accidentally ingested;
*don't cause indoor air pollution in your home;
*are generally less expensive than commercial products;
*can reduce waste from packaging;
*are simple and effective and have been used for generations;
*can help you save space in your cupboards and closets;
*are less likely to harm the environment during and after use.

Ok, I'll buy that. So I decided to take the plunge and do it myself.
Home Repair says:

of course some methods work better than others, but all involve some sort of caustic solution. Be careful not to breath in any of the cleaning solutions and treat them with respect. Also, most solutions must be applied and left for several hours, so make sure they are out of reach of curious children.

Start by making a paste out of flour, salt and vinegar. I used a guesstimated quantity, about 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup salt, and 1/2 cup vinegar. Just make sure it is pasty and gritty, then apply it to the copper. The acid in the vinegar will begin to dissolve the tarnish immediately.

I highly recommend you use gloves and clean outdoors, if possible. It did create a bit of a gooey mess. And if the tarnish is heavy, you may need to apply more paste and heavier elbow grease.

(the homemade copper cleaner is being applied in the above picture)

It really was not too much of an ordeal. The entire process took less than 30 minutes from start through clean-up. And then, VOILA!

Here is the copper pot all shiny and new looking, proudly showing greenery. Now, on to cleaning the silver:

Freedom Moon Works gave this quick fix for polishing silver, and BY GOLLY, it worked!
#1 Boil silver 3 minutes in a quart of water containing: 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and a piece of aluminum foil. #2 Rub silver with a baking soda/water paste and a soft cloth; rinse and polish dry. #3 Rub with toothpaste. Use a soft toothbrush to clean raised surfaces. Be careful not to scratch surfaces. Be gentle.
On the right is a picture of the neglected, tarnished silverware prior to the remedy.

And below is a picture of serving pieces all cleaned up. This job took about two hours since I had a lot of silver to polish, but it still took less time by this method than using a commercial cleaner.

Hmm. The pictures do not give justice to the work involved, but it really DID give the silver a polish, although the pictures lie.

I would love to chat with my estranged niece Ashley and talk about this silver cleaning project since she once brought up this topic as a business idea. In the meantime, I send her good thoughts and love.

Now I need to polish all of my mom's silver!