Colour me happy, colour me sad

Because we see colours everywhere we use them to describe everyday things. We can visualise what is meant by post-box red, sky blue, or sunshine yellow, and we associate colours with feelings and moods.

Colours do affect our moods: seeing someone wearing black beaded jewellery might make us feel sad, as it has long been associated with bereavement and mourning or make it sparkle and you can you have the classy sophisticated look. Cool greens are felt to be calming and relaxing, blues can be cold, scarlet makes a bold hot statement and sunny yellow is cheerful and can raise our spirits. By understanding how colours affect us, we can create jewellery using beads which suits different occasions and personalities.

Throughout history colours have been used to indicate wealth and status: royal purple, ruby red, and royal blue were worn by emperors, in contrast to peasants, slaves and serfs who wore sludgy browns and tans. Now we may wear any shade we choose, but the colours still make statements about the designer and the wearer.

For jewellery designs with impact use bold colours, whereas paler colours might suggest formality or sophistication, and primary colours or jelly bean shades can be used for jewellery for youngsters or to suit holiday moods.

Combining colours can be effective. Complementary colours can make for classy jewellery designs, whilst using contrasting colours creates a striking look. Using various types of beads with different hues, you can then graduated or shaded for effect, whilst a rainbow of colours will suit almost every outfit.

When we choose what beads to use when making jewellery we select colours which reflect our personalities. If colour did not affect us we would all be happy living in white walled houses wearing the same colour clothes, but colour is a powerful and important stimulus in our lives and has a massive impact on both our well-being and the way we live.