You can always tell when I don't choose the colors

The Bead&Button Show is just about to start, so that means I'm busy making kits for the Meet the Teachers reception and my classes!  I don't have as many to make as I did for the Art Glass and Bead Show, but there is still some work to be done.

For a few years I've had kits for my Double Decker Daisy (DDD) bracelet design.  When I first started kitting it, I kinda went crazy.  I started with six different colorways and added three more later.  I don't ever have very many of one colorway.  I've ranted many times about how difficult it is to find kit materials in bulk, so I won't subject you to that again.  Suffice it to say, I usually only have a few kits of each colorway.

I designed DDD to use daggers to mimic the petals of a daisy.  When Pips came on the scene, I knew they'd work perfectly without changing the design at all.  You may have seen this picture before, so please bear with me:

Daggers are on the top, and Pips are on the bottom.  I think they're both so cute.

I've been meaning to make a few kits using Pips but have been putting it off.  I had so many kits to make for the Art Glass and Bead Show for newer designs that I didn't want to spend any more money for an older design.

However, because I put a sample out of the bracelet using Pips, we've been asked if we have kits with Pips, so I can't put it off any longer.  (The "we" here includes my husband, Steve.  He's invaluable at these shows!)

I went to Knot Just Beads, my favorite local bead store to get some Pips and ended up coming home with a lot more!  The lovely color above wasn't available, but there were some pretty purple Pips.  (Say that ten times fast!)  That's a no-brainer, of course.  I mean, look at this blog.  If I don't come home with some purple, something's wrong.

But I saw the brightest orange I've ever seen and asked Kim (the owner of KJB) what she thought.  I've talked about color before and how hard it is for me to work outside my comfort zone.  (See this post for a fire-inspired version of "It's Got Legs").  I'm happiest with purples, blues, greens, grays, black, and white.  I can work with pink and red, but I seem to lean towards cool, muted colors.

Yellow, orange, and brown are challenging, to put it mildly.  Steve likes those colors, and he usually helps out.  But Steve wasn't with me when Kim said the orange would be a good idea, so I was completely at a loss as to what to put with it.  It took quite a while, with me wandering around the store an awful lot saying, "I am physically incapable of choosing oranges and browns", but we (Kim, really) came up with something nice (as nice as orange and brown can be, that is).

I stitched up the new samples (including some samples I hadn't stitched yet) yesterday, and it was extremely obvious which colorway I did not choose:

Yes, there are some yellows in there (I wanted to have colors close to actual daisies), but that orange just jumps out at me.  This picture really doesn't do the brightness justice.  Let's try a close-up version:

Oh, yeah.  That's the stuff.

In this picture you can see the 15/0 seed beads a bit better.  They're the little ones next to the brown center beads.  I've used this color before (borrowed from a friend at the suggestion of another friend), and I was really impressed by them.  They're Permanent Finish Galvanized (PF562F - Matte Saffron).  If you get a chance, pick up this color or another PF.  I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Are there any colors you have difficulties working with?  Comment and let me know!