When it comes to weaving, applying a bit of color theory can be the ticket to eye-catching results.
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Photo by John Polak, excerpted from Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom |
This is the point where some weavers get stuck. Color is so subjective and such a large factor in a textile’s success that they freeze up and become afraid to combine colors for fear of weaving something that clashes. Adding to the danger is the way color works in weaving, combining like pixels in a pointillist painting to create new colors, some of them wonderful, others dreadful.
Color Combinations
Color is often represented as a wheel of pure hues, but if you look at the world, you’ll notice most colors aren’t on the wheel. Really, color is more like a sphere with the color wheel at the equator and light colors at one pole, dark colors at the other. The interior of the color sphere is filled with innumerable color mixes.![]() |
Photo by John Polak, excerpted from Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom |
Primary colors that are used to mix paint, dye, or ink are red, yellow, and blue. All the other colors on the color wheel can be generated from these starting points.
Secondary Colors
Secondary colors are created by mixing together two of the primary colors. The secondary colors are purple, orange, and green.
Tertiary colors
Tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary and a secondary color: red-purple, red-orange, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, and blue-purple.
Triad
Three colors that are evenly spread around the color wheel form a triadic color scheme. Purple, orange, and green form a triadic color scheme. This creates a vivid color palette. One way to tone down a triadic color scheme is to adjust the proportions of colors so that one dominates and the other two are used as accent colors.
Analogous
Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel form an analogous color scheme. Blue-green, green, and yellow-green form one analogous color scheme. This combination is harmonious and rarely clashes. The downside to analogous color combinations is that their lack of visual tension can make them subdued and low energy.
Complementary
Colors on opposite sides of the color wheel, such as red and green, are the complement of each other. This combination creates a lot of visual tension, especially when the colors are used in the pure hue form.
Getting Color Proportions Right
There are many ways to put colors together. The simplest is to use equal amounts of each color in a scheme. Sometimes, however, this can cause too much visual contrast and/or create a too-predictable pattern. To break things up, you can change the proportions, or let one color lead and the others play subordinate roles as accents.![]() |
Dark and light. Photo by John Polak, excerpted from Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom |
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Thick and thin. Photo by John Polak, excerpted from Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom |
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Complementary colors. Photo by John Polak, excerpted from Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom |
Text excerpted from Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom © 2015 by Syne Mitchell. All rights reserved.
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