The colour wheel is a valuable tool that you can use for card making.
Have you ever tried making one with the ink pads that you own? The simplest way is to do a pie chart divided into 6 segments. The 6 segments will house your primary and secondary colours.
Your primary colours are red yellow and blue. Secondary colours stem from these 3 colours. That is, red+blue=violet, red+yellow=orange, yellow+blue=green. You still with me so far?
Going back to our 6 segments, fill them in this order, from the top going clockwise:
- Yellow
- Orange
- Red
- Violet
- Blue
- Green
So, how do we use the color wheel? The most basic would be complementary colours. The colour directly opposite will be the complementary colour.
- Yellow = Violet
- Orange = Blue
- Red = Green
Simple enough, right? But, there are other combinations that you can try if you want to use 3 or more colours.
- Analogous – try combining neighbouring colours or colours touching each other on the colour wheel (e.g Yellow Orange Red or Violet Blue Green
- Triangle – Mark a triangle on the wheel and combine the 3 colours
- Warm Colours – Yellow Orange Red
- Cool Colours – Violet Blue Green
I made my own colour wheels with all the ink pads that I own. I made one for each colour family (Brights, Regals, Subtles and In Color). This way, I have a quick guide when making a card. It takes the guessing out of choosing a colour combination. Also, a whole world of colour combinations opens up, something that I probably haven’t thought of before. It’s also a great way to step out of my comfort zone and experiment with colour.
I used the 6 segment rule but I divided each segment if I have 2 or 3 hues of the same colour. For example, in my Violet segment I have Blackberry Bliss and Rich Razzleberry because there are 2 violets in the Regals family.
Here are my 4 colour wheels. Use it as a guide to make your own if you own Classic Stampin’ Pads. Also, put it to the test once you’re done.
I will be putting mine to the test and see what lovely cards I can make. I hope you enjoyed today’s technique and that you’ll also give it a go.
Check out the online store for ink pads that you can add to your collection.
Also, do you need help making a colour wheel? Let me know so we can organise a class for you.
Are you also looking for other fun papercraft projects? Check out my events page and book in. There’s always something new to learn.