Ives Color Wheel

as i understand it, there are several 'color' wheels, depending on what you are doing. for example, there is a color wheel for testing human vision and the rgb (red green blue) color wheel for television. the ives color wheel is the one used in fabric printing. i have wolfram's 3-in-1 pocket color tool, similar to the big fan of paint chip interior decorators use. it matches fabric colors much better than the paint chips do ;-)

I like that 3-in-1pocket color tool, too. I love looking at color theory, but reading about it just confuses the heck out of me. I tend to wing it on colors. No complaints so far, although maybe that's because I tend to the brighter side of the spectrum and when you start working with brighter colors they mostly seem to like each other.

Sunny

Yes, we have the 3-in-1 tool along with the book. I look at the colors, and so many are so close to each other (and I actually worked in color-matching out of HS) that I get confused and frustrated. Trying to guess at RGB values to replicate colors in the book or tool is virtually impossible, unless someone knows some secret, trick, or place where I can obtain values (as I did with the Arts & Crafts colors).

As DW explained it to me though, using the Ives wheel results in more startling (impressive?) contrasts & compliments than using a traditional RYB wheel. Having a somewhat logical mind, I figured if you want a green that's exactly halfway between yellow and blue, you would use equal parts of each (or split the RGB values evenly) but it turns out that it doesn't always look that way to the eye. And then some of the coolest hues aren't necessarily the pure ones, but have some of the third primary thrown in... but how much? Math & science seem to be going out the window in favor of the eye. That's ok... until you look at your fabric/color under different kinds of light (incandescent/flourescent/sunlight) due to the chemicals making up the dyes. But you folks know all this stuff, right?

Doc

I had no idea about colour, really, until I read Joen Wolfrom's book. It changed my whole attitude (not that my colour preferences changed, but I loved the whole logic system that was applied to it). I often think that I would do better in a completely abstract world >ggg< (dyeing I mean). . In message , snipped-for-privacy@rochester.rr.com writes

Back in 1986 I worked for a couple of years for a commercial sewing thread company in Los anageles. I still have the thread charts we used. One is a "fan" that is real portable, the other one is like the old DMC thread charts. Oh, yes, I have one of those DMC charts, also. Color is a fun thing to play with. I often take my fan chart with me when I am looking for something just right, whether it is paint or whatever. And my co-worker borrows it. Someday we may learn to tone it down in her dressing ;)

G> I like that 3-in-1pocket color tool, too. I love looking at color

I enjoy Wolfrom's book for the 3rd. Very often, two fabrics from my stash want to be together and don't give me a clue as to what would play nicely with them. Wolfrom always has the answer. Polly

So which of Joen Wolfram's books is the best one to start with? Since you both think she's great (which is what I've heard over the years, but I've never looked at her books), I'd love your opinion.

I have Wolfram's 'Color Play'. Didn't know I was supposed to read it. It would be way too much for my old head to absorb. I just turn through until I find the pages that fit whatever is puzzling me. Polly

"Sandy" So which of Joen Wolfram's books is the best one to start with? Since

Hi Sandy,

I guess that depends on what your interest is. Joan had 5 other books published before Color Play:

Make Any Block Any Size Patchwork Persuasion The Visual Dance The Magical Effects of Color Landscapes and Illusions

I don't see anything wrong with checking them out in any order you like. Color Play is subtitled, "Easy Steps to Imaginative Color in Quilts" (if that's any help) This is the one DW gave me to peruse; I don't know if she has others.

Doc Smith

Hi Doc. Since the "eye" is the final observer, it is probably the most important element. I first learned basic RYB color wheel basics when I was very young, probably by 1st or 2nd grade. (Or so it seems.) It feels like I have "always" known that yellow + blue =3D green and so forth. I also have had the science background to learn the "physics" of color. However, I have always put together colors that I like with each other. Yes, there are times my color sense is a bit "different" but I like it. My Dad had some very definite things to say about colors, especially what colors "don't go together", and I disagree with some of them. (As a redhead, I grew up knowing that most reds and virtually all pinks are terrible colors for me to wear. And both high school and college had red a major school color. sigh.) As to the green being half way between yellow and blue..... didn't you ever have to mix paints in school? even in finger painting and such. It seems that very often we had only red, yellow and blue paints and had to mix them to get other colors. You quickly learn that a very tiny bit of blue turns yellow into green. And it is very easy to get various shades of mud brown.

And many of us, I suspect, know that different light can "change" the color of fabrics. Which is why you will often see people taking bolts of fabric to a window or door of a shop to check the color. Many of us have seen the awful effects of fluorescent lights on some of our clothes.... think back to the old style parking lot/outdoor lighting that was horrible. With the advent of the "Ott Light" and other "true color" lighting we have been blessed with lights that simulate sunlight much better.

Knowing some of the basics about color is wonderful. Letting the theories rule your decisions is not. And, as has been said, finding, or even dying, fabrics to match a preselected exact color is frustrating and counter productive. I do use EQ to design quilts. And I stick in fabrics from the palettes included with the program, even though they are out of date. Chances are I will not find the fabrics I think I would want from the program anyway. I write my shopping list as values, and sometimes color families. Then I find a wonderful fabric that speaks to me and go from there.

Any way you do it is fine, just having fun doing the designing and such is fine too. But, for me at least, the payoff is working with actual fabric and thread and such. And often finding a wonderful, surprising fabric that is really just perfect for some pattern and going from there is wonderful too.

Have fun, Pati, in Phx

That's a great idea, Polly. I'll add that to my list of tips to be implemented (not just sat on!!) . In message , Polly Esther writes

I think probably 'The Magical Effects of Colour' is where I started; but I also love 'The Visual Dance' (which is as much to do with designing quilts themselves). I haven't bought others (yet!). . In message , Sandy writes

Thanks to Pat, Polly and Doc for the information! Now I have to decide .... ;)