Margie's Muse

Making the Most of Monochromatic

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The successful monochromatic palette uses variations of one color to make a statement. The result is elegant, clean, and visually appealing, especially in cooler colors.

When different intensities, tones, shades, and tints of one color are combined, gorgeous and evocative harmonies emerge. In the medium of beads, monochromatic options expand further to include different textures and finishes of the same color.

Because they feature one color, monochromatic schemes express emotions associated with that color. They communicate mood and ambience, eliciting palpable reactions. A monochromatic palette of blues can appear cool and refreshing, or cold and lonely. One focusing on purples and lavenders will have a mystical aura. If you understand your key color - what it conveys and symbolizes - you’re better equipped to fashion your pieces so they’ll have the impact you want to have.

Because the monochromatic scheme lacks color contrast, it will never be as vibrant as schemes that employ more colors, especially complementary schemes. Be sure to employ the whole range of a color, using tints, shades, and tones of the key color to enhance the scheme.

Challenge yourself to become intimate with color by working with a monochromatic scheme based on a color you’ve been avoiding. You’ll learn so much about this energy (at its essence, color is a frequency of light), and it become a useful palette member in other, more colorful schemes.