For Your Toolbox – Color!

/ Inspiration / 3 minutes of reading

I am always on the lookout for inspiration or free tools on the web that will make quilting fun. Today I would like to introduce you to Kuler (pronounced “cooler”). This is a tool developed by Adobe primarily for use in their Creative Suite software but it is a powerful free color tool that you can use in planning your color palette in quilting.  If color choice is scary for you, this free tool can be your best friend.

Have you seen a photo in a magazine, or perhaps a photo you have taken, that has fabulous colors and you think, wow, that would make a great quilt but you don’t know how to pull out the right complementary colors?  Zap! Zow! Kuler is your tool.

Interested?  Here’s how it works.  Go to http://kuler.adobe.com/ and register.  It’s free, you just need an email address and a password of your choice.

The first screen you will see is today’s “Most Popular” color schemes. These are color schemes that have been recently uploaded by users and can be a great source of color ideas on their own.
Once you have set up your free account you will see “Mykuler”in the left side bar.  Click there and you will be taken to your own private color lab.  On the left side bar I have selected “Create” “From an Image” and uploaded a photo of a flower from my computer.
You will notice there are colors banded across the bottom of the screen.  The software scans the image and picks the colors it likes in the photo and gives you a color group.  Don’t like it? Want something more subtle?  See the little white circles on the photo?  Put your mouse on them and drag them to the colors you like the best.  I will pick some subtle colors on the photo and let’s see what happens.

I have used my mouse to move the circles to more muted colors in the photo.  Look at the color band at the bottom of the screen.  I have created a muted palette.  There is also the option to click on “Select a Mood” buttons and the software will create “Colorful,” “Bright,” “Muted,” “Deep,” and “Dark” color schemes based on your photo, or let’s you custom create your own color group. 

Click on over and check it out.  You are bound to find something you love.  Put it in your toolbox!The best thing about using photos from nature is the colors will always harmonize!  Once you have a palette you absolutely love, you can save it to Mykuler and it will be stored there for you, or you can print it out and take it to your LQS and find fabrics in those color ranges and have a perfectly color balanced quilt!  No more color fear! 

Joan

4 thoughts on “For Your Toolbox – Color!”

  3. Pauline

    Thanks for the link for Kuler! I’ve been looking for something like this to get some ideas of colours to use with a couple of different fabrics I have.

    Love your block for the Layer Cake QAL!

    Off to look through the rest of your blog…

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