Vitrail. Volcano. Two interesting names for a gorgeous jewel color combo.

I don’t know for sure where they came up with the names – I suspect they’re copied from a Swarovski color. Daniel Swarovski was an engineering and possibly marketing genius, and certainly his company is at the top of the field, both marketing-wise and quality-wise. A lot of their names have melded into public color names – siam red, for example.

Vitrail or volcano, these are the SAME jewels, with pics taken under different lighting conditions:

Sometimes they show purple, green, topaz, pink, coral or tan colors against that deep background. Sometimes they’re almost all green, or blue. Sometimes – well, you get the idea. They’re almost never exactly the same – each piece has tiny differences.

All gorgeous.

I figured it was time for a new look at my Etsy jewelry supplies shop. Often times I can get new supplies of some of my “classic” vintage glass jewels – but I also have some wonderful new colors. And some classic rhinestone styles that are new (and reorderable) – and well just gorgeous!

I’ve talked before about do it yourself – and how you can make just what you want. And save money. And, well, these days saving money is about as fashionable as you can get 🙂

This is just a peek at some of the work I’m going to be featuring this season. Haven’t even got it posted (or linked) yet – so, call it shades of things to come (and if you want to find out about it in the meantime, send me a note to jennifer at weekend-jewelry dot com…)

and

Am just loving the emerald this year!

I get a kick out of reading the “color trends” for each season. They’re fun to read, and if you’re in retail, they can be handy indicators of what colors you’re going to want in your store.

But it’s a con game, too.

Pantone is generally regarded as the most reputable trend-projector. Here’s a link to their Color Trends for Fall 2012. The colors include “French Roast” (brown); “Honey Gold” (which is, well, gold), “Tangerine Tango” (orange), “Pink Flambe” (deep pink), “Ultramarine Green” (deep teal-ish green), “Olympian Blue” (rich deep blue), and “Titanium” (gray).

And as a comparison, here’s the report for Pantone’s Color Trends for Fall 2011. The colors include “Coffee Liqueur” (brown); “Bamboo” (gold), “Emberglow” (dusty orange-y coral), “Honeysuckle” (deep pink), “Deep Teal” (deep teal!), and “Quarry” (bluish-gray).

And, in Fall 2010: Color Trends for Fall 2010. For that season, the colors included “Chocolate Truffle” (brown); “Golden Glow” (gold), “Living Coral” (dusty coral), “Lagoon” (turquoise-ish teal!), and “Oyxter Gray” (gray).

I haven’t mentioned each color for each season – just some examples. You’re probably noticing a trend.

The professionals are projecting that these will be among the really hot colors for the upcoming Fall 2012 Retail Season:

Brown, Gold, Dark Pink, Deep Green or Blue, and Gray

Well, duh.

They’ve said that each year for like, every season you’ve probably been alive. Or as long as Pantone’s been listened to. And of course brown and gray and deep green or blue are going to be popular for Fall.

My point?

1. It’s not the colors that are “new” – it’s the NAMES of the colors.
2. Semantics, semantics, semantics, and did I mention marketing?
3. Trends = marketing = sales.

So stop worrying about it. Go with what looks good to YOU. Somebody will have a name for it that IS the “color of the season”.

And hey, you tell me. Are these pear jewels “Ultramarine Green” or are they not? Am I on trend, or what?

Yeah, like I said 🙂

Because, well, heart jewels are always of the good. Hearts mean love. Hearts are always in style. If you make jewelry to sell, hearts are a pretty good bet – boyfriends and husbands want to make their sweeties happy. Hearts do that and the guys know it.

And did I mention that hearts = love? This is a win-win idea!

Such as these pretty vintage rhinestone heart jewels I currently have in stock:

and

Sometimes I have other colors too… peridot, light sapphire, siam…. stop by and check (or send me a note and ask!)

Because vintage heart jewels are always of the good 🙂