Beadshaper

See Beadshaper Gallery for colorful handcrafted lampwork art glass beads and fabulous fashionable wire wrap jewelry.




Sunday, July 25, 2010

Orange Color

Orange is a color that comes from mixing red and yellow. The word orange comes from the Sanskrit word naranga which is the name of the fruit, orange. The fruit and the color spread centuries ago from India through the Middle East to Europe. Orange, a city in southern France received its name because of the orange trade that occurred there. Orange became the French and later English name for the fruit and the color.Orange has some nationalist implications. William of Orange was a nobleman who inherited the principality of Orange in France in 1544. He later became active in the politics of the Netherlands and ultimately led a rebellion which freed the Netherlands from Spanish rule. Subsequently Orange has been the national color of the Netherlands. Another Dutch William of Orange ( a descendant of the earlier William) became King of England in 1688. Orange became the color of the Protestant Unionists of Northern Ireland because of William’s military victories in Ireland during the 1690s. Orange is also associated with a number of warm places where oranges are grown, most notably Orange County in California.
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You can see a number of handcrafted lampwork glass beads and pendants with orange accents at Beadshaper

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Yellow


Yellow is one of the 3 basic colors. It has had various associations and significances in various cultures over the years. Among the Indians of the Western Hemisphere, it has represented North to the Hopis and South to the Mayans. It represented air in ancient Greek culture. It has had a negative image in some cultures, being associated with cowardice, deceit, and criminality. On the other hand it was the royal color of the first Emperor of China. It has also been associated with the sun. Because of its brightness, it has been used where being noticed is important, for example in clothing worn by traffic guards and highway workers where it is important to be seen so as not to be hit by traffic and on school buses for the same reason. The races of man have been assigned colors in one system of categorizing, yellow being assigned to the races of East Asia. So the color yellow has represented various ideas (often opposing ideas) to various cultures throughout history. It is a beautiful color, especially when displayed and coordinated in an artistic manner.
The making of yellow glass by adding minerals dates back to ancient times beginning in Egypt and Mesopotamia. It was adopted by other Middle Eastern civilizations, then the Greeks, then the Romans, and later the Venetians during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. In modern times, yellow glass has various functions including but not limited to lenses of safety goggles as well as lampwork beads for jewelry.