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Let’s Talk: The Two-Primary Rule
If you have worked through some of the colour classes here, or previously taken classes with Tien, you might be familiar with the Two-Primary rule.
If not, Tien’s latest blog gives you some of the details!
Read it (even if you just need a refresher), and let us know how you have used it in your designs!
We would love to see photos of successful designs that use this “rule”, and even the ones that were not so successful.
(don’t forget that bright colours that mix to become dull are not a failure, if that is what you were trying to achieve!)
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11 Replies
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This scarf I’m currently working on might qualify. Colors are from violet, blues and teal, with a splash of brown. The draft is Handweaving.net #62807 with straight treadling, 8/2 tencel, bamboo and cotton warp and an acrylic weft.
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Your scarf is going to be lovely. I really like your color arrangement.
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Thank you Charlene!
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Nice! The brown is dulled slightly by the blue weft but since it doesn’t start out super saturated, it isn’t obvious in the finished piece. The rest are in the same two-primary segment, so aren’t dulled at all.
And your scarf is lovely!
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Thank you Tien! The two primary rule is a sure winner.
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Oh Mary it’s lovely.
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Thank you Sandy!
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If I understand this rule, using colors from different primary group segments will likely blend to a dull color, while colors within a primary group segment will remain bright. I am currently looking to create an iridescent scarf or table runner using a bright red silk in the warp and a bright cobalt blue for the weft. My understanding of iridescence is that it requires two colors which are usually complementary, like blue and red.
How do these concepts affect one another? Blue and red are from two different primary group segments. Will they dull one another yet still be iridescent? Any further explanations would be helpful as I begin working on this design.
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Hi Katherine,
Iridescence comes in many color combinations, not just complementary colors! It is most likely to happen when the yarns are fine, two colors are similar in value. It is also most obvious when the colors are far apart on the color wheel. However, it is not limited to those cases. (Bobbie Irwin has a great book out on iridescence.)
Blue and red are in two different primary group segments, so yes, they will dull the resulting mix somewhat. But if the blue and red are similar values, they will likely produce iridescence. Iridescence doesn’t mean the overall color isn’t a dull one, just that the cloth looks different when you look at it from different angles.
Here’s a pic of a swatch woven with cyan-blue and magenta-red (I think). The color hasn’t dulled significantly (because the magenta-red is just barely outside the cyan-to-magenta segment) but you can see the iridescence. Your red and blue, if woven in plain weave, would likely come out dull purple (or, if it’s orangey red and blue, more purple-gray) but still have iridescence.
However, the weave structure also matters – plain weave produces the most iridescence, you get some iridescence with twills, but more complex patterning isn’t generally iridescent. Always exceptions, of course.
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I try to keep this “rule” in perspective. One of the most beautiful things I wove had a green and yellow warp with purple and orange weft (it was shadow weave). Yes, it was dull but the resulting piece reminds me so much of fall, my favorite time of the year. So I don’t consider it a rule, but rather a guide to help you create what you want to create. If you want bright colors, you know how to do it. But don’t be afraid of dull colors–sometimes, that’s what your piece needs.
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Exactly! It’s not meant to be an “always do this,” but “if you want this, then this will get you there.”
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