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The week continues the bevel idea from last week. I wanted a rich, graphic look so I went to my friends TARDIS and Kandi, as you've seen here before.

I love it! 

There is a beautiful richness to the red and blue together that gives it a real 'textile' feel to me.

Since the past few weeks have been about evolving ideas, I have a bonus square this week. I wondered how this would look with the red and blue 'radiant' stripes crossing the black and white bevels. I have played a bit with this before, in search of a plaid effect, and it worked pretty well:

But with the red and blue split up they lose their velvety richness. Even where they are stacked in the outside band they fail to blend as in the other square because of the white or black stripes. The red and blue seem to separate themselves into parallel stripes. However, I'm really happy with the way the black and white sections look. 

So maybe I will take this one back to the drawing board to try and take advantage of that effect--or to defeat it! 

We got 3+ feet of snow here at Tahoe last week...I know not everybody is energized by the prospect of more winter, so I'll suggest some hot color combos to substitute for red and blue in this one in case you're needing to bead up some sunshine!

How about:

724  Gojira and 798 Blue Dog, a beautiful rich green blend (see square 13 ExCatly).

791 Kandi and 795 Testy for a hot hot orangey red (used at the center of square 32 Bead Soup).

1202 Electrical Banana and 262 Absinthe (also in ExCatly).

I might even try three colors instead of two. I was hoping the blue and red 'radiant' stripes would be more directional against the bevels in my square, but it looks great with them more as fields of blended color. Three color blends are a real favorite of mine, I think of them as beaded tweeds. 

I'm surprised as I look back at the blog that I haven't used more of them here. Now that gives me an idea...