Color Theory

This is a cross-post from my other, more frequently posted to, blog. But I think it's also relevant here. And certainly one of the reasons I've gotten so far into color theory is trying to broaden my vocabulary to describe art. It's not just about quilting.

If you are interested in color theory and enjoy jigsaw puzzles where all the shapes are the same, you might like The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.).1 Robin Edmundson first introduced me to the wonders of The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) at a Bloomington Quilters Guild meeting where she lectured on color in the textile arts. To put it on the spectrum of books on color theory, The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is more accessible than Josef Albers' Interaction of Color (though it is fun and I would definitely recommend it for advanced students of color or once you've got this Munsell (R) thing down pat). The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is more technical than Deb Menz's Color Works: The Crafter's Guide to Color, another great resource recommended by Robin Edmundson (hey, Mary, it covers knitting and yarn related stuff too!).2 If you're not ready to dive in with two feet, if the sticker shock on the Munsell (R) is a bit much, or you want to keep your focus on crafts and not be distracted by references to painting or other studio arts, Deb Menz's Color Works might be the way to go. But if you think "color tetrads, duh," then maybe you need to move on to the Munsell (R) or the Albers.

The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is one tool to help you understand color. Now, there's a certain approach to color that would look at this and scoff, "There are so many colors in the rainbow. Use every one!" Well, yes, but what if you use every one and still think it looks like poo? OR what if you're trying to play with color in a different way, perhaps pushing yourself beyond, "this looks pretty with that"? Not that "this looks pretty with that" isn't a perfectly viable approach to color. It certainly is. But if you're looking for a means of expanding your color vocabulary or you seek a more systematic approach to color, The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) might just be for you.

One of the most fun aspects of The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is the charts. At the end of the first chapter one of the exercises is to apply the color chips to the color charts. Yes, your book comes incomplete. You get to fill in the blanks. Handily they provide little packets labeled by hue (see the first picture at the top of this post). Inside a packet is a tiny book of color chips in that hue (see picture at left). Now, The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is designed for undergraduate art students, so the instructions are for the most part extremely detailed and need no supplement.

However, for those of us playing along at home, without a professor or classmates to double check our work or to suggest work-arounds, I thought I might provide a little more detail about the process I used to complete my color charts. The book recommends some pretty impressive adhesive options which are not readily available, so I tested an alternative: Scotch Restickable Glue Stick. I found it at Staples or some Staples analog. If you apply one coat, let that dry a little (maybe 30 seconds), then apply a second coat, let that dry a little (maybe 30 seconds), it basically turns anything paper into a Post-It Note. The restickability is important in this application because in later exercises you move the chips around, which would be hard if they were permanently stuck to a chart. But before you go transforming all of your color chips into Post-It chips, read on.

As instructed, I first completed my Hue Value/Chroma chart, which appears at left. This chart is handy on a number of levels, not the least of which is using the red row, which illustrates chroma, as a starting point when arranging the 5R (a.k.a. red) chart. Additionally, its handy color wheel helps you pick out which of the chips in any packet is the highest chroma hue. Finally, you can line your lowest chroma chips up along the value chips on the Hue Value/Chroma chart to figure out your first column, as shown on the left side of the third picture from the top.

To double check that your colors are in the correct order on your hue chart you can use the front and back pages, which are medium gray, to isolate each row and each column. By isolating a column you can check the value progression within that chroma and any chip from a different chroma would stand out. By isolating a row you can check the chroma progression within that value and any chip from a different value would stand out. And using the medium gray paper helps you to see the value of each chip compared to the adjacent chip rather than compared to a pure white background.

Before getting all glue crazy, label the back of your chips with the chart they belong to and whatever other information you have that might help you get it back where it belongs when it inevitably becomes misplaced. For example, in the picture to the left you can see the backs of all the chips from the 5R chart. Know how I can tell? In the bottom right corner I wrote "5R" on each and every one with a black ball point pen. The closest chip in the picture belongs in the sixth row in the second column of the 5R chart. Know how I can tell? In the top left corner I wrote "6/2" which in Munsell (R) notation means it has a value of six and a chroma of two. Once you've labeled all your chips for one chart, go ahead and apply your restickable adhesive of choice and apply them to the chart.

This is my completed 5R (a.k.a. red) chart. The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) doesn't specify the order in which you should complete the hue charts, but please allow me to make two suggestions. First, as I stated above, the Hue Value/Chroma chart is handy because its row illustrating chroma is the 4/ row of the Hue 5R chart. So if you do the 5R chart second after the Hue Value/Chroma chart you can just match your chips to that row and you've got one row in order and you know exactly which row it belongs in. This seems like no big deal, but it really is like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that are all the same size when you tip out 30 of these chips. So if you've got seven of those chips pinned down, the rest fall into place more easily. Second, I would recommend completing the hue charts in order around the color wheel. I found that, particularly in the lowest chroma column, the chips for the adjacent hues, like from red to red-purple, almost matched exactly, which reinforces the importance of labeling your chips, but also makes arranging the chips easier than if you hopped around the color wheel, say from red to blue-green.

1. I linked to Amazon solely because they have lots of information and reviews about the book. Presently The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) appears to be out of stock. Moreover, I received my copy from Amazon and the 3-ring binder was broken. They were quite prompt with a replacement, but that binder was also broken in exactly the same way, so I suspect either Amazon is storing them poorly or Fairchild is manufacturing them poorly. This would be no big deal if it weren't for the fact that the size of the pages and the spacing of the holes for the binder rings appears to be unique to The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set, or at least very rare. I have resorted to placing each page into an 81/2x11" page protector and placing them in a standard 3-ring binder. This actually seems like a perfectly good plan for the sheets to which I have affixed color chips, so the chips won't wander far if they become unaffixed. But for the 73 pieces of paper which comprise the 138 pages of text and 4 pages of color plates, it seems to be a bit much.(back)

2. Robin Edmundson also recommended Johannes Itten's Color Star, which is a particular type of color wheel as far as I could tell, and Color by Accident by Ann Johnston, which focuses particularly on dyeing. I briefly perused both of these after the guild lecture and settled on Deb Menz's Color Works as my "if I can't persuade anyone to buy The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) for my birthday, this will do nicely" choice. But if you're into dyeing, I think Color by Accident might be preferable to Color Works.(back)

P.S. This post is dedicated to my brother Bob, who gave me The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set despite its outrageous price tag. I love you, man.

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