Customer Reviews

Color Play: Easy Steps to Imaginative Color in Quilts

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nothing is more disappointing than to see a beautifully sewn quilt that is ugly. All those hours and material invested to produce, hmm, well, something that will keep someone warm.
While nothing can replace a quilter's own developing sense of color relationships for creating a stunning quilt, Joen's Color Play is a great self-teaching tool. Information many people learned years ago in school, for example that blue and orange are complementary colors, is not true in fabrics. Joen presents the Ives Color Wheel, and promises her readers that using magenta, yellow and turquoise as the primary colors instead of red, yellow and blue will 'create the most powerfully beautiful colors in the world.' The Ives Color Wheel is presented as the only element on page 11 so it is large enough to be very useful when selecting fabrics.
Joen also discusses the colors that correspond with various seasons and moods, helping any quilter who wants to convey a particular feeling or time of year.
Although much of the book consists of color drawings of quilts to illustrate color partnerships, dozens of pictures of real quilts are included and referred to as examples. A bonus chapter at the end explain how to created special effects such as a sense of depth, luminosity, luster, transparency, shadows and highlights - very inspiring!
A great reference book!

I am a big fan of Joen Wolfrom and own most of her books, including the Magical Effects of Color which is widely considered one of the best books on color theory for quilters. While I love and refer to The Magical Effects of Color, it tends to be slightly more academic than some might prefer as it goes into some depth on the theory and science of color. Color Play, while covering most of the same principles, is more of an applied lesson in color - a very readable reference when planning a color scheme for a quilt. The book is organized in chapters by color and for each color focuses on its characteristics, offering color combinations that are stunning. Much of her reference is the color combinations we see in nature and nature's spectacular use of analagous, complementary and split complementary color schemes. If you're like me, you'll want to own both The Magical Effects of Color AND Color Play ( as well as every other book by Wolfrom); however if you are simply looking for a very good color reference, Color Play is an excellent choice.

It's always a pleasure to see a new book by Joen. I have loved her work since Landscapes and Illusions. Her previous book, the Magical Effects of Color is the premiere reference for working in fabric and color as far as I am concerned. This book is a continuation and recap of much of the information she has covered in Magical Effects and in The Visual Dance. If you already own those books, you will not find much truly new here, although the individual pages showing colors working together in tints and shades is a new and welcome addition. If you are not lucky enough to already have one of Joen's previous books, buy this one. Her understanding of what makes things works together cannot be beat. And she is explaining color from a textile viewpoint, not paint. It makes a world of difference. Her style is readable and all her points are linked to quilt examples. As always, it's like taking a class in color.

I have read countless quilt books in an unsatisfactory search for answers about creative quilt design. This book has provided a sensible order to the confusion of color choice and combination decisions. The clear, concise, plain talk explanations are just what I have been searching for. The breathtaking example quilts are easily found by matching the photo number to the book page number. The photography and illustrations are outstanding. I also found the fabric selection samples to be most helpful. The ending chapter on illusions finally explained what had been vague terms to me previously. This is a book that is not only beautiful to browse through but extremely informative and useful in a practical sense. What a rare combination.

Joen has produced another spectacular book!

This is the first color theory book I have read that makes sense. Color and its uses are explained clearly with plenty of beautiful illustrations and photographs.

The Ives color wheel, with yellow, turquoise, and magenta as its primary colors, does yield more beautiful combinations than the standard color wheel, and the author's clear explanations of the most beautiful ways to put colors together is extremely helpful.

I would definitely recommend this book for quilters or anyone else interested in beautiful color.

Joen Wolfrom has created a book that every quilter needs. That is if you struggle with finding the right colors to make your quilt pop! I learned so much from this book about my own style and how to find colors that blend and match my favorites! Color is difficult for many people when I teach quilting classes. Reading this book helps you to really create the colors you want and quilt you love. A must reading for any quilter!

What a simply wonderful book! I ordered this book for some help in selecting colors for quilts, and it certainly does the job. It's just a beautiful book, and loaded with tips on using color, plus lovely quilts as illustrations. Very inspirational, but also quite practical. It's going to be an immense help; I can't wait to start using it.

I purchased this book as an intro to color to help me with my newfound quilting hobby. I have only scratched the surface, and already love this book. While I have good color sense, this book is teaching me WHY colors work well together, along with no fail color combos. Uses the Ives color wheel with pink as a primary, not red, which is preffered in media such as tv and photography. Organized first with inspiration from Mother Nature and the seasons, then broken down into individual colors which I haven't gotten to yet! So much to absorb, yet not intimidating at all. She speaks to our innate color sense and encourages one to be unafraid to make quilts that the quilter prefers, over any "rules" that may exist. I have a feeling I will be learning something new from this book whenever I pick it up, for years to come.

I have all of Joen Wolfrom's quilt books. This book is the most helpful book I have ever read for color. The way the color wheels and how a color can best match up with other colors in the wheel is so easy to understand and use. I will highly recommend it to all my quilting friends. Thank you Joen for enhancing my quilting life. Donna Martinsen. Petersburg, Alaska

Regardless, I found the book fascinating. It uses the Ives color wheel, rather than the traditional red/blue/yellow wheel. It is clear and concise in its color theory, spending most of the pages in giving examples of color combinations. It also includes a gallery of gorgeous quilts to increase understanding of what the correct color choice can do for a piece of art.

I used this book as the basis for a scrapbooking class, and held thirty women in thrall. A number of them asked me to repeat the SAME talk, while the rest were ready for more information. This convinces me that the book, though great for quilters I imagine, is wonderful for anybody interested in color and, well, colorplay.