Purple has been a popular colour for thousands of years. It has been associated with creativity, 
spirituality and luxury. It was once the colour exclusively reserved for royalty, but more about that later.

Designers also adore the colour. Here are 5 lovely beadwork jewelry tutorials which feature this hue. First up is the stunning cuff bracelet tutorial, shown above, which also includes real garnet beads. The designer is EzartesaJewelry. I have featured her work before.

DianeFitzgeraldBeads has a wonderfully versatile purple Scottish thistle tutorial. You can attach it to some frame for a brooch or as a decor item.


Purple also goes well with teal green as you can see from this mandala beaded necklace tutorial by Karen Parker of WizardIslandDesigns. 


Purple also goes with orange as you can see from this complex beaded earrings tutorial by BekiHaleyDesigns. I have also featured a number of Beki's designs before.


Last but not least is Gillian of ThePacificThread's purple thistle earrings pattern. 


Why Tyrian Purple is So Expensive

We take pigments and dyes so much for granted. People from the past had to source these from nature - usually plant based ones - to dye their clothes. But 19th century chemists were able to create synthetic dyes and that revolutionized our use of colour in many things from textiles to food colourings..... and yes, even the beads we use today.

Before synthetic dyes came along, there were two pigments which commanded extraordinary prices. One was ultramarine blue which was extracted with great difficulty from lapis lazuli. The best of this gemstone came all the way to Europe from Afghanistan. Cleopatra wore ultramarine pigment like an eyeshadow. Medieval artists depended on wealthy patrons to buy this pigment which cost just as much or more than gold. It was thus reserved to paint the robe of the Virgin Mary.

The other very expensive colour was Tyrian purple which came from the mucus of the murex snail. The ancient process was time-consuming, smelly and expensive because thousands of snails were needed to make a small amount - 45 kg of snails to get 1 gram of the pigment. Only royalty could afford to wear the colour so purple became associated with wealth and power. By the 4th century AD, Roman sumptuary laws decreed that only emperors were allowed to wear clothing of this shade.

Watch this video of how a Tunisian dye maker - one of a handful in the world - figured out how to make natural Tyrian purple.

Before You Go :

jewelry making supplies

Disclosure 

This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation. 
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM