A HAPPY PRIDE!!! to all you wonderful humans out there! Tis' June, the month for celebrating all things relating to personal identity. And in celebration, I've designed a handful of pride flag butterflies for some of the most personal to me flags that represent the people I love most in my own life.
I thought I would write this post (with some encouragement from my Twitch community) to highlight the specific colors I used for each of the flags I've worked with so far. I also want to say two things before we get started:
1. It is nearly impossible for me to recreate every identity flag for this post, but I do encourage commenters to ask for specific recommendations for your favorite flag. I am more than happy to help you with the research aspect should you want to purchase beads for your own projects!!! I'm here to help, now and always.
2. Human eyes all see color differently. No two people are exactly alike. That being said, I have no eyesight specific conditions and am able to fairly accurately color pick beads to match a reference. I will indicate where I was a bit off in places, and none of my color choices are meant to be disrespectful. I am merely working from stash, which has a tendency to limit my options. Color accuracy and potential upsets have kept me from making pride pieces in the past, so I've been as careful as possible with these pieces. My first prototypes of less accurate work are not pictured in this post.
I chose butterflies for a couple of reasons: the symbolism of transformation has a huge undercurrent in the LGBT+ community, and I happened to need more butterflies for inventory purposes for my shows. I consider it a happy accident. In addition, each butterfly carries a raindrop shaped crystal prism to represent the rainbow, regardless of flag color. We are all included and carry each other in our lives.
My Delica choices for the standard and most popular version of the Pride flag are as follows:
Red: DB0791
Orange: DB0722 (Chosen for contrast, although DB2104 would be a better, lighter choice I think. It will, however wash out next to the yellow.)
Yellow: DB0160
Green: DB0656 (Also chosen for contrast, as DB0655, which is more accurate, tends to wash out against pretty much everything.)
Blue: DB0726
Purple: DB0074
My Delica choices for the Pansexual Pride Flag are as follows:
Hot Pink: DB2035
Yellow: DB0160
Bright Blue: DB0659
My Delica choices for the Transgender Pride Flag are as follows:
Bright Blue: DB0659 (Although the blue of this flag is *technically* different than that of the pan flag, this bead color works equally well for both. Nothing else in my stash worked well enough for the pan one.)
Matte Rose Pink: DB0355
White: DB0200
My Delica choices for the Bisexual Pride Flag are as follows:
Pink: DB2037 (Yes, this is different, and darker, than the pink of the pan flag. It's the only one I've had to special order thus far. Pinks are often tricky when it comes to beadwork.)
Purple: DB1379
Blue: DB0726 (I feel like this blue is too royal to do the flag proper justice, but don't own any with enough of a grey slate tint to it, nor have I shopped around just yet. The bi butterfly has been the hardest to get correct.)
So, as you can see, there is actually quite a lot of overlap in the colors for just these four flags. The same is proving true for future flags that I'm looking into. Even though the hex codes vary slightly, you can sometimes manage to use the same color for two different flags. However, it's not that easy. Pinks, purples, and greens will always be the hardest to find a perfect shade for. I went through a buying ALL THE GREENS phase about five years ago, and now I'm going through a buying ALL THE PURPLES phase for the same reason. They're just hard to match or even contrast well in certain situations, and especially for pride flags.
I don't normally recommend colors for my projects, as most of the time aesthetics are left up to each creator, but this is different. Pride is special. YOU are special. And for that, my utmost respect and attention is given in your honor. Please enjoy this mini color theory lesson and happy beading on your own projects, be they big or small!
Much love and support, always,
Tamara