Greetings all,

Complimentary thread colors, how do you pick them? Lately I've been saving empty cans of Monster Energy Rehab drink as I really like some of the color combinations they come in. This helps me get a general idea of which colors might be good to use on my next rod, since the Monster colors are already paired and not separate as on my color chart. I'm pretty lousy when it comes to visualizing color combos so just thought I'd share something that seems to help.

-chad

Go to a golf pro shop and look at the golf bags. Some of the most striking color combos you'll ever see are on golf bags.

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Color is a very subjective topic. What appeals to one person may totally turn off another. The best thing is to let your customer choose his/her colors, make a couple of test wraps for them to see, and let them decide. You can kind of guide them towards what would look best, but don't count on it. Some people have outlandish taste in color.

When i read this post I was looking at TV And noticed some camercials and the colors of the letering A lot are real nice and look good together

may sound doumb but look at the trees The car colors
When shopping look at the letering on packages and there colors
A lot of things will give you ideas

Bill - willierods.com

Advertising, those people get paid pretty good money for putting striking, eye catching color combos together. Either that or look at nature, some of the most awe inspiring color combos can be found in nature.

Do some trout fishing in the spring
Plants know the colors to attrect the bugs so they can have ( more plants ) LOL
Ya know what I mean
But the colors shour are pretty !!!!

Bill - willierods.com

Below is the URL of a "Color Scheme Design" web site. Lots of techniques of combining colors. Endless options! Works for me.

[www.colorschemedesigner.com]

A couple of thoughts. First, Billy Vivona sells packs of thread that are color matched, you might want to access the NERBS website and look at those. Second, colors overall are well defined numerically. Google the word Pantone and search from there. For instance, if you want to build a rod with the colors of a particular university (I'll use Rice because I've just built a Rice U rod) you google "Rice colors" and it takes you to their website and gives you the Pantone numeric designation for their exact colors. Then go to thread brand you like to use and look at their available colors. They should have a Pantone designation for each color of their threads. Find the closest match to what you're looking for and get that thread. It might not be the exact match, but it will be very very close and no one will be able to tell any slight difference on the finished rod.

So Rice colors are as follows; Blue P294, Gray P425. So in this case I used a Gudebrod Blue Nylon 246 (which I had in the box) and a Prowrap Grey 831 (Pantome 425). The match was perfect. See the picture in the link below. The Rice rod is on the right.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas

Hello,

Thanks everyone for your fantastic info and input. I also appreciate the websites shared by Phil and Steve. Spent a good half hour clicking on color schemes and browsing the NERBS color packs, now that's what I'm talking about! Enjoy the weekend.

-chad

Besides using the color scheme website you can also purchase color wheel that will help visualize colors that go well with each other. Most craft stores will have them or purchase on the web.

Chester

May your line be tight and your beverages be cold!

next time you go with The Wife food shopping Take a look at the packages on the shelf
Companies with there markiting will have the most Pleasing colors so when people look for a product there eyes go to THERE package
Take pictures

Bill - willierods.com

For me, I think the key is not to think about what color combinations you like, but rather, to look for patterns in the color combinations you have already chosen in your life, especially those you chose without specifically thinking about color. Think about colors around your home, especially those colors that evoke some kind of emotion, however subtle (even a sense of comfort or calming); the color of your cars, a favorite knick knack, and probably most telling, the contents of your closet (especially high-end designer clothing).

When I set up a meeting with a new customer, I have them bring along 2-3 of their favorite shirts (or ties) if they don't seem to have a specific color plan they are looking for. In most cases, I find that they tend to be similar in some way(s) whether it be colors or patterns. From these I take some cues to help me understand what they like. For instance, one guy brought three flannel shirts, his favorite being a Royal Stewart pattern. The other two were very similar. It's obvious he liked red but didn't suggest that as a color he thought he would like. He was a natural for a Royal Stewart tartan butt wrap and guide wraps of red with yellow and blue accents.

Another recent example was a woman wanting a pair of rods built as a retirement gift for her father. This man retired from the commercial banking industry and had a strong preference for white/blue narrow pinstripe shirts. I looked over my patterns and suggested I could do a fish pattern with striping on the back of the fish in a white/pearl and blue and for the second rod, a closed pattern where the background fill had the same kind of striping and the blues shaded from light to dark.

When I go to a big city like NYC or Boston, I always tag along on the shopping with the spouse and take the opportunity to spend some time in some of the finer men's clothing stores and custom tailors. When I see some striking fabrics, I snap a close up picture with a camera. My last such shopping day I snapped about 15 photos of fabrics from Thomas Pink of London. I then take them home, and blow the image of the fabric up on a large screen monitor and deconstruct the weave to learn the individual thread proportions. From this I can usually find similar colors and scale the pattern down for rodbuilding applications. Guide wraps are a natural for this.

My last tip involves using a paint store color sample scanner to match thread to other threads. I scan every new spool and pick out all the suggested color matches and then use those the color samples to match other threads I have in my inventory. For every thread I have (about 70 or so now), I have an envelope that contains paint samples of all the suggested matches and combinations. When I add a new color of thread, I look through my color cards from previous scans for any new matches and write the thread brand and color # on those cards. In this way, when I pull a card, I know all the matches I have in my thread inventory.