Painting State Ornament Backers

[kmmcrafts]

Do states have a “State Color” ? I’m not aware of one for Michigan and since Michigan has lakes surrounding it I painted this blue for the water sort of. I’ve been doing some other state ornaments and not sure about colors to paint them or just make them all blue like the Michigan one. So far everyone I’ve shown the painted vrs. Walnut backer they all like the painted better so I feel like I should be painting them all. Just not sure about the colors. 
 

What is your thoughts? 

[ChelCass]

No Michigan does not have a state color.  Because the state troopers wear navy blue uniforms and their cars are primarily Blue I would go with Blue.

[MarieC]

Wow! Those are really cool!  If you do Washington state, I would say green for us since we are the Evergreen State!  Can't wait to see it!

[rjweb]

Kevin, they are beautiful, I see the wording around the edges done with a laser I assume,  that's great, were they also cut using your laser, RJ

[Scrappile]

Yep, @MarieC is correct about Washington  being called the evergreen state.. But whomever named it that has never been to the part of Washington I live in.. I live in the everbrown part.   Use to be very arid, very dry, sage brush and cheatgrass, Jack rabbits, lizards and rattlesnakes. The only part sorta green is the color we that have lived here all our lives glow do to the atomic reactors that were built and operated here since  WWII.  But we are changing do to all land is being taken up with vineyard.  Yep, changing our climate for sure.  So there you go, eliminate wine and save the planet!  I'd rather drink wine and enjoy the change.

You can search state colors and not get much of an answer.  Seems odd, every state has a state bird, state flower.  Why not a state color?  

But back to the point, they are all nice, but I like the blue background the best.  It just is prettier to me.  More cheerful and I think you can pick the colors,  most people would not have a clue about state color, state flower or state bird.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Scrappile

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, Scrappile said:

 

You can search state colors and not get much of an answer.  Seems odd, every state has a state bird, state flower.  Why not a state color?  

But back to the point, they are all nice, but I like the blue background the best.  It just is prettier to me.  More cheerful and I think you can pick the colors,  most people would not have a clue about state color, state flower or state bird.

Yes, I tried searching for a list of state colors.. I did find some states do have colors but many I guess do not or it's not listed.. I have designs for all states and even some provinces from other countries.. so I'll probably be doing at least all the states..

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, rjweb said:

Kevin, they are beautiful, I see the wording around the edges done with a laser I assume,  that's great, were they also cut using your laser, RJ

Yes they was engraved and cut on the laser... Though I might go through and edit the designs for scrolling.. I just wouldn't be able to do the engraved part.. I could edit the names of the states and would be able to cut that out easy enough.. just the engraving around the edge is a bit small to cut with the scroll saw. 

[jollyred]

You might try using the colors from the state flag, if it's not too complicated.  For instance, most of them use red, white and blue, so that could be a possibility.  Some use a white background, with a seal or symbol, so a white background might be used.

Tom

[Sycamore67]

Wikipedia has a list of state colors.  Not all states have a color.

[ChelCass]

Here is a list of the states that have official Colors

List of U.S. state colors - Wikipedia.pdf

[BadBob]

I like the blue best. Not so much for the color but to my eyes the contrast is better.

[James E. Welch]

Here in Louisiana you could go with black and gold for the saints, purple and gold for the lsu tigers or crawfish boil red ! Lol  

[kmmcrafts]

2 hours ago, BadBob said:

I like the blue best. Not so much for the color but to my eyes the contrast is better.

I agree with you on that.. I'm not sure some of the other colors would give the details of the ornament that pop.. yet be soft on the eyes to look at. I might have to just paint a few backers and see how other colors might look. I'm kind of thinking the blue is going to be the top choice though. 

[BadBob]

7 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

I'm kind of thinking the blue is going to be the top choice though. 

Navy blue is the most popular toy color in my shop.

[crupiea]

I like the painted background. 

How about just a red white and blue.  Just a stripe of each, Would work for every state, 

Edited July 23, 2023 by crupiea

[redwine]

If you do one for New Mexico it will be yellow!

Erv

[kmmcrafts]

So I did something a little different. I engraved lines on the backer so I could do two different colors. Not 100% sure I like it or not. My wife said I need to dry brush some brown into the green area and dry brush the blue like I did on the Michigan one in the photos above post where it’s not plain blue but has streaks of darker blue and white in it. I might give that a try later. 
 

Thoughts on this one?
 

 

[barb.j.enders]

I like the painted Michigan one. I would also agree with your wife about the dry brushing on the Washington one.

[Jim McDonald]

Be hard to find a state color, since all the different college fans would lobby for THEIR school color. 

Imagine here in Indiana where IU, Purdue, Notre Dame and others all wanting their color to represent the state. (Except Notre Dame doesn't know if their color is blue, green or gold.)

And the inevitable blue/green discussion in Michigan.

[kmmcrafts]

I think for the most part, I'm going to just do them all in blue like the Michigan one.