I am often asked how to go about choosing colours for your handfasting cord. What I encourage is to first work out what your values are, the particular set of principals or people or places that you most wish to embody in your marriage or symbolically represent on the day and then go from that. It could be the heritage of the bride and groom, so flags or family crest colours could be best. It could be that you wish to represent children, or other members of your family - so birthstones or birthmonth flowers would work well, or ask each person their favourite colour. Sometimes it's the sports team the bride and groom each support, or their county of birth is a favourite of Irish people. Values are good too - the values around which the marriage is to be built is a wonderful way to add meaning to your handfasting cord. Once you have identified what's most important and what you really want to represent and honour, then find the colours that represent that. Wedding colours, or bridal flowers are a popular choice also, or if your family hails from Scotland, a traditional family tartan design can be the basis of a lovely cord.
Once you choose a theme, I will work with you by making an album of the yarn shades that I have that best match. Check out my Colour Inspo Pinterest Board to look in more detail at the ideas in the picture above.
How many colours to choose?
The traditional number of colours in a crios is six, not including the white base (actually it's not quite white but "bainin" which is the creamy undyed sheeps wool.) I have made handfasting cords with anything from a single colour to 9 colours, and I often use another base colour other than white - it sets the tone of the cord.
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