Hemmed Sanded Teal

Old English hem, border — past-participle of hem. As a color modifier, hemmed implies a clear-and-finished-and-bordered quality where the hue carries the visual register of carefully-hemmed-and-finished textile-edge. Sits at the crisp-and-finished end of the grid, parallel to trim and finished in usage.

Old English sandian, to-sand. As a color modifier, sanded implies a hand-sanded-and-smoothed-wood quality, the visual register of Shaker-and-Mid-Century-Modern-sanded hand-sanded-and-smoothed-and-finished wood-and-stone-and-metal Shaker-and-Mid-Century-Modern hand-sanded-and-smoothed surfaces under Shaker-and-Mid-Century-Modern hand-sanded-and-smoothed workshop-light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to honed and buffed in usage.

Anas crecca, the small dabbling duck whose male in breeding plumage sports a chestnut head crossed by a glossy green-blue stripe. The color refers to that stripe — the iridescent panel just behind the eye: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical depth of structural color rather than pigment. Cooler than cypress, warmer than cerulean, with the ornithological specificity of a color named for one feather of one bird.