Drafted Pelt Topaz

Old English draht, draft — past-participle of draft. As a color modifier, drafted implies a clear-and-line-and-measured quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern hand-drafted architectural-and-engineering studio-drawing precision-tool-rendered lines. Sits at the crisp-and-incised end of the grid, parallel to drawn and plotted in usage.

Old French pellete, small-skin. As a color modifier, pelt implies a fur-with-skin-and-hide quality, the visual register of fur-trapper-and-Hudson-Bay-Pelt hand-trapped-and-skinned beaver-and-otter-and-mink hand-trapped-fur-pelt-and-hide surfaces under Hudson-Bay-and-fur-trapper hand-trapped pelt-and-hide trading-post light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to hide and fur in usage.

A fluorine aluminum silicate gem, hardness 8 on the Mohs scale, mined for centuries in Ouro Preto, Brazil. Imperial topaz is the prized variety: a warm, slightly pink-shifted gold-orange with the high refractive index of a quality cut stone. Cooler than amber, brighter than honey, with the gem's signature internal fire when held to light. Named for the island of Topazos in the Red Sea, though that source produced peridot instead.