Inscribed Wire Verdigris

Latin īnscrībere, to write upon — past-participle of inscribe. As a color modifier, inscribed implies a clear-and-text-or-pattern-cut quality, the crisp color of Roman-Imperial-period monumental-stone inscription-and-monumental-text incised-relief. Sits at the crisp-and-incised end of the grid, parallel to etched and engraved in usage.

Old English wīr, wire. As a color modifier, wire implies a thin-drawn-metal quality, the visual register of hand-drawn-and-coiled-wire hand-drawn-and-coiled iron-and-copper-and-gold thin-drawn-metal-wire-and-mesh surfaces under hand-drawn-and-coiled-wire workshop-light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to mesh and foil in usage.

The basic copper carbonate that forms on weathered copper and bronze — the pigment scraped from oxidized metal and used in Renaissance painting before being supplanted by more stable greens. The color refers to a thick verdigris on aged copper roofing or the Statue of Liberty's surface: a soft, slightly muted blue-green with the powdery finish of mineral oxide. Cooler than patina, warmer than seafoam, with the archaeological weight of a mineral made by time.