It’s been like, my thing, to conjur cute, memorable nature-inspired names for my Etsy listings. But I am better at tie-dying than the naming of things. Most of my colorful listings are named after fruits (or fruited desserts), or herbs, or seasons and weather phenomemna.

Yeah, okay. I spend a lot of time coming up with not so clever results. Like a chump. Because it turns out, some old European dudes did all the hard work for me a couple hundred years ago.

Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours is a 19th Century work that lists colors with poetic names and where you can find said hue in nature. Take Brownish Orange, which can be found in The Eyes of the Largest Flesh Fly. Or Blueish Green, like the Egg of  Thrush.

(Check out the post linked below for pics and color swatches and old-timey penmanship.)

Handwritten 19th-Century Color Guide Poetically Describes Where Shades Are Found in Nature

 

This. is. so. my. jam. You better believe I added this book to my Amazon wishlist.

And I’m going to rename my orange shibori tea towels Dyed as the Eye of the Largest Flesh Fly!

 

Or I might just stick with “Pumpkin” for that one. You know, we’ll see how it goes.

 

 

Until next time…

Stay crafty, my friends.