🌸It's not what you think!

A pink chicken & egg-style mystery!
snippets from the art studio

 
Why this papercutter has declared this month's full moon to hereby be called the “SCISSOR MOON”!

Tonight is the April full moon, poetically called the “Pink Moon”
 
Pink? It's not what you think...
 
The reason they call it the “Pink Moon” has nothing to do with the color of the moon. It's said to have been called this because now's the season “Pinks”  are in bloom.

Pinks are flowers, but not always pink flowers. Wait, what?
 
Pinks is an old-fashioned name for Dianthus, a type of blooming plant which also includes the familiar common names Carnation and Sweet William. 
 
Pinks (the flowers) come in a lot of colors and actually are not named for their color either! 
 
Why are they Pinks, you ask?
Many of these species' petals have finely cut edges which resemble the effect of pinking, which any of you familiar with sewing might recognize.

Look at the edges!
This fabric swatch also has a pinked edge, like the flowers, shown above. Which came first—the pink color name or the pinking edge? The answer is the latter. The word pink comes from the  Latin pungere meaning "to prick, pierce". The color name was chosen because the pretty "pinked" flowers were often that pale red color.

How does all this lead to a pair of scissors?
I did promise this story has something to do with paper-cutting, right? Well, the way you get that zigzag edge is with a pair of pinking shears, like these shown here. While I don't often use this type of scissor in my artwork, I do love all scissors and find this convoluted word etymology to super fun! 

NEW Inspiration!
As one who enjoys a good visual pun, my next paper sculpture will be a moon made from this lovely sheet of pale pink Rock Paper. I plan to add some Pinks (the flower kind) to the foreground. Please follow me on Instagram and Facebook to see how this month's Pink Moon evolves. Or perhaps you'll find it at Painted Finch Gallery in Corry, PA in the near future.
 
Click this link to see more moon lore and watch me make a paper embossment!

Moon Video

Talk to you again when the moon is full—in the meantime keep shining bright!
Wendy

Follow Me