Forget-Me-Nots to Scale

"Forget-Me-Nots To Scale"
Size: 5" x 7"
Papercutting on archival paper with vintage map scrapbook paper for background.
 
Scale is the relationship existing between a distance on a map and the corresponding distance on Earth. It is given in terms of a ratio, such as 1:50,000, or illustrated using a graphical bar scale comparing inches or centimeters on a map to the corresponding miles or kilometers of actual ground distance. The ratio 1:63,360 would mean that one inch on a map represents about 563,360 inches of real distance on the ground, or 1 mile. 
 
On large-scale maps, or maps indicated areas of small areas where the scale ratio is small, the concept of scale is straightforward. However, this simple concept becomes complicated by the curvature of the Earth's surface when you move to small-scale maps, or maps that show large areas of the Earth where the scale ratio is quite large. For these small-scale maps, a conceptual model of the Earth's globe is projected to create a nominal scale. In addition to the nominal scale, the scale may vary across a map. Then, a point scale is used at particular points on the map, and is compared to the nominal scale by a scale factor. Because projections of the Earth's shape onto a flat surface is an approximation, small-scale maps need these additional scale factors to account for measurement errors that would occur with only a single scale ratio. 
 
Scale is one of those concepts that in one area are simple and straightforward, but in another context can become quite complicated. However, scale is important for navigating with a map. May this "Forget-Me-Nots To Scale" artwork remind you that context is important for life's concepts. May you learn when to do things simply when over-complication isn't necessary, and may you adapt to complex strategies only when simple no longer works. And, most of all, may this piece, like a scale, remind you to have balance in your life.
 
Created as part of  the Cartography of Flowers Collection.
 
This papercut art piece is hand-cut from one sheet of white archival paper and matted with a printed colored vintage cover page of map, featuring the world "Atlas." The floral bouquet is made up of two poppies and several forget-me-not flowers surrounded by leaves.