ArtFire

It was Sunday morning. I arrived too early for an Art Show and was walking towards a nearby trail when I saw a perfect yellow-colored Ginkgo leaf on a wooden bridge over a creek. I looked around. Not a Ginkgo tree in sight. Yet, there is was, laying at my feet. The wind must have dropped it there. I picked it and took it along.

I put it into my receipt book and forgot about it. I remembered it late Monday evening and quickly made a mold out of it using polymer clay. It was still fresh and I though I would let it dry a little longer. It spend the next night among the pages of an encyclopedia and by late Tuesday evening it was starting to dry. The veining was becoming more apparent and the leaf was curling in a few sports. I made another mold before it would dry and loose its flexibility.

Sadly, it fell apart once I was finished with the mold, but it left a nice impression to allow me to sculpt it in silver.

And here is it! 30% smaller than the original size and adorned with a dichroic glass cab, its beauty is preserved in silver.

Approximately 1.75" wide and tall, it is suspended off a 16" sterling silver snake chain.

leaf, silver, glass, dichroic