Making your own leaves

Now to the final part of the grand experiment!

We were fortunate enough to get in on the restock of the Green Stuff World leaf punch, and this seemed to be the ideal opportunity to try it out!

I began by making some quick ivy/vines along one edge of the mural wall using the Hangar 18 leaf product which you have seen a number of times already.

I was just about to punch a number of leaves, when I realized that I could make my life a LOT easier by painting the paper first!  Also, by painting it different shades, I could have a very nice selection of colors to choose from.

It's much easier to paint them here than when they are glued to the surface... especially on a fragile vine!

You must be sure that the paper is thin enough.  I learned the hard way that thick paper cannot be cut.  Also, it's not a bad idea to paint the paper on both sides, so that you don't have to turn them all over.

In a matter of minutes, I had a great collection of leaf types and colors.

First I glued them to the floor, mixing the lighter and darker shades together in clumps.

This is the crucial part... getting them onto the vines.  I wanted to get more color variation on these vines, and some size differential as well.  In this instance, it is quite important to paint both sides of the leaf first!

I even glued a few stray leaves to the wall, trying to add as much interest and texture as possible.  If I wanted to spend more time refining this, I could go in and paint veins on these bigger leaves.

One quick preview shot of the completed wall, mural and vine!  Now to finish off the two miniatures...

Stay tuned!