doone, I used portland and sand, put face down on a pile of sand and added leaves and crete. Turned over next day and peeled leaves off, and trimmed up a bit. If you right click on the pic you can see it better. The bottom pic should be 1st.
bonnie

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Thanks, Bonnie - I never realized a great-looking greenlady could be done this way. Those leaves are wonderful but I don't think I recognize them. What are they?
Laura

Those are rice paper plants, at first I thought they were gunnera,cuz they grow so large and very invasive. I have sent a bunch of them to different people here on the GW.
My friend just bought me a gunnera, I can't wait to see if it will grow as good as the other.
bonnie

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Thanks for the information. I have never before seen one so I am guessing they won't grow in southern Indiana. I am going to go look into it though!
Laura

I used the exact same techniqe, and created a garden girl.I imagine you could create a whole garden family, mom, pop, baby.
Mine ended up reminding me of a flower child from the 70's lol.
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Cindy

great photo! Does anyone have suggestions for how to do the faces? The masks I have seen seem kind of "bland". How did you all get your unique looks?
Laura

Hi all
How to get a little more character into the face molds? The face mold is a great start. Unmold it very carefully, while it is still quite green, say 6hrs, this will depend on your temp and humidity. (pancake the mold to turn over so there is no banging it onto a hard surface). To practice I would make a couple of the masks up, and turn over at the same time. Since the molds are quite small it should harden up pretty quickly, but still be able to add some scrapes and even a couple embellishments with bonding agent and a slurry mix.
Otherwise you can use a mix to make your own unique face free form, cast in sand or over a sand mold, about the size of the mold, let it harden and continue with the above technique. For me, I often work with a picture to help me with features, and am always learning along the way.
Happy casting,
Dena

Thank you for the info! Could you or do you do this in layers to get a more individualize leaf look? I saw pics yesterday from some other posts. It looked like they might have done it in layers rather than all at once. I suppose that could be tricky to do. I think I'll try some experiments before I try using the real greenman face plaque.

Thanks again!

Doone,
Here is a Face of Autumn that I did a couple years ago. This was one of the face masks, then added to it. The face had been in a sand cast bowl. Using already cast leaves I put a coiled glob (no better word) of new concrete mix and positioned my leaves, positioning them to stand or lay down with crupled newspaper and bits of foam, like stryo peanuts, until every thing was set up.
Not sure if that is what you meant by 'layers'
Dena

Here is a link that might be useful: Behind the Fence Face of Autumn

Re: Gunnera and Rice Paper Plant.
Gunnera's (Gunnera sp.) native range is in South America. They are a high humidity, cooler temperature, filtered sunlight plant. Think of them as an understory species.They are heavy feeders and require ample, consistent water, good drainage and shelter from wind to do their best. They grow very well in the Pacific Northwest but are "iffy" just about anywhere else in the U.S. Plant them where they can stay as cool as possible in the summer and out of direct sun. They make fantatstic leaf castings!

Rice Paper Plant(Tetrapanax papyriferus/Aralia papyriferia)
is native to China. They prefer afternoon shade, need regular water and good drainage. It can be invasive, digging around roots to remove plants stimulates it to sucker even more. It is an old favorite and will grow just about anywhere in the U.S. It is damaged by wind, lack of moisture both at the roots and in the air, is tender and has a tendency to thicket. It is a beautiful accent plant and also is great for leaf casting!
If your summer's are too hot for Gunnera, you might try Rice Paper Plant.

Bonnie - what do you mean by "trimming up a bit?" Do you use something (like a piece of concrete) to sand the edges??

Dena - What I meant by layers is that some of the greenpeople I've seen here look like the leaves have been cast separately and then attached. Meaning that the whole thing wasn't cast at the same time...the leaves look individualized...not meshed together. Does this make sense...I can't seem to describe what I mean....

Thanks nmgirl. I might try some caster bean leaves this fall.

Yes, I use crete or steak knife to trim the excess crete off the edges of the leaf ( very carefully ) . And on my 1st one, I tried adding leaves, and I really don't like the turn out as much as the other way. I used fairly wet crete to add on leaves around the head. I was going to put something around the face to hide the crete, but I am a bit of a procrastinator, and I haven't did that yet :-)
bonnie

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Doone,
What you have described about the leaves is exactly how I did face of autumn. The leaves were cast separately, the mask was cast with the bowl, then as bonnie shows in her pic above they were attached. Perhaps it does not show in face of autumn as much because there are quite a few leaves.
Dena

OK. So, what kind of leaves are the smaller leaves that you used for the face of autumn? And, you used a coil of cement to attach the individual leaves, right?

So, I'm assuming that it is safe to say that it won't fall apart too easily using this method?

Sorry about all the questions...I just am one of those types that has to know everything before I start.

Thanks so much!!

Doone,
Off to the right of many of the pictures in a webshots album will be a description of what is pictured.
I used Lady's mantle and Japanese anemone (September flower I think is a more common name).
I will have to go and find face of autumn but it has remained outdoors here in the northwest and I do not think it has fallen apart.
Once the face bowl was the way I liked it, I arranged the leaves on the outside of the face as a dry run. Then used rolled newspaper and foam pieces to prop them so they could fit. I mixed up a batch of cement sand with bonding agent. Painted both the bowl and leaf with bonding agent, where the new mix would be placed to secure the leaf into place, and pattied a little coil around the face to smoosh the leaf into. I used a cheap brush dipped in water and bonding agent to further clean up the 'grouted'/cemented area. Spritzed the whole thing with water covered with plastic and let it sit at least a day. uncovered and just let it sit out. This one is too heavy to hang on a wall, and is meant to be propped against something or sitting on the ground.
Look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Experimentation is one of the greatest teachers.
Dena

Wow Dena! What a wonderful backyard...you have such a green thumb and artistic talent! I hope my backyard looks like yours someday!

wow....