LEAF CASTING INSTUCTIONS

Ingredients

â¡ Portland Cement- 90lb bag (do not buy broken bags)
â¡ Play Sand or any very fine sand
â¡ Concrete bonding agent
⡠Leaf with firm veins  i.e. Hosta
â¡ Heavy duty plastic spoon, and knife
â¡ Container to mix ingredients
â¡ Clear wrap
â¡ Yogurt container
â¡ Water

Mix the portland cement and sand .

Use the yogurt cup to measure 1 - part portland cement , 2 - parts sand. Place the dry ingredients in the mixing container. You may need more or less ingredients depending on the size of the leaf.

Add a small amount bonding agent to about 1 ½ cup of water. Pour the water into the dry mix and slowly mix until get a gooey paste. Do not over agitate.

Let the mix rest about 5 min.

Place a scoop or two of damp sand on your flat surface. Then pick out a nice leaf (no holes) and place it on top of the damp sand mound, veins up. Then shape the sand mound to support the leaf. Remove leaf and cover sand with plastic wrap. Return the leaf back on top of the damp sand (covered with plastic wrap).

Using the plastic spoon, scoop the gooey mix, placing it on the center of the vein side of the leaf. Pat the mix, moving towards the edge. Add more mix to the center (on top of the first flattened scoop) Pat the mix out to the edge of the leaf. Use the plastic knife to keep the mix close to the edge. Try to make your leaves about ½"  ¾" thick.

Cover with plastic wrap and keep moist for about 24 hrs.

Carefully lift the cement leaf, turn over and remove the leaf. Do not work too hard, the leaf may break.

Keep leaf damp for about 1 week.

Paint with craft paints, or any type of stain. Seal with concrete water sealer if you want to keep outside.

Much of this came from instructions I received from Billie or the internet.

I will let someone else respond to the mold question
----Mike

That's called sandcasting, and yes the surface will have sand on it, you can wire brush it when it's set up, and then brush a layer of portland and water over the top to smooth out. However you may like the sandy look.
Mix your mix a little runnier than usual, so it can be poured Like cake batter......Try the technique with something small first
Marcia

One of the things I am doing to my leaves is to shape the edges. Sometimes I just thin them and smooth them, sometimes I try to make them look natural and other times I just give them some character rather then plain flat sides.
There is always a little mortar that gets out past the edge of the leaf.{{gwi:71429}}
I normally wait about 24 hours to do this, the mortar is still green and delicate so you have be gentle. I use a tool called a surform or sometimes just an old knife.
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I carefully start scraping the mortar back until I touch the edge of the leaf with the tool.
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I clean up the leaf and then I do what ever I am going to do with the edges. On the this one I simply cut the leaf back a little where there was a fold and ruffed up the edges, rounded off the sharp angles.
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I then put them back in the plastic and keep them damp to prolong the drying time.
Just something a little different then normal flat edges.

Good Luck and Have fun.

Wow! I appreciate everyone's responses. Thanks. You all make it sound so easy. :)

CLiff

Cliff, It is easy and fun.
Regarding box sand mold, make sure you tamp (pounding the sand packs it tight in the mold) the sand in the mold before pressing in your original, don't use beach sand for the mold or in your mortar mix.
For leaf casting, your cement mix should be runny, kind of like a smoothie drink. Try small leaves first. These can set up in just a few hours. Not every leaf works for casting and leaves with hairy backs are hard to remove. Dental picks, tapestry or sewing needles help to remove any veining from the original leaf that doesn't peel away. Don't try to remove any veining that gets stuck while the leaf is fresh, let it cure or you can have breakage. Work in the shade, in your temps the piece can cure too fast. For very large or pointed leaves you may want to use reinforcement. I use strips of drywall tape. If your making a wallhanging or bowl don't forget to make the back flat so it will hang or sit flat. In the case of the wallhanging add the wire hanger when you first make it. You can add after it's cured but it's stronger if done when originally made. Billie

Bonecarver, Nice edges!
Just curious, is this a bowl or fountain? Billie

Billie,

Just a bowl shaped leaf nothing special on that one. {{gwi:71434}}

I need to put together some rocks and the leaves for a water feature around the pond. It's one of those projects I just never seem to get to.