Hot Off the Worktable: Trees of the Trail Coasters

Trees of the Trail Coasters

“Trees of the Trail” coasters, terra cotta polymer clay with the imprint of a real leaf that’s from one of the trees growing on the trail—in fact, the sycamore leaf is from the sycamore tree I sketched in “Sycamore Moon” and the maple leaf is from the tree that holds “The Rope Swing“. I roll and cut the 4″ circles, press the leaf into the surface, bake the coaster and let it cool, then wash natural white acrylic paint over the surface, wipe it down, wash it again, and repeat until the leaf impression holds enough white to be distinguished and the surface has a light patina.

This is a brand new design and an experiment with the technique to get what I was visualizing with actual living leaves, and it worked! Another experiment earlier this month did not work, so this makes me very happy, and I have four sets of these coasters for my Panhandle Trail show this weekend!

Sycamore

Oak

Maple

Beech

Don’t forget that it’s not just my exhibit—there’s a two-day festival with local music and lots of food and fun! And the weather looks great!

I will list them after the show and may be making more, depending on their reception and the leaves that are available. They are $10.00 each and a set of four for $30.00.

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