Fallen leaves

Fallen leaves, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

Went for a very wet walk today after dropping off The Wee Guy at school (and cripes! it's nearly time to pick him up again already!). The leaves are really turning on some trees so it's a good time to go pick up some ornamental maple leaves to coat with art clay (ACS) slip.

The marg tub lid is smeared with vaseline (!) to keep the leaves in one place (hint: don't get any on the surface you want to coat with ACS slip) and they are placed face down so the nice veiny side is uppermost.

They were really wet so while I and they dried out I prepared some slip. Slip is "mistakes rehydrated in a jar" plus scraps so I really do upcycle my work.

Once the leaves had dried out they were painted with a few coats of thinnish slip, then left to dry at room temperature. I find that if I put them on the candlewarmer they crinkle up, and with a hairdryer they blow away. Slow is definetly better at this early stage.

Once coated witha few layers of slip I can relax a bit. They're good to go which means that I can slap on some thicker paste whenever I'm passing.

Once about 10 layers or so have been applied and dried then I can fire them.

Patience grasshopper!