My polymer and air dry leaves

I didn't make the insects here. Just the leaves. I started with real leaves and made a mold.  My original plan is to make boraches and magnets, but part of me is thinking of attempting a base or kind of a habitat like thing. When the summer arrives I also plan to cast flowers and more leaves. I had some I used over the winter, but those molds broke. It's hard to impossible demold clay from the pollen spikes of something like a purple coneflower.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

And longer leaves, cast from a Streptocarpus:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Wow, they look great!      

Great!!

They look so real, congrats.    

Those are amazing! I thought they were real at first, until I ready you made them!

They're beautiful! Love the paintwork too, looks real. Really great idea.

I confess that during recent times my interest in insect figures is growing. Unfortunately I cannot expand my collection too much but I have no doubts this is one of the very interesting subjects of this hobby. There's no many collectors of insects figures and it is great to see the work you performed to complement your insect figures and to display them in a more realistic look!

Thanks. The 'paint' consists of mostly crumbled chalk pastel and watercolor paints. There's also a bit of mica powder to give them a little iridescence. My favorite clay so far is Modena, which I have to order online to get. But I love how thin I can get it and how it dries almost as flexible as the pvc material. And it is translucent. Used in its original form, I can make variegated leaves or I can mix paint to make it green for a base. I spray a matte finish over them to seal the paint/powder.

wow! These are fantastic! The pintwork is perfect  

STUNNING   

What a fantastic idea ! And you do a fantastic job   

I agree with Roger that models insects are great collector's items, but usually it is hard to make an environment for them, - your leaves are just perfect   

@ButterflyChaser wrote:

Thanks. The 'paint' consists of mostly crumbled chalk pastel and watercolor paints. There's also a bit of mica powder to give them a little iridescence. My favorite clay so far is Modena, which I have to order online to get. But I love how thin I can get it and how it dries almost as flexible as the pvc material. And it is translucent. Used in its original form, I can make variegated leaves or I can mix paint to make it green for a base. I spray a matte finish over them to seal the paint/powder.

Sounds ideal and the way you apply it is clever, the results are fantastic!

This is absolutely amazing, they look so real.

I love them!

They look so real, congrats.

These leaves are extraordinary and have the ability bring a new level of realism to any display. So well done

Wow, they are amazing - they look so real! :)