Strawberrygirl
I make my leaves with 1:1 portland cement/construction sand - have made about 50 of them - wild rhubarb, catalpa, hosta, swiss chard(sp) the only one I don't have a problem with is the swiss chard(sp)- it comes right off - the rest I wait a couple of days - spray leaves daily & remove with a wire brush. The leaf comes off no problem & the wire brush doesn't scratch the cement (I use a fine srewdriver to get the dead veins out)

Hope this helps
Gardenrose

I just did some small leaf casting, and several leaves would not come off. I dropped the whole thing in a bucket of water and left for several day, then let dry in the sun, and the leaves flaked right off.

Easiest way I have found to remove stubborn leaves is let them sit in the hot sun for several days. The leave pieces will either come right off by themselves or are easily removed by a sharp stream of water out of the hose nozzle.

strawberrygirl- did I understand that you used no sand or rock or shell or gravel or anything with the cement? Did you use Portland?, mortar mix, vinyl patch, or qwik cret? If you used portland, mortar mix, or vinyl patch, you really do need to use some sand. For one thing, it makes your cement go farther. For another, it makes the cement strong. You can use it equal parts, or 2 sand:1 cement, or 1 1/2 sand: 1 cement. Don't use quick crete, don't use pebbles or rocks or shell. This needs to be really smoooooth. You can get masonery sand, or you can sift the all purpose sand. Try it, I think you will like it a lot better.

Janie

Hey strawberry I think I used the same instructions as you. I did straight cement as well. I spent a few nights lightly spraying the leaves and hand picking them off the form. I even picked up some slugs and snails to put on to eat the leaf off :>)
Then as I was spraying them down with the hose as it was hot out, I noticed a piece of leaf fly off. Then I used a heavy stream of water from the hose, is much quicker and the cement stays put.

Put the leaf face down on a pile of sand, then cover with thin plastic film, then cover with cement mix.

Hi neighbor,
I use a 4 part sand to 1 part portland cement mix for large leaf castings. If you are doing a course textured leaf it is a stinker removing the dried leaf residue. What type of leafs are you casting?
Regards,

Hi,
We must be neighbors with about the same Zip.
For casting I use a 4 to 1 sand to concrete mix. If you are casting a leaf with a course texture it is time consuming to remove the leaf fragments.

Sometimes the leaf doesn't come off. I have one from 2 years ago with the leaf still on, and it is still green! I've tried many methods of scrubbing it off. A little bit flaked off recently.

I always use Quick Crete when making my leaves...never has been a problem when it comes to peeling the leaf off (usually the next day)...EXCEPT when I used a mullien leaf --- what a nightmare! My guess would be that it is the type of leaf you are using....I've found that some leaves lend themselves more to having little bubbles...others (like the mullien) tend to stick badly. I really think it just depends on the leaf. I've made so many leaves and all in the same way (dock leaves are particularly beautiful to use, as are elephant ears, cabbage, collards, etc.)....What leaf where you trying to cast that stuck so bad??