Wow! You have managed to match the paint color to the real thing. How did you get those colors so right on?

-Babka

Unforuntately, there's no paint color called "Hosta Green".

So, I did a lot of concocting with what I had... to no avail. I then took a leaf with me to the paint store and opened almost every bottle they had and dabbed it on the leaf. I found one that was at least the right "green" but wasn't the right shade... but I thought I could tweak it.

WHen I got home, I started tweaking. Every iteration, I dabbed a bit on the leaf to see where I needed to go. Eventually, I came up with my own "hosta green"... I made a bunch of it and now, it's just a matter of darkening it with a hunter green or lightening it with a yellow pigment.

The ivory colors aren't as bad to replicate. And I haven't tried any of the truer chartrueses since all mine are small so far!

I have a feeling the blues will be more a challenge though. Since I'm unwilling, as of yet, to part with any of my larger blue leaves!

Oh my word!! You're an artist!!! I couldn't tell which was the real one before reading your post!!!

GREAT JOB Melissa!!!!!!! I'm stunned!

That leaf is so real looking!!!
I wish I could do that.
What do you plan to do with them?

HOLLY CRAPOLLA!! That is just so fantastic!! Excellent job!! I am so IMPRESSED!!! I saw that in a magazine a while back and wanted to try that!! AM SO IMPESSED!! GREAT JOB!! and SO ENVEOUS!!! i think that i will finally have to find the time to try that!! OH!! and fabulous painting you did there Mellisa!! when are you going to sell them on EBAY!! LOL (the ebay thing)

Paul

Uh! I feel stupid!! (read your post again) I read thru the post so fast and stared at the picture I didnt remember anything being said about a REAL leaf there!!

OH! and you could fill your yard with these beauties and look at them all winter long!!!!

i guess you missed the post on hosta leaf spray paint ... link below

though i doubt the color would match your project

otherwise ... super work

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

It's absolutely beautiful, Melissa. I've been wanting to try those for a long time but have never got up the ambition to do it. Yours looks wonderful!

Thanks everyone for your kind comments.... I'm really enjoying this new hobby. Fun for later in the year when stems are drooping but the leaf is still ok or is repairable for casting!

Paul...
I do want to fill my gardens with them, but I'll bring them into the garage in winter. At the class, they specifically said that especially the ones that can hold water (like this one), we'd want to not leave out because of the freeze-thaw cycles.

I guess I'd consider marketing them, but since they're rather heavy, shipping would be quite high (At least $15).... unless I did smaller and slightly thinner ones, which I've done....
Doing the big leaves like this not quite as thick makes them awefully fragile.

Since I took that pic, I've done some touchup and kinda cleaned up some of the painting. I'm much more pleased with it now!

Beautiful!!

Hubby and I did something similar a couple weeks ago - made stepping stones from hosta and rhubarb leaves. We plan to make a garden path through our hosta garden with them - but need to make a lot more. I won't be painting mine like yours - yours are so beautiful, but I am a bit artistically challenged.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Those are wonderful. I also didn't see at first that one was a leaf and one was a work of art. My mind is going nuts and I'm picturing flooring my living room in casts of a variety of hosta leaves! McT

What a fantastic job! I also did this only with rhubarb leaves and made a dripping fountain out of 3 leaves. I found the instructions in an old birds and blooms magazine. Their website may have instructions.

dmid: What kind of concrete/cement mix are you using and how thick?

Are you in a climate with harsh winters? I want to make stepping stones, but not if they're just gonna crack all to pieces over the winter!

Wow,Melissa,
Those are really pretty,you have done a FABULOUS JOB,SO REAL LOOKING,can hardley tell which one is real and which one is not.
You could set up at farmers markets and sell them i am sure.
I have made a couple of large troughes for my mini hosta,i found if i added fiberglass to the mix, it was not so heavy,and could stay out in the weather.
I have never tryed a leaf,you did a great job,thanks for showin us your new hobby.
Carol

Beautiful! You really did a great job painting . . . I'm gonna try making those someday . . .

Wow, great job!

Very nice! You did such a good job painting, I couldn't tell that one was a real leaf.
I wish this could be a winter project.
upnort, can we see the fountain, please?

if you want to make money on these, just 1 is probably right!! if you can bare or bear to sell them!! that is really a great peice of artwork!! and many people would want that especially with that detail you took time to finnish the art with!! that was so THE BOMB!!! (yah and that is comming from a 48 year pearson) LOL)

so much like that, actually $15 for shipping for that weight, i dont really see that as a problem! just let people know that it is a heavy object to send thru whatever means you plan to ship it!! my aquarium websites state that when you want to buy gravel or rock from them, it is heavy and it costs more (t0 ship)!! and if someone really wants to buy it they will pay for that!!

folgers means more beans?? wshy am i getting these side popups that i cant close!!! sorry

Paul

Hmmm, I posted to this thread yesterday, I wonder where it went? Oh well, I'll just post again.

Melissa, that leaf is wonderful, that made me do a double take. I didn't realize at first that the one on the left was your rendition!! Great work!!!

Are you going to seal it with something? And can you share the recipe for the concrete mix? I'd love to try it with a catalpa leaf.

i HAVE to AGREE.....AWESOME job....

jill

Great job Melissa! I have ten FW's,and none of the leaves are that big! I also thought the one on the left was the real one,as I have some FW leaves that have that exact same coloring. Good match of color,but I don't have near your patience to keep trying to get the right color! Phil

PlayInMud:

Yes, I'll seal it with concrete sealer.
And the recipe: Quikrete brand Vinyl Concrete Patch. from Home Depot

So, a question for y'all....

IF I were to consider selling these things... not sure I could part with them, but I'll worry about that later....

What price do you think would be appropriate? Bear in mind that shipping on the big ones would be about $15, or more, less for the smaller ones.

Of course, this is NOT intended as advertising, it's me seeing if there really is a "need" out there for this?

Do you think ebay is sufficient or do you think a storefront site?

I hadn't thought of trying to market them, but I dunno.

melissa,
Do you have a farmers market close by,or even in the next town?
I see things like this all the time at markets,go check out prices,or,you could check e bay,see if any one is selling any thing like what you are making,see what they are asking.
Do you have a favoret nursery you shop at,maybe they would be willing to show case a couple for you,with a % to them.
You really do beautiful work,i am sure some one out there will be able to show them off, :0)
Carol

These are great, Melissa - how fun!!!

Beautiful work! I know I have seen postings at other links here on gardenweb with similar projects. Check out the hypertufa, garden junk, garden accoutrements and so on to get more ideas on pricing and selling options.
I also had a hard time figuring out if your picture showed just the cement leaves or the real thing. Incredibly lifelike.

Melissa,

Over the summer, I had seen a mail-order hosta site that supported local artisans that sold pavers similar to yours. I tried to find it, but either I didn't bookmark it, or they don't have anymore left. I can say they were selling for approx. $35-40.
Perhaps you can see if there is a local place that sells your arts/crafts for you, either by commission or by renting a booth or table.
BTW... I thought they were both actual leaves. Very impressive!

Thanks Smorz...

That was HostasDirect.com. I have been there (they're about 15 miles away).... The ones he was selling were a little different and the casting went beyond the edge of the leaf. THe way I do it is more difficult and leads to a more lifelike work.

I suppose I should get in touch with a couple of local hosta sellers and see if they'd be up for a collaboaration! We do have a Farmer's Market, but as a stay at home mom of a toddler, it's not realistic to expect I could actually man a booth or anything. Thanks for that suggestion though.

Milissa, depending on the thickness of the concrete, I think they could make lovely stepping stones in a garden.
Your painting art work is great.

Paul

Hey Melissa, Beautiful work. I've thought about trying them, but I'm artistically challenged when it comes to the painting part. I saw something similar somewhere selling for I think about $30.00 and up. Hm, it might have been at the arboretum gift shop.Good luck with selling if you choose to go that route. You could use them to finance your hosta habit. Joyce

Paul,
I want to use them as stepping stones, but they will have to be flatter specimens than what I've used thusfar. I also would not paint ones I'd use as step stones.

I just went out and counted that I'd need somewhere on the order of 40-50 to do my paths... and I just don't have that many leaves that size to do steppers from... ya have to sacrifice a real leaf for each cement leaf... that's the bummmer of this hobby!

Joyce...
I saw some at Linders this weekend, but I don't think they were cement... some sort of clay perhaps. THey started at $9 and went up to $30.... much thinner and I don't know if they'd be conducive to garden art, more like interior stuff.

As for the painting, really, it's not that hard... I don't consider it "artistic". Unless you consider paint-by-numbers artisitic!

Melissa

Hi Milissa,
I haven't noticed the depth of the imprint but I do not think it would be that deep, and for a variety in your stones you could have some with two or three smaller leaves.The stones also do not need to be all the same size. To protect your design after it is painted, fill the indentation with a clear acrylic epoxy......My daughter gave me one a few years ago with a stain glass design embedded in the cement....

Paul in MB

Well for me, paint by number is about as artistic as I get, especially with a paint brush in my hand.

Melissa - sorry, we have been out of town and I have not been on the site to answer your question!

Honestly, I just went to Menards and bought some quickrete and coloring - when I got home my dh asked if I got the right kind, and I told him I didn't really know that there were different kinds!

We live in Wisconsin, so we will see how well they fare over the winter. I may end up with concrete crumbles by springtime huh!

dmid
It's probably NOT the right kind.
Menards doesn't carry the Quikrete product. THey have some other product called Cement Vinyl Patch... can't remember the mfr. It's in a 25 lb bag.

Almost all Quikrete has rocks/larger aggregate in it. The mix you need is basically just sand and cement.

I would return what you've got, go to Home Depot and get Quikrete CONCRETE vinyl patch. It's in a yellow and blue package. 40 lb THat's what I've used and so far so good.

But remember, for those of us here in the north, if you want to keep your leaves outside in the winter, they should probably be turned over, so water cannot collect in them. The freeze-thaw cycle we have is known to crack flat stones! Also, they should be a minimum of 2-2 1/2 inches thick!

For what I'm making right now, which I'd call garden decor, I plan on bringing those inside for the winter.... they're far too thin for outdoors.

Hi Melissa, thanks for the information. I may give it a try next season just for fun.

I saw rhubarb and some other types of huge leaves (they averaged 3 feet in diameter), made like your hosta leaf, at an upscale garden center. They were beautiful and ranged from $100 to $175 depending on the size. I live in the metropolitan NYC area, so maybe that's why they're more expensive? Anyway, I went back there last weekend, and there was not one leaf was left.

PIM

Melissa, I will check when I get home. I am almost positive that it was labeled quickrete, and possibly "masonry grade" or something like that?? I guess that if they don't make the winter, I will just do more in the spring, no great loss.

Following instructions we found somewhere, we put about 1 - 1 1/2 inches over the leaf, then some chicken wire for strength, then another 1 1/2 inches of concrete.

We will see how they hold up!! I will report in the spring. And I guess I won't do any more this fall.

I like the idea of the chicken wire. I may have to give that a try!

If you want to skip the chicken wire,because it makes your finished product heavyer, you can use a hand full of fiber glass,i think i bought mine at a cement place.
You should were a face mask when you work with this,the finished product is very nice

This is what i used--2 parts Portland Cement
--3 parts Peat mose
--3 parts Perlite
--and a hand full of Fiber Agent
moisten with water add 1 or 2 cups Accrlic to a batch.

Hope this will make your project a little lighter, you do beautiful work.I believe you can leave them out side in zone 5 with the fiber agent added also.

Carol