Thank you to The Amazing Maple Leaf

I never really realized until I had to look through my vast photo album that the amazing Maple leaf has had such a huge creative impact! Yes, this IS Canada. I am super happy to be here and I’m even more happy to be able to share so much of my creative journey with all the rest of the world!

Let us all join together for the love of ‘Art & Nature’, Let’s only share positivity, acknowledge the simple natural beauty that is so silent but so important…

Who would not love having such beauty thrown at their feet?!

The Science Behind the Beauty;

Join me as I look through my collection of how much this simple leaf has added to my design & art.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the maple leaf is its stunning color transformation. In spring and summer, chlorophyll gives the leaves their bright green hue, helping trees absorb sunlight for photosynthesis. But as temperatures drop in autumn, chlorophyll breaks down, revealing brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. The sugars trapped in the leaves contribute to their fiery red hues, while other pigments create golden and bronze shades.

A Tree of Legends and Folklore

Even though the Maple leaf has been associated with the country of Canada, to me, it was just something that was everywhere that I looked. Maple leaves just snuck in quietly into so many of my creative designs. As you know, I’d rather use found natural objects than mass produced craft supplies. Who knew the Maple leaf was such a treasure with so many hidden talents!?

Yes, the maple tree gives us great maple syrup, beautiful hard wood, and colourful autumn days. These special leaves of many species also hold some hidden treasures like dyes and pigments. How magical are these prints that I captured from a silver maple leaf by Eco Printing on paper?!

Many cultures associate the maple tree with balance, promise, and endurance. In some Native American traditions, the tree is considered a provider of sustenance and protection. In Japan, the maple leaf (known as “momiji”) symbolizes the beauty of impermanence and is often celebrated in seasonal festivals.

Leaf Shape & Form:

This leaf is appreciated for more than just the bold colour it turns in the fall, but also the variety of shapes and ability to transfer such great texture. These little dishes & bowls cast easily in concrete from fallen specimens. ‘They do truly deserve to be painted in gold!

Mr. Green Man proudly protects the garden. It is lovely how nature does the hard work work of sculpting for me to make this permanent concrete fixture.

Such a Favourite; Concrete & Leaves

Plain and simple, unassuming but holding silent strength… These concrete plates cast with sand again star the intricate vein details.

We have so many varieties of maples in Canada, 10 are native here. There are over 100 species around the world. I really can not choose a favourite but love the huge sturdy ones to cast concrete trivets from.

Why work flat of you can work 3D?! Casting Maple leaves into lacy forms showcases them even more. The light dances through the openings of the lacy concrete Orb.

Maple leaves; the winner for Eco Printing!

Capturing prints from the tannins and dyes in maple leaves is so magical. The Eco Printing art form can get even more colourful with the addition of natural dyes and special techniques. The leaf can actually change the dye colour! These wonderful prints combined iron mordant and madder root dye.

Silk is quite happy to allow simple Maple Leaf prints with the use of an ‘iron blanket’ The beauty is the leaf can print differently during various times of the year as well!

Take a look at the colours that came from the reactions between the PH of the leaf and the natural Cochineal Dye. The Maple leaf was not yellow to start – astonishing!

If you wonder of these prints are permanent, yes, they are when proper process and fabric are used. I never would have guessed that someday science would be such a part of my creative journey.

Wool is very accepting of prints made with maple leaves. The vein patterns just seem to flow from the needle of the sewing machine to enhance the prints! (Free motion Embroidery)

The Maple Leaf as Shape Inspiration

These very characteristic shapes work great as motifs when working with fibre arts. They are forgiving yet diverse enough to be interesting. Colour is no stranger to this leaf that comes in pretty well every shade!

Free-motion-embroidery is like doodling with a sewing machine, the vein pattern is so intuitive without much preplanning!

Check out how to make these sweet fibre bowls. Often you will have most of what you can use already at home (adapt a few things)

A Different Take on Rope Bowl Sewing

Basic eco print techniques can yield easy motifs on cotton. Rather than commercial fabric these panels work well sewing some centres for Rope Bowls.

Almost anything goes; even Easter Eggs!

If the maple leaf is small enough it can even wonderfully grace these egg shells. The magic reaction from tannin and iron makes them so dramatic, to the likes of Rembrandt art!

Have I sparked your curiosity yet!? I spent many years of my artistic career painting as precisely as I could and then discovered that Mother Nature will actually ‘paint’ for me! Who knew?!

The Palette can get more diverse with some adjustments to the elements. There is no way to ever get the same results with Eco Printing!

What do you think of this colour? Can you believe that this natural pigment comes from chips of wood?! Logwood brings such amazing colour to the use of maple leaf prints on silk.

Maybe you know how wonderful Indigo has been in the history of denim. Well, it makes an even more fascinating how these mysterious prints form after an indigo dip! Eco printing and indigo magic!

Thanks for journey this tour of mine. It’s been a labour of love in every sense. Even the subtle ways these leaves can leave their mark on linen is lovely.

Cheers to you all! Whether you are in Canada or not, I’m sure you appreciate the gifts that can come from what grows around you! Let us truly appreciate that, whether grand or minuscule! ‘Love of nature and art can be a wonderful way to bring us all together, not to mention how art can feed our souls in these stressful times… Hugs…

What creativity feeds your soul?