Natural leaf carving is actual manual cutting and removal of a leaf's surface to produce an art work on a leaf. The process of carving is performed by artists using tools to carefully remove the surface without cutting or removing the veins. The veins add detail into the subject matter of the carving.
The first step is to select the mature leaves in the Autumn. No Insect attack and no break. And the size and the shape have to be good. Then, the leaves are kept in the dry and shady place for at least 10 months.
Before the carving work, the leaves have been boiled in high tempreture water for more than 5 hours to make sure the bacterias and small worms died. Also the boiling can make the leavs not fragile. When the surface of the leaf is removed, the carving part seems crystal and the leaf veins are very clear to see.
After the carving work is finished, the leaves need to be drying carfully. This step is very difficult to control. 60% of the leaves will be broken in this process.
After the leaf carving artwork is dried, the leave need to be waxed to make sure the leaves can be kept very very long time. Actually the leaves looks have been kept for decades.
