Leaf castings. A pro versus an amateur.

The top three photos show leaf castings made by my friend Susan, one of the founders of Garden Rant. Susan was in a leaf-making frenzy some years ago and made about 150 of them in her quest to perfect her technique. She even had some of them, like this gorgeous green one that now hangs in my entry hallway, professionally painted by an artist.

Her back yard was filled with these leaves when I visited one day and she casually said she was "getting rid" of most of them. They were learning tools, and she wanted them out of her back yard. So, hoarder that I am, I grabbed as many as I could without appearing to be too becrazed. They now sit on my front steps and garner much praise and attention from visitors.

Last year I tried my hand at making a leaf casting. I made two of them. One broke into pieces almost immediately. The other is the one that my kitty Georgette is now having a love affair with. It's the bottom picture -- see the air pockets? See the bad edging? Compare and contrast that one with Susan's more perfect ones -- and those are her rejects! I decided that leaf castings were not my thing, but here are some instructions if you want to give it a try. And here's Susan's entertaining rant about the process. One piece of advice: read and follow the directions on the bag of concrete. I'm too impatient for such things, which is why my leaf looks like crap and Susan's look fabulous.

And here's another blogger who discusses them and shows some beautiful images of castings.

Oh yeah, I just remembered that another blogger buddy, one I've never met, took a leaf-casting class. Here's her report. Everybody's doing it... maybe I WILL try again.