Funny you should post this today. I had to get out and start playing with cement again. I had some leftover vinyl patch from a Fall project and a large plastic elephant ear I picked up for 50 cents at a GS. I plopped the ear upside down on my work table, made a sand dam around it, mixed up the old vinyl patch and I now have a stepping stone curing in my garage. I'll let you know how or if it works out.A friend of mine tried leaf casting on plastic leaves last Fall, some of them worked and some didn't. We never figured out why.

Rhonda, you might want to try casting some real leaves from your grocery store. Cabbage makes a great cast leaf and the produce worker probably trims off some large leaves before displaying the cabbages for sale. Ask them if you can have the leaves they discard- they will be great for playing with til plants leaf out this spring.
Laura

Rhonda,
Plastic or Faux leaves can be very realistic on their own.
They are made often from a nylon fabric and coated wire. The 'mold' you will be making of the fabric/wire leaf is a copy of that leaf, similar in respect to a real leaf in that it is the reverse of what you see when the 'leaf' is facing you.
Laura makes a VERY nice point about leaves in the produce section, cabage, kale, endive, chard, (right now) ask your produce person for the rhubarb leaves they cut off and discarded. Ask at the floral department for cast offs (no pun intended) and look at what leaves are on house plants, they often have very nice veins and make for a great cast. I am eyeing a coworkers peace lily................
PS you may have to add a release of some sort to a nylon/fabric faux leaf
Happy casting,
Dena

I have had good luck using the fabric/wire and plastic fake leaves from Wal-Mart, etc. I have cast separate leaves and also used them to put in background greenery in cement sculpture.

Jean

Thanks very much. I knew I could count on you for help :)

For those of you are waiting for the leaves to grow and want to play with casting in the meantime like myself. I found a really nice quality bush of elephant ears at the Family Dollar store for $3.