Hal-

Welcome to the group. You'll find mentors aplenty on this forum. People here are very generous and helpful with whatever you have in mind. There are many instructions for casting leaves throughout the forum. Check the FAQ for recipes and ideas then start casting.

We would love to see pictures of your finished pieces and if you have any questions, just ask and you'll find many folks who'll give you options to try.

Jo

Hi Hal, welcome. As Jo saya there are many instructions for making leaves - the FAQ section of the garden accoutrements forum has some good instructions that I used when I did my first leaf. It is really not that hard, and is VERY satisfying when you take that first leaf off the cement. If you have access to Hosta leaves, they are one of the easiest to start with. Good luck with yours.

Jilly

Halds --- Also try the "Search" function this forum features. It's a great way to track down info on a specific topic and a great tool. Many thanks go to whoever thought to include it.

You can't get any better mentors than you have found right here. The quality of the work that is produced, documented and published (as in posted on these forums) is as good as it gets. If you feel that you MUST have someone at hand to see you through a project, ask around among your gardening contacts and see if there is someone else who is interested in learning this craft and get together and work. I have a friend who owns a small garden center and a few years ago she and I along with her hubby and a couple of the staff memebers of the garden center got together and cheered one another along as we made a bunch of troughs and pots. It was great fun and even though most of us are seniors and not too able physically we turned out some neat things. We had the directions that appeared in one of Martha Stewart's publications and the raw materials. That source didn't even give a name to the mix of materials and was long before the advent of this forum. And, incidentally, those troughs are still going strong and not a one has failed in any way even though they are all left outside in our PA winters.
Good luck with your leaves and whatever else you decide to
make. You can also probably find a small class at the local garden type stores where you could do some work.

Regards,
spiderwoman