Leaf horn in leaves

Leaf horn in leaves, originally uploaded by escher1.

I studied just how Andy Goldsworthy makes his leaf horns and discovered some tricks. It is a continuous spiral with each leaf pinned to the next, with the thickest leaf spine being joined to the thinnest of the next so each leaf is reversed in orientation to the previous one. We also went lookign for sweet chestnut trees and found a nice one by the Lune whuch had produced some nice supple leaves which has made this horm look a lot neater. I think Andy uses a lot more bits of grass to pin his horns so that they are quite fixed in shape whereas mine concertinered in and out quite a lot so took quite a bit of positioning to get to sit straight. I really wanted to get the tail to sit right over the top but it just wouldn't stay there. So the next one I make I will pin a bit more thoroughly. It defintely pays to try and keep the divisions the same size as it looks neater and I have discovered that a certain type of dried grass is best as it is thinner and hence sharper and penetrates the leaf better. Also the leaves dry out quite quickly and it is better to make the horn the same day as you collect the leaves.

This picture was taken in bright sunshine in horse chestnut leaves which produce a rich colured background. The grass gave better contrast but I struggled to get the horn to look shapely enough. Several lessons learnt but I am very pleased with the result.