Leaf Carving Art

These amazing pictures show incredibly detailed portraits and pictures, all created out of single leaves. It takes an an incredibly complicated process of almost 60 steps to create the miniature masterpieces

Skilled artists spend up to a week working on the incredible creations, which can even be customised to show your own face

Leaf Art originated in China and is a rapidly-growing craze around the world. Dean Prator, 55, President of Leaf Carving Art in California says that people are amazed when they come across the beautiful designs

"I have personally shown these leaves to art galleries and once people actually see and feel the quality of this product, they are simply in awe..."

"...People always ask if the leaf is from a real tree and are stunned at how the images are engraved into the individual leaves. When they find out they are handcarved they are often surprised that someone could be that skilled"

Creating the finished product is an extremely complicated process. It takes about 60 steps from start to finish. But the four most basic steps are drying, curing, shaving and pressing of the leaves

The outer surface of the leaf is then removed with specially hand crafted tools, leaving the vein of the leaf intact, which add detail to the subject matter. The artist then meticulously carves an image on the leaf by hand

The finished product is as soft as silk and the leaves are generally eight to ten inches in size. It takes a few days to carve each leaf. but a personal photo, or a customised design can take up to a week for skilled artists to complete

Top views photography — 38 Images

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Tea cultivation in Corrientes province, Argentina. The fertility of the red soil and the regular rains of the Corrientes region create the ideal conditions for the cultivation of tea. In an effort to protect the soil against erosion, tea is planted along curved terraces and protected from the wind by hedges. Unlike Asian and African countries, where the young sprouts are handpicked, in Argentina mechanical harvesting is the rule, done mainly with high-clearance tractors that are driven along the straight rows of tea bushes. [map] ( Yann Arthus-Bertrand) #

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A whale swims off the Valdes peninsula, Argentina. After summering in the Arctic, whales return to the southern seas each winter to reproduce. From July to November, whales mate and bear their young along the coasts of the Valdes Peninsula in Argentina. Until the 1950s, this migratory marine mammal was extensively hunted for its meat and the oil extracted from its fat, which brought it to the edge of extinction. Protective measures were adopted after international attention was focused on the problem in 1937. In 1982a moratorium was declared on whale hunting for commercial purposes, and in 1994the southern seas became a whale sanctuary. After decades of protection, 7of the 13whale species, of which only a few thousand remain (10to 60times fewer than in the early 20th century), are still endangered. [map] ( Yann Arthus-Bertrand)

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Darul Aman Palace, in Kabul, Afghanistan. First built in the 1920s by King Amanullah Khan, the palace has been destroyed (by fire and warfare) and rebuilt many times. Its re-reconstruction is in the planning and fundraising stage right now. [map] ( Yann Arthus-Bertrand) #

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Algae in the Gulf of Morbihan, France. For more than a century, oyster farms have been the privileged sites for the introduction of exotic species. In the 1920s an epidemic decimated Crassostrea angulata, the most widely exploited oyster species in France. A Japanese species, Crassostrea gigas, was then introduced - and, involuntarily along with it, some thirty species of animals and algae that today live in the waters of the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean. One example is the Sargasso (Sargassum muticum), a brown algae, seen here in the Gulf of Morbihan, where it has become a part of the local flora. [map] ( Yann Arthus-Bertrand) #

Fruit Art !