GREEN-LEAF DESIGNS
Beech-Leaves
REMARKABLY pretty designs can be made entirely of green leaves; also
with leaves and their seed-pods, their nuts and berries. You can press
a design of leaves alone, but one having seed-pods, berries, or nuts
cannot be pressed. It is fun to make it, even if it cannot be preserved
by pressing, and you will like to do it.
[Illustration: Fig.81 - Two twigs broken off a Beech Tree made this
design.]
Fig. 81 is the drawing of a charming design made of two twigs broken
off a beech-tree. On one twig were two beechnuts in their pretty green,
spiky outer shells; on the other was just one nut. Each twig had three
leaves. Nothing was cut off and nothing was added for this design; the
twigs were used exactly as they came from the tree. The stems were
simply crossed, with the lower leaf of one twig falling over the stem
of the other twig, and that finished it. The easiest thing in the world
to do if you happen to think of it.
Violet-Leaves
There is one thing about the green leaves of the violet which makes it
a joy to use them in a design, and that is, the stems are so pliable,
so easily bent and curved, you can do almost anything with them.
[Illustration: Fig.82 - Design made of Violet leaves.]
See how the stems add to the beauty of the violet-leaf design Fig. 82.
[Illustration: Fig.83 - The stem curves naturally.]
[Illustration: Fig.84 - Under side of the small leaf in the design.]
The curve of the stem of Fig. 83 is a natural one for it to take, and
you can probably find a leaf with its stem curved very much like it,
but it is another thing to come across one of the same size which has a
stem curved in the opposite direction, and such a stem is necessary for
a design like Fig. 82.
Very well! Since the stem does not naturally curve the way we want it,
we will make it do so. All we have to do is to draw it through our
fingers several times and, by pressure, gently persuade it to turn as
we wish.
Fig. 84 is the under-side of the small leaf at the bottom of the design
(Fig. 82), and shows how the stem loop above the leaf was made.
[Illustration: Fig.85 - This is the way the curling Ground-Pine grows.]
First a violet-leaf with stem curved like the one in Fig. 83 was laid
down on a sheet of paper, then another leaf of the same size, with stem
_made_ to curve in the opposite direction, was placed beside but not
touching the first leaf, and with its stem crossing the other stem. The
two stems meeting at the bottom formed a pear-shaped loop. The small
leaf, after its stem had been formed into a loop and the end tucked in
at the back, was fitted on top of the stems of the large leaves, as you
see it in Fig. 82.
[Illustration: Fig.86 - Beautiful, tiny, green Pine-Tree made of a
curling branch of the Ground-Pine.]
Violet-leaves are seldom flat; they are apt to curl at the edges; some
are so curled as to form little cornucopias. Choose the flattest you
can find for a design like Fig. 82, and paste them to the paper with a
touch of paste on the under-part of the tip and of the two lobes at the
bottom of each leaf. Paste the stems down also with a touch of paste
here and there.
The violet-leaf design can be pressed.
Ground-Pine
Deep in the shadowy woods, often where pine-trees are growing, you
will find the ground-pine. Clinging close to the ground, curling in
feathery, green clusters on its vine-like root, it runs for yards over
the surface, while its root, lying along the top, sends down slender
rootlets into the earth. Push away the dry leaves or pine-needles that
usually cover the root, and you can pull up long strips and soon gather
enough to make the prettiest kind of festive decorations.
Festoons of the ground-pine are very pretty on walls, stair-banisters,
porch-railings, over picture-frames, and hanging from chandeliers, and
this ready-made evergreen rope is as suitable for outdoor as for indoor
decoration, as beautiful in summer as in winter.
When you want to "dress-up" in the woods use the ground-pine for
trimmings. Loop it over your skirt and make a wreath for your
hair. Last summer at camp we used the ground-pine in this way and
the little girls, arrayed for a dance, never looked prettier. For
table decorations at camp and for decorating the tent doorways the
ground-pine is charming.
Fig. 85 shows how the short, curled clusters grow on the long root, and
Fig. 86 gives a wee pine-tree made of one cluster picked off the root
and planted in an outdoor doll's garden.
This is what our American writer and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, said of
the ground-pine:
"As I spoke, beneath my feet
The ground-pine curled its pretty wreath."
_PART IV_
CULTIVATED FLOWERS