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Those Crazy Leaf Carvings; What, How & Where To Buy Or Create Custom Ones.




In the past year, several sites (Treehugger, Toxel and Neatorama to name a few) have shown images of the asian art of leaf carving and more recently the Gblog from Gessato via lost at e minor, posted about the leaves again which got me wondering if you could have custom images made (the answer is yes, as you will see later in this post).

The tacky artworks have their kitsch appeal especially when it comes to using them to showcase religious and celebrity imagery.



Whether it's the Virgin Mary, Obama, Marilyn Monroe, Victorian Silhouettes or a tourist leaf selling Amish Country, the carved leaves seem to elicit a certain fascination.















Custom Carved Leaves
You can actually have custom ones made from a photo or purchase previously carved leaves for about $25.00 from several sites (links at the end of this post).




How Do They Do It?
The Sixty Step Process



above: Huang Taisheng, master leaf carver at work

Creating leaf art is a long and complex process. Leaves are put through a 60 step process such as, manually cutting and removing the outer surface of the leaf while leaving the leafs veins intact which add detail into the subject matter of the carving. Pressing, curing and dying are also just a few of the steps needed to prepare the leaf.



Talented artist using magnifying glass, then skillfully carve their masterpiece by hand. No painting or printing is involved. The most common leaf used in leaf carving is the leaf of a Chinar tree, which is native to India, Pakistan and China. Chinar leaves closely resemblance the leaf of a maple tree:



Where To Buy Them:
Several websites will make custom leaf carvings from your own photo or sell already carved leaves in various Western and Asian themes.

http://www.foliagesart.com/Products.asp

http://www.leafcarvingart.com/

http://www.longal-craft.com/leaf-carving-art.html
http://stores.far-eastgifts.com/-strse-Art-of-Leaf-Carving/Categories.bok


Thanks to the above links for images and information.

Martini Gold by Dolce & Gabbana; The Fellini-esque Film, Ads, Stills & More.





Two Italian flavors, Martini & Rossi and Dolce & Gabbana, collaborated a few months ago to launch MARTINI®Gold, a special edition vermouth with a unique recipe which includes orange, ginger and cubeb pepper, inspired by the fashion duo.

The libation was launched with a Fellini-esque film starring the stunning and sexy Italian actress Monica Bellucci:




Directed by Jonas Ã…kerlund (shown shooting the movie below), the MARTINI® Gold short film is set in Rome, Italy - a beautiful backdrop for the visually lush story.






Inspired by Fellini's La Dolce Vita, it celebrates Italian lifestyle as well as Monica Bellucci's all-Italian beauty, with surprise appearances by designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana:



Stills from the film:
 

The print ads:
 

On the set images:
 


The special bottle and packaging bear the name of both Martini and Dolce & Gabbana


The Russian issue of Vogue even included the actual video within the pages of their December issue, making it their first video advertisement in a print medium:
 
MARTINI Gold Martini Dolce and Gabbana

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