What I had to remind myself was that these are also a series of experiments, and some are kind of guaranteed to not work the way I expected/hoped/thought they might.
I've been reduced, by rain and torpor, to bushes and shrubs. This is a from the blue willow in the back yard. They are pretty tall, mostly because of the absurd fertility of the soil and the fact that they are hardy to several zones farther north, so this feels tropical and delightful. They are also known as arctic willow and basket willow.
Anyhow – I had this theory that if I stabilized the leaf on freezer paper and then stabilized the fabric over the top that the resulting crayon or paintstick rubbing would have more definition, and less smudgy bits where things slid. That part of the theory worked like the champ. The problem was the simultaneous experiment with using silk organza to carry the paint. This also worked like a champ, until the moment I ironed it onto the circle. Then the patchy background took over, and I lost the paint in the noise.
So I have a couple different things to try next. Which is what all good experiments do: give you avenues for new research.
Lee Thomson 