Yes, those are leaves crafted in the shape of bowls. And, no, they didn’t grow that way naturally. Instead, the decorative bowls are painstakingly fashioned by modern fiber artist Kay Sekimachi, who builds them using the skeletons of decaying maple leaves as a starting point.
Each bowl is made using a collection of skeletons retrieved from dead maple leaves, which she uses as the skeletal frame for the bowls. From there, she weaves Kozo paper around the structure, giving it a leaf-like body to help create the unique effect.
Once the weaving is done, Sekimachi uses watercolor to complete the bowl’s appearance, which is then finished with a layer of transparent Krylon as protective coating. The bowls come in a variety of designs, all of which look like someone fashioned a bunch of fresh leaves into their decorative final forms.
The artist, who’s in her 80s, has specialized in the craft of weaving throughout a 60-year career, working with such unusual materials as the aforementioned leaves, as well as hornet’s nest paper and grass. Her work, along with her late husband’s, is scheduled to be showcased in a show at Washington’s Bellevue Arts Museum, called In The Realm of Nature. It runs from July 3 to October 18.