Attaching compound leaves to stems

[Arcy]

Hi all,

I'm trying to make some flowers by compound cutting the flower itself and some leaves, and then attaching them to dowels for stems.

The individual pieces have all come out pretty well, and I can drill a small hole to attach the flower to the stem, but I'm not sure how to connect the leaves.

Idea #1 is to redo the leaves so that they have a flat spot at the base, clamping that to some waste wood, and drilling half a "hole" the size of the dowel parallel to the leaf, so they'll nest together.

Idea #2 is to add a foot at the base of the leaf which can take a full dowel-sized hole. The leaf is already as thick as I want to cut, so this will probably require some redesign.

Any other ideas? What have others done to solve this problem?

Many thanks,
Rob

[earlinjax]

I'm not sure about the look you are after, but, you might try wrapping some sandpaper around your dowel and sanding a groove in the stem of your leaf. Then glue to your dowel. Putting a groove in the leaf would give you more gluing area for better adhesion. Using a rotary tool would probably work as well.

Earl

[greatdane2]

On the antlers I just made I used thin stiff wire and 2 part epoxy. drill the hole a bit bigger than the wire and dip the wire in epoxy and then in the hole and do the same for the other piece. I ended up with a bit of squeeze out which helped with the wood to wood bond.
Not sure if I can expain this one but will try. the stems sometimes hace an extra little bit just below the exttra stem or leaf. If the main stem is 1/4" then drill a hole in a bit larger piece. cut the piece in half so you end up with half the hole. now sand the outside of the half round so it is tapered into the 1/4" dowel and wraps around the leaf stem. I would start with a 1/2" thick piece to drill threw.
I don't know how to draw this out on the computer so this the best I can do, hope it helps.

Alan.

[Arcy]

Thanks Earl! That's essentially the look I was aiming for with idea #1, but I was going to try to drill the groove instead of sanding it. Sanding may be easier.

I just mocked one up with a hole in a platform as in my idea #2, and it looks like it'll work so long as I don't want too many leaves. Since I want the leaves in close to the stem, the platform for a leaf on one side gets in the way of a leaf on another.

I'm off to check out my sanding options.... the good thing about running out of the poplar I did the flowers in is that the leaves are now cedar and should be easier to sand (and they were certainly a LOT easier to cut).

--Rob

[Arcy]

Thanks Alan,

I think I see what you're suggesting. Instead of having two pieces (the stem and the leaf), have three (the stem, the leaf, and a connector).

It's kind of a mix between my two ideas. Drilling the hole in the connector and cutting it in half will solve the problem I was having with the back side of the connector blocking leaves on the opposite side of the stem.


--Rob

[Arcy]

And it's working now. Earl's suggestion of carving a channel with a rotary tool did the trick. I didn't try a separate connector, but even beefed up the leaf kept cracking when I tried drilling through the attached connector.

Now to move on from the models and make the real ones.

--Rob