This is the last one...... Honestly!

This is my last post on the Ginkgo tree.  (At least until 2012 when the leaves come out.)

Lately I haven't parked down under the bridge as the lots have been full so I haven't walked by the Ginkgo tree.  Surprisingly the other day there were tons of parking spaces so once again I passed my favorite tree.  Of course it was bare, but there were plenty of viable leaves laying on the ground.  The leaves were beginning to have black mold spots on them but other than that they were in perfect condition.

Earlier on I made very tiny silver leaf earrings from this tree, but this time of year all the leaves were either big or huge.  So, making a full leaf earring was not an option.  Instead,  I tried to tear the leaves in half but that didn't work well either.  I ended up cutting the leaves up the middle while trying to keep the flow of the textures.

Using  different leaves for the earrings gave each pair it's own unique look.  The pair I made for myself is rather large.  The other pair is much smaller.  (Even though that was not my intent.)  While drilling the second pair a piece broke off.  So, of course I had to break off a piece on the other earring which lead to another piece breaking off and so on and so forth.  (Hence the smaller size.)

I also learned some other facts about the Ginkgo tree.  First off it is from China and is similar to Jurassic Fossils.  Another name for the tree is "Maidenhair Tree" which makes sense.   I had been told that the female tree puts out a rather pungent scent.  According to an article I was reading, it smells like vomit.  There was a town that had many of the trees and for years there hadn't been a problem.  But, the male trees can ( it doesn't happen very often though) change into a female tree.  That's what happened in the town and nobody could stand the smell, so they cut them all down.

The woman beside me at the craft show last week also said she was told that the Ginkgo tree drops it's leaves all at once.  (At least the leaves could be raked all at once.)

Okay, I've had my say.  No more Ginkgo leaves for awhile.  I promise!

"A New Addition"

For some reason I'm fascinated with the ginkgo leaf; ever since I discovered a tree down by the river.

This week I added a new bronze addition to my ginkgo leaf jewelry.  I already had a silver gingko pendant and a copper gingko pendant.  All the leaves came from the same tree.

The silver pendant was made from a leaf when the tree was in full bloom.  The copper pendant was made from a leaf that was finding it's way out from a limb that was cut off and the latest addition was made from a leaf that was lying on the ground this fall.  (Interesting that the last leaf was yellow like the bronze clay.)