The lines of the Japanese poet Siko are beautiful, singing a small natural miracle: "... You will reach the highest beauty and fall, a maple leaf!" Probably, it is with such a mood of contemplation and philosophical calm that it is worth starting to engage in the mistaken, ancient Japanese art of floristry, in which paintings are made from natural material. In our opinion, this is called "engage in floristry."
A bit about samurai and kindergarten past
By the way, every self-respecting samurai had to deal with mistakes every day. It would seem that adult uncles, courageous warriors, and suddenly such a kindergarten lesson, because many people encounter the phrase “material natural” come up with pictures of a childhood full of semolina in kindergarten and activities with a beloved teacher. Remember the crafts of leaves - flowers and acorns - cones - chestnuts and other natural charms that, after creation, were proudly presented to mother? Probably, nevertheless, in needlework, where natural, warm and perfect material is used, because the creator is not someone, but Nature herself, it makes sense. Otherwise, the harsh samurai would not have been doing this, waking up, saying to themselves: “today I will die” in order to appreciate the new day.
What is the use of working with natural material?
Let's try to figure it out.
- Each of us at least once in his life, even at a cute childhood, collected a bouquet of leaves smelling of the autumn sun and the wind, because it is beautiful.
- Almost everyone brought home full pockets of chestnuts, cones, and were inspired to create a “chelovekurechika” with a head from an acorn in a corrugated hat, glued onto the cardboard applications in the form of flowers and fish from leaves. Because it is interesting and there is a feeling of co-creation with Mother Nature herself.
- Many of the houses had a box where there were natural materials - the autumn gifts of parks and forests, where it all gathered during walks. This is great because it is fresh air + communication with nature + development of imagination.
- And if mom and dad were connected to making little men, turtles, brownies from cones - it’s generally wonderful, because there was a feeling of unity with loved ones.
So, no matter which side you look at - one sheer benefit is all these crafts and paintings from natural material.
Rules for the preparation and storage of branches, cones of acorns and chestnuts
There were in the process of creating children's masterpieces and sad moments, for example, applications from the leaves quickly deteriorated: the pattern dried out, warped, deformed, the leaves became brittle. And it was insulting: natural material in kindergarten, as a rule, did not deteriorate so quickly. Why? Everything is very simple: you need to follow some rules for the collection and storage of raw materials for floristic works, which we will talk about right now.
1. Natural material can only be collected in ecologically unpolluted places: where there are no chemical plants or landfills.
2. If you want to get raw materials for crafts of optimum quality, it is better to go out in dry weather in search of all sorts of interesting leaves, twigs and other natural riches.
3. Branches for crafts are better to take dried; living, losing moisture, will gradually deform.
4. Cones should be taken unopened, but remember that in a too warm room they can still open (this property of cones can be used for joint natural science experience with children: it’s surprisingly interesting that a cone that has fallen from the tree gradually changes shape, opens the scales, and the seeds become visible).
5. Acorns and chestnuts - unpretentious natural material. It’s easy to collect, and so is storage. The only recommendation: boxes with them should not be stored close to central heating batteries. It is more difficult to work with overdried material.
Collection, drying and storage of leaves and flowers
If you are planning to go looking for beautiful leaves, bring a solid folder with you. Stacking found leaflets in it, you will avoid their deformation.
There are many drying methods, consider the simplest of them. Sort the material brought in, carefully place between sheets of paper and iron with a warm iron. After placing the leaves under the load. Ideal for drying leaves, flowers and blades of grass to put them between sheets of a weighty academic volume in massive binding.
After drying, store in a folder. Remember that when exposed to light, dried leaves and flowers lose their brightness. If the material is natural dried up and has become too fragile, then spray it with water from the spray gun a few hours before use.
Equipment for working with natural material
To create a picture of a natural material in the application technique you will need: a dense base (cardboard), PVA glue (it becomes transparent when it dries, so even if it protrudes beyond the edges of the parts, the work will look neat), scissors.
For volume modeling from natural materials, you may need an awl (working with it only in the presence of adults) for piercing, wooden toothpicks for joining parts, PVA glue, plasticine.
Conclusion
Still, why were samurai keen on such a frivolous thing as creating compositions using natural, accessible, and simple material: leaves, flowers, blades of grass? Because this activity allows you to feel the harmony of nature. If your child can learn to see the beauty of an ordinary leaf, clumsy, at first glance, twigs, he will probably be able to appreciate the beauty of the greatest creations of art, feel the beauty of life when he becomes an adult and conscious person.