Have Fun Creating Palm Frond Art
Palm frond art is a fun project to try. It’s especially great if you’re living in a tropical or semi-tropical state or country, where various types of palms grow. If you don’t live in one of these climates, you may have to be satisfied with bringing a souvenir home from vacation.
We live in Florida, so we have plenty of different varieties of palms growing here, and no, I don’t know the names of all the different varieties. I just go out and find something that I think will work and YOU can too!
All palms lose their dead fronds as a natural part of their life cycle and are helped along by pruning for a better look in the landscape. To some, these are just dead palm fronds but to the Artist’s eye they can become all sorts of creatures.
This kind of easy & creative palm frond art is like all “found object” art. All that is required is a good amount of imagination, while allowing your brain to “un-see” the object as it is and “re-see” it in a whole new form. Artists have been creating art from all kinds of found objects like driftwood pieces, tree branches, sea shells, stones & rocks, even rusted & flattened tin cans, almost forever. So palm fronds and seed pods are great sources of material for art projects.
This is the artist’s way of seeing but it is a way of seeing that can be cultivated by anyone. You just have to suspend reality for a little bit and go pick up some object and turn it into something else (from your imagination).
More examples of Palm Frond Art
Elaine’s elephant with palm frond sheath and palm pieces for tusks
My rendition of a Cheetah with added pieces of fibrous matting, whiskers of palm curlicues, and with the unlikely addition of fake eyelashes.
My friend Elaine”s version of a Zebra done only with paint.
Friend Jeannie’s elephant made from a dried frond, ears from palm matting, tusks from other palm material.
Elaine’s tiger from palm frond, fibrous matting, with painted features.
Steps to turn a palm part into a masterpiece
Parts of various palm trees that can be turned into someone’s masterpiece.
The large piece of palm sheath can be cut into Elephant ears or fins for a large fish (sailfish). Cut with heavy-duty scissors or tin snips.
The small triangle at the top can be a raindeer or a Rudolf with a pom pom nose & painted eyes.
The long triangle piece can be an Elephant head & trunk. With the trunk cut off, it can become the head of another animal, like tiger, cheetah or zebra.
The tree form on the left (seed pod from a Christmas palm) can be turned into a Christmas tree complete with lights.
The long skinny palm piece and many others can become all types of fish.
- Cleaning:
- Since these fronds and seed pods have been outside for who knows, how long, they’re usually quite dirty. They will require a good brushing with a stiff wire brush to remove all the loose dirt & debris.
- Then you can wash them off with a little detergent & water, dry them and they will be ready to receive paint.
- Some seed pods (from Christmas Palm) need to be thoroughly dried, upside down and outside until all the seeds drop off. This will retain their tree shape and make very cute Christmas trees. (more on that later).
- Design Process:
- Look at whatever palm fronds or seed pods you can find and look at them with your “Artist’s Eye” to see what they remind you of.
- Decide on your design and get any necessary reference material that you might need
- Actual Production:
- Base coat the main piece if desired. Dry
- Sketch eyes & other markings with chalk pencil or water soluble markers
- Gather parts & pieces for your animal or fish & decide how you will adhere various parts. Many pieces can be adhered with glue (E-6000, hot glue, construction adhesive). Sometimes you might need to use small tacks or staples to adhere heavier pieces to one another. And some pieces may require a support piece on the back (w/ a screw thru all pieces).
- Gather the paints & brushes needed for your creation & jump in!!
All the pieces for your creature laid out the way you plan to adhere them to each other.
All the paints, chalk, glue & embellishments, if any, that you will be using, gathered together.
This is a sculpture made from 5 palm seed-pod casings, painted inside and out with coordinating colors. They were coated with 2 coats polyurethane finish and secured in cement. Good patio sculpture!!
These are same type of palm seed-pod casings, dried in their natural colors. They have been brushed clean with a wire brush, only. Add a few bamboo leaves and you have a very attractive sculpture, for any corner of your room. These pod casings dry to a very hard finish and look & feel like wood.
So, go look for some Palm Fronds or Seed Pods
Grab your paints and brushes and let your imagination run wild!!