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Hapa Zome

This is a Japanese art which involves pounding the colour out of leaves and flowers to make a picture. All you need is some cotton (I used an old pillowcase), some flowers and leaves and a hammer. Arrange the flowers and leaves on a piece of cotton the size of an A4 page. Then place another piece of cotton on top of that. Carefully tap all over the flowers and leaves until you see the colour come through. Take off the top piece of cotton and peel off the squished flowers and you should be left with a pretty picture.


You can decorate your picture with markers if you like. Some flowers work better than others. Buttercups, dandelions, vetch leaves, rose petals and herbaceous geraniums work well. Use fresh leaves because they have more sap in them.

If you want to make a symmetrical picture just use one piece of cotton and place the flowers to one side. Fold the fabric over the flowers and tap them thoroughly as before. Then open it up and remove the flowers and leaves and you should have a symmetrical picture.


In this one I used vetch leaves, mallow and violas. It may take a bit of trial and error but you should get some good results. Have fun and be really careful with the hammer.

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