There are many bowls designed after nature, but few actually rely on natural ingredients. Talented Japanese artist Kay Sekimachi has quite an impressive portfolio, including her most well known work involving labor intensive loom works, but she is now gaining attention for her beautiful and delicate leaf bowls.

The delicate bowls are made from the skeletons of maple leaves, as well as other types. Sekimachi transforms the skeleton leaves into solid lasting structures by adding Kozo paper, watercolor and Krylon coating to each leaf.

As many of the best artists do, Kay Sekimachi draws a lot of inspiration from her struggles in the past. The artist was born in 1926 in California but along with many other Japanese Americans she was held at the Topaz Relocation Center in Delta, UT, during World War II. Despite her struggles she went on to succeed, graduating from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1949. It was here that she discovered her love for weaving.

After seeing some of her peers working in the weaving room she went out and spent all of her savings on a loom, despite the fact she didn’t know how to use it yet. She has since become very well known for her loom works, as well as many other artistic talents she has mastered over 60+ years as an artist, including hornet’s nest paper and grass.

The veins of the leaves run trails through the preserved leaf skeletons, giving each delicate leaf bowl its own unique and unmatched qualities.

Sekimachi has authored several crafting books, some on her own and some she has co-authored with her husband, Bob Stocksdale. The super team couple, who married in 1972, has an art exhibition, The Realm Of Nature, scheduled from July 3 to October 18 at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington.

Photo Credits: Amazon, (h/t: mymodernmet)