See Susanna Bauer’s Incredibly Delicate Crochet Leaf Sculptures

Susanna Bauer may have studied landscape architecture at university, but her most recent works take a much more micro look at the natural landscape. Magnolia leaves are the artist’s primary medium, which she crochets with yarn to create impossibly delicate sculptures.

Susanna Bauer, Cube Tree No. 5 (detail), magnolia leaves, wood, cotton yarn
Photo: via Susanna Bauer

Before she applies tiny hooks and needles to the leaves, Bauer preserves them by washing them and leaving them to dry for several weeks, a technique widely-used by botanists. 

Susanna Bauer, Navigation, magnolia leaf, cotton yarn
Photo: via Susanna Bauer

Through years of cultivating her practice, Bauer has gained a mastery over this fragile medium.

“It took me a very long time to get to know the limits of the materials I work with,” she writes on her website. “When I start a piece of work I have a fairly clear idea what a particular leaf or piece of wood will allow me to do, so thankfully breakages are very rare these days.”

Susanna Bauer, Dwelling
Photo: via Susanna Bauer

Evidencing a masterful approach to craft, the crocheted leaves have been shown in galleries and at art fairs throughout the UK and Europe. 

Susanna Bauer, Double.
Photo via: Susanna Bauer