Cliffords Cards
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About Us

Based in Manchester, England, Cliffords Cards makes unique and unusual hand-made greeting cards on the skeleton of real Baniyan tree leaves. This is a long process and takes a lot of patience & perfection to handle the skeleton and then to dye it with natural colours. After this the intricate work is done, dozens of small pieces of small paddy straws are put together to make beautiful illustrations.

We have got about 50 designs which include different kinds of birds, animals, sceneries, Christmas designs and many more. Most of them are shown in the new designs and products pages. We can also supply blank skeleton of leaves for artists who would like to use them for their own Arts & Crafts. We have some hand-made greetings cards with illustrations painted on the skeleton of the leaves and we also have similar illustrations on small pieces of velvet which are then pasted on to the cards. The greeting cards can also be made on 100% hand-made rag paper, you can view an example in the new designs page.

Distributors required throughout the world

The Peepul leaf

Peepul trees are seen in the plains and small hills of South India and is considered to be the King of trees. It is considered a good omen to plant Peepul trees, and as such it is seen in plenty in and around temples, hermitages etc. Lord Gautum Buddha is said to have got enlightenment when as a hermit, he sat under a Peepul tree in meditation for several years.

Botanical Classification
Subclass     Monochlamydeas
Series         Unisexuals
Family        Moraceae
Species       Ficus

The Peepul leaf has many medicinal properties - one such being the specialquality of retracting poisons. The Peepul leaf being natural can be in any size from 5 to 10.2 cm long and 6 to 12 cm wide. The leaf is light in quality and its tip is long and tail like.

 
 

Processing

Peepul leaves

  • Selected in particular sizes and left to decay in spring water for about 10 days.They are then rinsed and cleaned to leave only the skeleton.

  • The leaves are soaked in dye to give the required color. Dry paddy straw (rice straw) is then hand cut to the required size and pasted on the leaf by an artist in the required designs.
  • The Peepul leaf is then mounted on handmade paper cards, framed or matted.

Handmade Paper
  • Cotton or silk waste/jute/straw/hay is shredded depending on specific requirements. These shreds are beaten into pulp and left to ferment for a week.
  • The resulting mass is rinsed and thinned into sheets. Bamboo mats or textured cloth is placed between each sheet depending on the texture of paper required. The sheets are then compressed to remove water.
  • The sheets are dried and passed through a glazing machine to give luster and gloss. These are then cut according to the size requirement of the cards.

                                             

Product Overview  

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