What can you do with dead palm leaves?

When we started going to Cambodia for service-learning projects, i realised that they have a lot of palm trees of different types.  These shed a lot of leaves.  Some leaflets are used to make temporary coverings for heds.  Some women can make a bit of money making these coverings for other people.  Indeed we commissioned some to protect some of our projects from the sun.  Most of the dead leaves, however, seem to be just thrown away, or burned.  

The stems of the leaves reassemble low quality wood or bamboo.  They are relatively soft and easy to cut and shape.  But that also mean they are not strong, and rot easily.  I found that as long as they are kept dry, they can still be useful.  

I started making desk lamps with them, inserting LEDs powered by rechargeable batteries.  Our partner university agrees that it is a small but promising stop toward sustainability.  

I also started making things with them, just for fun.  Starting with salamanders.  That was easy.  The local kids like them.  I made many to give away.  

Then a fish tail for my desk. 

A bend in the stem reminded me of the fluke of a whale sticking out of water.

I realised I could make a whole humpback whale. 

A whale sharks has a smilier body, but a huge broad head, a dorsal fin and a vertical tail.

A manta ray is a shark with big flippers and an unusually shaped mouth to funnel food into its mouth.

Adding spikes to a salamander turns it into a crocodile. 

These are just animals that live in water, for now.  Other pieces will have to await another post.