DAYTON – When radiochemist, Jane Holly Estrada, hangs up her lab jacket for the day, she enjoys relaxing by capturing moments in nature and transforming them into a state of permanence. The Richland, Wash. artist creates jewelry and shaped dishes inspired by freshly fallen leaves.

Estrada presses a real leaf into the clay, shapes it into a unique dish, and paints them with a watercolor style underglaze, before firing multiple times and adding her signature gold accents.

Estrada also paints mandala stones and one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry. All of her works imbue the familiar colors of forest,...