Painted Leaves

I finally finished raking what seemed like a never ending supply of leaves, and managed to save a few for some crafts. I’m hoping you did too.

Materials

• leaves
• books for flattening leaves
• paper towels
• paint and brushes
• newspaper

Instructions

1.Gather a selection of leaves for drying. They are best taken directly from the plant, because by the time they fall off, they’ve already begun to dry.

2.Place the leaves in between sheets of paper towels, and inside the pages of a book.

3. The paper towels will help absorb any moisture. Once finished, stack a number of other books on top, to help flatten the leaves. Leave for about a week.

4. Lay the flattened leaves on top of newspaper, or any surface you can splatter paint on. Outdoors is always best for this kind of activity, unless you have a grimy basement room like I do, where it doesn’t really matter where the paint ends up, it just adds to the decor!

5. Whether you’re using tempera or acrylic paint, mix with water to achieve a consistency that will splatter well. Experiment with different consistencies and brush sizes. Then load your brush with paint, and splatter onto the leaves.

6. Once you’ve finished layering a number of different colours, lift the leaves off and lay them onto newspaper to dry. It’s important to do this, as I learned, otherwise delicate leaves will remain stuck to the paint and break off.

7. Once the paint is completely dry, you may need to flatten the leaves again, before using them in crafts, because they do like to curl up. You can frame them, make cards with them, adorn containers with them, along with a layer of varnish or Mod Modge. The possibilities are endless!