Fall is the season of change. Red, orange, and yellow fill the tree-line in the Midwest, making for some beautiful walks in nature. Next time you’re outside, lookout for beautiful leaves that you can preserve and incorporate into your home decor. That’s right. No need to buy fake-looking plastic leaves. This craft is quick, simple and is sure to bring your fall decor up a notch!
You’ll only need a few materials. Most importantly, some beautiful leaves. Before you take a gander outside, think about the space your leaves will be placed. What colors are going to match with the room? Do you want your colors to be homogenous or more of a mod podge? What about the size of the leaves? Are you looking for a few, bigger-sized leaves or several, smaller-sized ones? These are all factors to consider before selecting your leaves.
Before you can dip the leaves in wax, you’ll want to dry them first. Removing the moisture from the leaves ensures they won’t degrade or mold, since it is a natural material. You can dry your leaves in a myriad of ways. Sticking them in an old phone book for a week has been a popular method in the past but if you don’t want to wait a week, we have something even better. Place the leaf between two pieces of regular white paper. Make sure the leaf is covered in paper on the top and bottom. Place a piece of parchment paper over this. Using a preheated iron, iron over the parchment paper for 10-20 seconds. Here’s a video to see how. Be swift, but thorough and careful not to burn through the paper.
Next, you’ll need Great Lakes Bee Company beeswax. You can buy our beeswax here. It comes in the form of a 1lb block of pure beeswax that you can slice, dice, melt, mix, and everything else in between. Depending on how many leaves you want to preserve, you likely won’t need the entire block. Save the rest for other crafts like an elegant wax-dipped cork or these handy, natural fire-starters.
Materials
- Autumn leaves
- Paper, Iron, and Ironing Board
- 1lb GLBC pure beeswax block
- Double-boiler
- Thread/Clothesline
- Clothespins
Instructions
- Locate desired leaves
- Dry the leaves using paper and an iron
- Hang line for leaves to dry on
- Melt the wax
- Dip leaves in wax, let excess fall
- Dip in wax again and repeat as needed
- Hang on line with clothespin to dry
When your leaves are all dried and done, time to decorate your home. Place them on your dining room table to use as an accent to your centerpiece. Be like Martha Stewart and hang them up in a window using monofilament. Or you could put them all in a bowl with some pinecones, gourds, pampas grass, and cinnamon sticks. The possibilities are endless!