Displaying the colors of Autumn leaves
I love little seasonal projects that takes me out into nature.
And Autumn has its beauty in the changing colors of the leaves on the trees, the cosyness of the shorter evenings and the feeling of the cooler, wetter weather..
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I thought I'd bring some of the beauty of this season indoors, and into my decor...
So I pulled on my wellies and went in search for some pretty autumnal colored leaves: The yellows and reds, the speckled and imperfect....
I brought home a handful of these beauties...
Laid them out to dry and dabbed them with an old tea-towel to remove the remnants of Autumn rain on them...
Then I made up a quick microwave flowerpress to help flatten and dry my little autumn jewels out completely:
I did this by simply cutting up a cheap spiral notepad, and using some drawing paper to create a few folds to hold my leaves...
As a rule pressing flowers and leaves will distort their colors:
white will become yellow or caramel brown,
purple will become navy,
pinks will go brown and
orange or red will become maroon.
But this technique using microwave will reduce the color distortion dramatically compared to traditional flower pressing....
I placed my leaves in the paper folds, then placed these within the sheets of the cut up notebook:
You can do several folds of leaves in one parcel....just make sure they are all of a similar size and thickness....(because some will take longer than others)
....take care that the leaves inside your parcel doesn't slide around, but stay put where you folded them in....
...you don't want them to lay on top of each other, as they will stick together when pressed...
Then used some rubber bands to hold it all together:
Before placing the parcel in the microwave for 30-45 seconds ....
Take the parcel out and leave to cool, then check that the leaves are fully dry...if not pop them back in the microwave for another 20 seconds or so...Take care not to overcook , as the leaves will burn...
You might have to experiment with the timing and settings on your microwave oven, as some are more powerful than others...
When I was satisfied that my leaves were fully dried, I carefully removed them from the folds in the parcel, and laid them flat on a tray:
Then I simply arranged the pressed leaves in these lovely brass frames from ROSE&GREY:
....playing around with creating different patterns with the leaves....
I replaced the batik straps that came with the frames with some natural twine...
Then hung them up in our spare room, above the little mat where we put our wet wellies to dry out....
A perfect way to style up this season, using natures own color palette in a very subtle way
Starting to feel a bit autumny now, isn't it?
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famous art
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