Making Leaf Skeletons – Painting
them
When the chlorophyll (Green) is removed from a leaf, the skeleton of the leaf is left behind. This skeleton is almost transparent and does not dry up. These skeletons could be painted and could be used for decorating walls. It could be used as bookmarks or on greeting cards and more. Usually, these leaf skeletons are made using the leaves of evergreen trees. For example - Peepal, Jackfruit, Maple, etc. My favorite is peepal leaf. In this post, I will teach you how to make a peepal leaf skeleton and paint it.
Coming soon : I will also show you 4 DIY
Ideas with Peepal leaf skeletons.
You need –
·
10-15 peepal leaves
·
A Tub full of water (You
may take a bowl also if your peepal leaves are small) (Make sure that the
bowl/tub is NOT MADE OF METAL)
·
A Heavy weight (A Stone)
·
A Cloth/Plastic sheet (To
cover the Tub)
·
An Old Toothbrush.
Procedure –
1.
Clean the freshly
collected Peepal leaves from any dust.
2.
Pile them all and submerge
them under water
3.
Place any heavy weight on
them so that they remain submerged.
4.
Cover the Tub with a
Cloth/plastic sheet to avoid smell and mosquitoes.
5.
Wait for 15 days
6.
Remove the old water and
add new water (The old water would stink horribly).
7.
Wait for another 10 days
8.
Then, remove the leaves
from water. (They would stink horribly)
9.
Take an old tooth Brush
and start scrubbing the leaf surface. (You will find that the green layer
starts to wear off)
10.
Carefully scrub off the
green layer from the both sides of leaf.
11.
After scrubbing, rinse it
in clean water.
12.
Let it dry in sun.
13.
If the leaf curls up after
drying, keep it between the pages of a big and heavy book (Dictionary).
Your
Leaves are ready –
Painting Leaf Skeletons
Leaf skeletons are easy to be painted. I have used acrylic paints.
Keep the skeleton on a paper. Paint it with diluted acrylic paint. This is how
to do it