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here I posted about my bobbin lace collar and the fact that I was 25 beads short.
Erin pointed me to some beads on amazon that I ordered. It turned out that not one bead in that mixture matched but mixing them along with some of the ones I was using has worked perfectly. So thanks to Erin. I need to start working on this at home so I'll finish it sometime in the near future. Just working on it 4 hours a week in lace class is just not enough time to make any headway. Here is a picture of the center portion which is almost complete.
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| bobbin lace collar--linen thread |
Down the street, at the community mailbox, there is a tree that is shedding the most beautiful autumn colored leaves. I have been picking them up from the ground to use in dyeing but I wanted to try and make some sort of a book with a few of them. I researched for a method to preserve them in some way and decided to try the glycerin method. I bought a small bottle of glycerin in the drug section of the supermarket. I mixed up 1 cup...1/3 glycerin, 2/3 water...
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| leaves covered with glycerin solution in a tray |
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| a piece of styrofoam over the leaves and some copper pipe to hold it all down |
It sat in that solution for 5 days. I removed them today and just laid them down on a paper towel to dry.
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| the texture of the leaf is nice and soft but they darkened considerably |
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| close-up of front and back of a glycerin treated leaf |
Now to figure out how to make a little book. I wanted to write on the leaves but they are quite dark and I don't think the writing will show up....so thinking about it...
19 comments:
deanna, maybe you could get a "white" ink permanent marker. i know they have silver that works well on dark..just a thought. h.
Deanna, how clever. This will be a great idea to use next fall. Thank you.The finished leaves are beautiful!
i wonder what you plan to write? i might use this idea next fall with the kids, too- maybe they could write leaf poems?
Were you trying to make the leaves permanently "soft" or flexible? For a journal or memory book? I pressed leaves this fall and of course they become crunchy and eventually fall apart. I wonder what the process is for preserving botanical specimens. I love your idea.
Hi Deana, I've been collecting for some time hoping to have a go at dyeing with them.(will do after Christmas), Recently in my local botanical gardens I found some beautiful large Oak leaves, which I thought I could write on, but never thought of preserving them, The Oak leaves are quite pale so they should be a lovely colour darkened. You are so full of fabulous ideas! Thanks Deanna, and Happy Christmas to you and your family. ox
Deanna, you are such a source of ideas. That is great! Do you think one can do this with roses too? I have such a wonderful one left.
The new year will be my dying experimental year, I will read again all your posts.
Have a good time.
Doris
I was going to suggest white ink too...they are really beautiful.
could you try a bleach pen? your lace collar is coming along just fine, i love the natural colours of it.
Doris--i think you might be able to do this with rose petals but not sure about a whole rose. i used to preserve roses by putting them in a container of silica gel. google it for more info.
re: white pen or bleach. white is really not the effect i was going for. i think i may stick with stitch on the leaves and go from there.
your all so great with the ideas. i love it and appreciate it.
Oh, Deanna, the lacy headed collar looks great...Love the leaves too.
sally.wilson--yes, soft and flexible was my goal and the glycerin did do that. if you google "preserving botanical specimens", there is lots of info there.
What a good way to preserve leaves. Turned out so pretty. A beautiful decoration as well.
Hi, Deanna. Beautiful lace--the hours of work are made visible! And the color of your leaves is sumptuous. I also enjoyed your dyeing experiments as well.
Happy holiday stitching!
best, nadia
Deanna, your lace collar is gorgeous. Some artists use white out (the correction ink from ages ago) as an ink. I love the idea of using your leaves in a book. Thank you for always being such an inspiration and for sharing your creations with us reader. Wishing you the happiest of holidays and much joy, laughter, and fun in the new year.
Deanna, Your lace is amazing...so beautiful. It looks like a complicated process. The leaves look great too. My thought on writing was to write closely around the leaves, but not On them. Sort of a leaf shadowing. But, of course I don't know what you are trying to achieve...just my idea.
Oh, that collar is so wonderful, I remember when you were looking for the beads a while back. I love the leaves, this looks like a very original and very exciting book project! More! More!
I love your lace collar deanna and your leaves are beautiful. A very happy holidays to you and your family.
Would it alter the natural effect too much, if you dry brushed lighter paint on the leaves and wrote on that once dried?
I suppose you might write on shaded tissue too, tear it to sit on the leaves and paste in place on each leaf?
Both methods would detract from the beauty of the leaves themselves of course....
Dependant on what words you wanted to use, you might be able to stamp on the leaves?
Deanna, this is great and sounds quite "makeable" I will go on thinking about it. The leaves got a wonderful shine - exactly like those in HilaryFayles blog.
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