Altered Silver

I had a couple opportunities this autumn to gather some very color-filled maple leaves, aiming to preserve them for future use in some paper arts project. So here are the details of what I did to them.

The first group I gathered was about 30 which were mostly bright yellow. The second group was only 9; these were more red, with touches of yellow. For the most part, each group received the same treatment, with one exception.

The first step was to find a sturdy book that had large enough dimensions to accommodate the largest leaf. As soon as possible after gathering them (even minutes can count once you've brought the leaves indoors), I put the leaves into this book, two or three into a page opening, with several pages between each set of leaves. The book was then placed on the hardwood floor and about 15 additional books were piled on top of it. This was my makeshift "press." The first group remained in the press for 3 days. The second group remained in the press for a single day (fully 24 hours). There was no significant difference noticed from the time variance. Each group pressed very nicely and the colors of both groups were quite muted (to shades of brown) when removed. (I also have, however, some ultra-flat leaves that remained pressed for over two weeks.)

Next, the leaves had to be sealed to stop their color from changing further, to prevent mites, bacteria or acids transfering from the leaves to anything they come into contact with, and to strengthen the leaves for later use as embellishments. Sealing was done with acrylic...and this is where the two groups deviated.

The first group (mainly yellow leaves) was sealed with matte medium. Using a foam brush, I applied the medium over the top of the leaf first and set it aside. When it was dry, medium was applied to the bottom of the leaf.		The second group (mainly red leaves) was sealed with colored glazing medium (1 part paint to 11 parts glaze). Using a foam brush, I applied yellow glaze to the bottom of the leaf and set it aside. When that was dry, I applied orange glaze to the top of the leaf.
What I want to remember for any "next time": - Using a colored glaze for the sealer is a help in rebuilding the lost natural color. - Applying the sealer to the bottom side of the leaf first helps keep the leaf flatter through the sealing and coloring stages. - I placed the sealed leaves onto a clean sheet of wax paper to dry, supported by closed paper bags. I found it was good to return to them after about a half hour, lift each leaf and reposition it slightly. This discourages any bond to the wax paper that might be forming and makes the leaves easier to remove from the wax paper later. - Make absolutely sure each leaf is fully dry at each stage before doing anything to it.

You'll notice in the photos that I left the stems in place. I didn't seal these because I intend to remove the stems before including the leaves in any project. (If I was going to retain the stems, they'd need to be sealed also.) I kept the stems on through this preservation simply because they make convenient little handles for moving the leaves around individually.


Here are the first group (left) and the second group (right) in the process of drying after being seal-coated. Drying time took 6-8 hours for each side. Trying to move on before the leaves are completely and fully dry is bad news; don't ask me how I learned this. :x

The next step, restoring the lost colors, will be covered in tomorrow's entry.



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