Decoupage with real leaves: ideas for the autumn DIY

Using the leaves you can make many decorations, let's discover together how to make the decoupage with real leaves: a wonderful DIY idea for the autumn

How to make the decoupage with real leaves 

In the autumn the nature is lit with a thousand shades: the summer green leaves progressively placed to the warm colors of yellow and red, which herald the arrival of winter cold, but at the same time they give what for many is the most evocative of all seasons.

To bring home some of the magic of autumn, the decoupage with real leaves is the ideal technique; first of all because it offers the opportunity to wear comfortable boots and spend a half day walking through the woods and secondly because it is a simple decorative technique, within everyone's reach, to be experimented, why not, even with the help of children, but with truly surprising results.

Here is how to do it: once you have collected a good quantity of leaves, possibly of different sizes and colors, these will be cleaned of any residual earth and pressed.

For this purpose it is advisable to lay them gently between two sheets of newspaper and leave them for at least 48 hours under a weight (if you do not own a real press, use books or old telephone directories). However, we should avoid using particularly stiff or fleshy, old, damaged or visibly diseased leaves.

While waiting for the leaves to be ready, we decide which object to decorate. The decoupage technique with real leaves is well suited to various surfaces, from cardboard boxes to notebooks, photo albums, wooden objects, and so on. For an even more striking effect, however, the ideal support is glass.

So go free to dishes, bottles, trays, but above all to glasses and jars, which in a second time it will be possible to use candle holders. Accomplice the play of transparencies of the decoupage, the flame will maximize the colors of the leaves, projecting all around soft shadows and returning in an instant that warm and suggestive atmosphere typical of the autumn season.

How to glue the dried leaves

Once the leaves are ready and the arrangement that you want to give them is established, proceed with the brush applying a first layer of vinyl glue on the glass. One by one, we make the leaves adhere to the surface of the jar and proceed with a second coat of glue, taking care to review all the leaves well. So that our decoration is not too fragile, at this point we can overlap a sheet of rice paper (or tissue paper) that we have previously cut to size. Conclude then with a last layer of glue. To give greater protection, once dried, it is finally possible to finish the work by applying a coat of protective transparent varnish or, even better, a vitrifying water-based varnish.

Decorations with dry leaves

The dried leaves can be used for different decorations, not just for decoupage. For example, you can make beautiful bouquets, ideal for decorating the table or other rooms of the house in the fall. Also in this case it is simple chores, the important thing is to choose the leaves carefully and clean them well without damaging them. If the leaves are very colored, for example they are beautiful yellow or bright red, the bouquet can only be composed of these; if, on the other hand, the leaves are brown, a small bunch of colored flowers can be placed in the center of the bouquet to brighten up the whole.

To create skeletal leaves we can use leaves just fallen from the tree, but not dry. To get the right effect you need to put in the boiling water with a little 'bicarbonate the leaves that we have chosen, better to opt for the most colorful, and let simmer for about an hour and three quarters. The leaves must substantially lose part of their color, but above all they must soften. Once you get out of the water you have to remove the turgid part of the leaf with a brush. Then put the leaves to dry on a cloth and lay another one on top.

The Hardanger Stitch

The Hardanger stitch also defined as the Norwegian stitch, is one of those points that creates an antique and elegant embroidery and is often recreated on linen or cotton fabrics. This technique provides a main element of the Kloster block, in which an embroidery is offered to customize many objects including tablecloths and cushions.

At this point you will need to get the following materials:

• an embroidery needle, 
• white cotton or white linen, 
• a loom, 
• a pair of scissors.

The procedure is very complex, you have to be careful to count the wires and it takes very little to make mistakes and consequently have to redo all over again. Before starting to embroider, you will have to make the hem around your embroidery with an open stitch, and it is important to perform this passage well otherwise it becomes difficult to group the threads of the fabric.

To create the Norwegian stitch, you will have to divide the work into three steps: 

• the hem of the part to be pierced, 
• the full embroidery of the figures chosen to be embroidered, 
• the perforations.

Begin your work with a past stitch that must be done on four threads, the points of which must be divided by a single fabric thread at least five times. You choose the direction from which you want to start your embroidery. As soon as you have finished this step, you will have to pass on the reverse side of your work with a diagonal point, eventually obtaining a square.

Decoupage on wood, how to get good results

Decoupage is a decorative technique that can be used to embellish objects, furniture and everything we desire. There are different materials on which you can make the decoupage, as different materials to make it. Fabrics, fabrics, papers and plastics as supports, but also as decorative materials. Let's find out together the decoupage on wood made with paper decorative material. With this simple technique it will be possible to obtain an exceptional result, with the possibility of creating unique and particular objects, to give an original touch to your home. Here is a brief guide to the realization of the decoupage on wood.

Necessary for the realization of the decoupage on wood is:

• obtain the base we wish to treat,
• an acrylic color of your choice,
• water,
• a brush,
• of the vinyl glue,
• of newspaper cuttings at our pleasure
• of the varnish to water for surface finishing.

Put the acrylic color in a plastic plate and dissolve it with a little water to make it homogeneous. Coloring the entire wooden surface that we want to work with our decoupage and let it dry: we pay attention not to have the color too dense but fluid and soft when passing the brush to spread it quickly.

Now spread the glue with a brush on the part we want to decorate: then place the cuttings one by one making them stick to the glue with your hands taking care not to create bubbles. Once the laying is finished, apply a further layer of glue on the applications and let it dry: lastly pass a coat of transparent varnish to the finish water and let it dry again.

Through the execution of this technique it is possible to renew and give new life to furniture that has lost its beauty or that shows itself anonymous and undressed. The possibilities are practically endless, as this type of decoration can be customized in every aspect, just choose the background colors, if you want to change the original color, and combine them with decoupage decorations to be applied, which can be of infinite shapes and size.