Preserving Leaves with Paraffin Wax

The leaves are just beautimous right now.

Brilliant oranges and yellow..we even saw a magenta tree the other day.

Recently, Josiah and cousin Maddy found some really gorgeous leaves at the farm.

I mean really. Aren't they stunning? I don't know where these particular leaves come from. I need to ask my Dad and get back to you. I think he has a pet name for every tree at the farm. Especially his beloved fruit trees ('nother story for 'nother day).




Anyhoo. My mom had the idea that Josiah and I could preserve them. She wanted to share their loveliness with her sweet friends at the nursing home (she works there). She sent me home with a baggie of paraffin wax.

I do wish I had a paraffin wax melter. I have used one when doing nails (beauty school and salon days), but don't have one of my own. I am pretty sure you could use a crock pot as well. I heated our waxy in the microwave.

This isn't a very good picture, but here Josiah and I both have a leaf on the verge of dipping it in. I tried to choose leaves that didn't have any tears or obvious blemishes in them.

I also made a huge mess. Of course, I did! Did you expect anything different. I was intending on using wax paper, but thought I had run out. Until I found my wax paper in a bag I had taken to a friend's house to roll out pie crusts on. I won't even tell you how long ago that was.

Girlfriend needs a nap.

I used foil instead to cover my table. I heated up the wax in my Pampered Chef mixing bowl, but it still got really too hot. And then it cooled too quickly.

Lovely. The wax made a film just after a few minutes of being in bowl.

Despite my mess, I had some really nice results. 

You can see how it looks when the wax wasn't hot enough. It just didn't cover as well.

The leaves that came out right have a beautiful sheen and are sturdy. We even sent two to Qatar. No really! Josiah's Aunt is stationed there. We wanted to share the fall loveliness.

I am going to put some in a bowl to enjoy on my coffee table and the rest I am sending to the Nursing Home.

What are you doing to enjoy the fall?