What are skeletonized leaves? These are leaves in which only the “skeleton” remains - that is, the veins, and all soft tissues have been removed. Under natural conditions, such leaves are obtained if, for example, they lie all winter in a stream or on moist soil.
But you can get such beautiful leaves at home.
It should be noted that not all leaves lend themselves equally well to skeletonization - here you need to experiment. Usually, good skeletons are made from leaves of maple, poplar, walnut, sycamore, linden, and birch.
There are many ways to skeletonize, but let’s look at the simplest and “lazy” one.
Select suitable leaves and place them in a glass jar, fill with water and close with a nylon lid. All you have to do is wait - at least 1 month. To speed up the process, you can add a couple of tablespoons of soda. From time to time you can open the lid slightly and check whether the leaves are ready. This is done like this: carefully rub the leaf with your fingers, placing it in a bowl of water. If the soft tissues come off easily, leaving a network of veins, the leaf is “ripe.”If not, put it back in the jar with the rest of the leaves.
Place the finished skeletons on a clean sheet of paper to dry.
If you want to get snow-white leaves, you can bleach them by dipping them in a container with “Whiteness” for 1 hour. After the procedure, rinse the skeletons with clean water and dry on paper.
These leaves can be used in a variety of interior decorations, scrapbooking, floral paintings, etc.
