At the beginning of the school year, kindergartens and schools always hold competitions of crafts made from natural material. An interesting option is to make a panel of autumn leaves with your own hands. The technology is simple, and the result can be very spectacular. Such decor is suitable just as decoration for the interior. Making autumn crafts is easy to turn into joint work with children.
Natural material panel
Very beautiful paintings can be created by gluing dried leaves and flowers, individual petals to the base, for example, from cardboard. This technique has its own name - erroneous (or osiban). Quite often acts as a hobby for adults. Mistake is an ancient Japanese art of laying out paintings from dried leaves and flowers.
For children's creativity, the option is also suitable. The child in the process of doing crafts and preparing the material will learn new information about the world around him, learn to compare colors, shapes. He will develop fine motor skills, perseverance. It is very good to combine leaves and flowers with twigs, seeds, grains. So you can get a relief surface and even volumetric details.
Do-it-yourself panel of autumn leaves
So, what does it take to build such beauty? A panel of autumn leaves (photo below) can only be made of flat elements, using both natural forms of objects and complex configurations of artificial origin created on a paper substrate.
You can choose the following plots:
- bouquets;
- Landscapes
- still lifes;
- portrait or complex thematic ideas.
In a word, this technique is very interesting, unusual. The result depends on your imagination, perseverance and the workpieces that you have.
Materials and Tools
To make a panel of autumn leaves with your own hands, you need the following:
- base (cardboard, fiberboard, paper, for example, colored);
- dried leaves, flower petals;
- glue;
- glue brush (optional);
- glass and frame for design work.
So, nothing special is required. The main thing is patience and the desire to do something special.
Leaf preparation technology
To make a beautiful panel from a natural material, it is important to properly prepare the source materials. You will need:
- freshly picked leaves, flowers, petals;
- unnecessary thick books;
- cardboard;
- cotton wool;
- scissors;
- threads or large office gum (not eraser, but those used for banknotes);
- smooth free surface for several days (table, shelf).
Drying the material is not a quick process, but you definitely should not rush to get high-quality workpieces.
The sequence of drying the leaves is as follows:
- Place the sheets evenly and gently between the pages of an unnecessary book (paper may become dirty). Do not lay out the leaves one by one, it is better to do this after a few pages (faster and better dry out, do not stick together).
- Put the book under the press (box, box or several large books).
- Wait a few days.
- Check if the workpieces are dry. If the quality suits you, get the leaves and get to work. If the material is not dry, leave it for a couple of days.
How to dry flowers
Flower petals or small (not thick) flowers dry just like leaves. So, you can prepare flowers of daffodils, phlox, bindweed, viola (pansies), bell. But asters, roses and other flowers, in which the base is dense, fleshy, it is better to dry like this:
- Prepare a piece of cardboard or thick paper a little larger than the flower itself.
- Fold the blank in half as a postcard.
- Cut a hole of any shape in the center of each side (this is a kind of ventilation so that the flower does not rot).
- Expand the cardboard and put a layer of cotton wool inside.
- Put a flower on the cotton.
- Add another layer of cotton wool on top.
- Close with cardboard (fold the leaves).
- Fasten the "postcard" with elastic bands or tie with threads.
- It is advisable to put under the press.
- After a few days, check the result. If the cotton is very wet and the flower is not dry, change the cotton and dry it.
As you can see, the technology of harvesting leaves and flowers is simple, but if you do not follow it, high-quality material will not work. Unfinished leaves may become deformed, and the petals will fall off the flowers.
Panel execution technology
To make a beautiful panel of leaves (photo above), you need to work like this:
- Take a cardboard base or colored paper if part of the background remains uncovered with dried material.
- For the manufacture of objects of complex non-natural shape (vases, houses), cut out the substrate (blank parts) from thin paper.
- Glue one side of the paper backing with glue and lay dry leaves on top.
- Wait for the element to dry, and cut along the contour of the edge. Throw out small scraps of leaves, and use large ones for other parts.
- When all the components are ready, apply glue to the base and glue the workpieces. If necessary, first lay out a background of leaves or petals.
- After drying the picture, place it in a frame under glass. So the panel is better preserved.
Pictures of dry leaves can be made in the form of a relief using twigs, spikelets, cones, grains and seeds. This option is perfect for children's creativity.
So, making a panel of autumn leaves with your own hands is not difficult. This creative activity can be an interesting and useful way to spend time with your child. Prepare quality material and explain technology. Even small children can make a simple composition of leaves and flowers.