A few weeks ago when I was pursuing Facebook I came across a picture of fall leaves painted as mandalas. These are the types that are dot painted, what a wonderful idea, and not only could you use them as little mandalas what a wonderful piece to have in your fall décor.
Of course, for me in my area fall leaves don’t start to appear until late September and October, and some years into November. Why not use silk leaves you can even get them from a dollar store or a punch of leaves from a craft store the ones that look like bushes of leaves. Of course, you can use real leaves if you wish as they come into their colors.
If you want to use real leaves you are going to need to press them in a press if you have one but a pair of heavy books will work. They only need to stay pressed for about a week this will help them from curling as they dry. Once they are dry you can spray them with a clear coat this keeps them from absorbing moisture and curling just like pressing them in wax paper. The clear coat can be hairspray if you wish or a crafter’s clear coat.
From this point, all you need to do is decide what you want your leaf to look like and that goes for either real or silk. I would check out some picks of mandalas to get ideas. When you figure it all out all you need are brushes and the fun part is you don’t use the brush end it’s the other end that gets used and for really small dots you can use a toothpick. After you have everything including paint you should practice first so you can get the feel of how much paint and pressure you need to use.
After all of that you are ready to have fun and what’s even cooler is that while you make these to use as meditation tools (if you wish) or just décor the process is meditative and a lot of fun. And please don’t look for perfection these types of activities tend to become a connection to the spirit with the healing that goes with it.
Happy Creating!
High Elder
Redhawk
