Leaf Printing

Before Autumn comes and all the leaves die, use them to make some lovely art! Leaf printing uses paint to make a print of the leaf onto paper, and showing all the small detials like veins and the texture of it’s surface. You will be able to find a large variety of leaves in your garden, the park, even on your street!

You will need:

Something to protect your worksurface (newspaper or bin liners)
A tray or sink filled with shallow water 
Tea towels
Acrylic paints and medium paint brushes
Paint pallette (you can use a sheet of cardbord instead)
Lots of different leaves
Some sheets of paper for the extra paint
Card or heavy paper for printing surface
Roller or plastic rolling pin

Use a varitey of leaves

• Cover your worksurface and lay out your supplies.

• Breifly soak the card or heavy paper in water, then bring it out a lay it on a tea towel. You want it to be only damp when you print on it, or the colours will run.

The leaf on the right was printed when the paper was still wet.

• Squeeze small amounts of coloured paint onto your palete or a piece of cardboard.

• Apply a thin coating of paint to a leaf using the brush. 

• Press the leaf down onto the spare piece of paper. If you have a roller it is better to use that for even pressure.

• Peel away the leaf, holding the stem. Press the leaf down onto the damp card and if you have a roller, roll it over in one direction a few times so that you get a lot of detail.

The first leaf prints

• Peel away the leaf, holding the stem. Do you like the print? Remember, practice makes perfect, and you will soon learn the right amount of paint and pressure to apply. 

• Keep printing more leaves in different colours onto your card to create a leaf collage! You can stick your dried leaf prints to the front of cards or on bookmarks too.

• When you are done clear everything away and wash the paint off your brushes, palette and roller.