Capturing a Gift….or How to Preserve leaves in Beeswax.

Go out and collect some leaves.

Collect some friends…and be amazed and humbled  when they show up after receiving a silly little  HeyTell saying, “Would you like to bring some leaves to my house and dip them in beeswax…it preserves them forever and they will never  age”

Be even more amazed when one person brings a two and half year old with a spiral french braid in….  which never fell out!!

And another brings a two year old with white furry boots to your farm… and the furry  feet stay gleaming white all day!

And now…. to capture this moment… encapsulated forever:

With a mini crockpot of melted beeswax….ohh and your whole house just cozy smelling of honey and everyone ooohhing and ahhing with the smells and colors of fall.

As they prepare to take their little leaves…all that they came with…

and turn it into art captured.

So with your collected leaves …. just dip them briefly in the melted beeswax and leave  to dry briefly  on a piece of wax paper.

It only takes a minute for them to become Autumnal pieces of art

a gift really.

The honey colored wax brightens all the colors and feels like you have captured sunlight.

and in a way you have…in your family…in your friends… and lastly in the leaves.

all gifts.

humbling to me.

The sun…the day… the smiling.. the spiral braids and furry boots and smiling babies and the house all smelling of warm honey and friends… all captured in these sun infused leaves…

and you take all of it… all of it as gifts shared simply

and it all began with a meek question… will you share your day with me

can we capture it and make it art.

You and me..and few dozen kids.

warm art.

We use them in a variety of ways…

• I make a garland and string them high above the mantle.
• I have many strung from a wreath…which I hang like a mobile near a window. So the light catches in the leaves.
• I fill some hurricane glasses with the really pretty ones.
• One of the girls is making a wreath from them by wiring the stems together.
• They actually look lovely and feel absolutely pettable…so it’s nice to just leave baskets of them out.
• We also just use them in our art as each child sees fit.

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**** This is a back to the future post.. I did this Wednesday and we have been happily adorning the house with all our waxed leaf goodness. I am still waiting on some art supplies that I stupidly ordered from two separate locations and I have half of my order from one place and am now stalking the U.P.S man every time he drives by!

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