Get Crafty This Weekend With Fall Leaf Prints

Fall is in the air, and leaves across the borough are bursting with color. Nowhere is this more evident than the glorious trees in Prospect Park.

If your child is anything like mine, you’ll soon find the apartment bursting at the seams with “beautiful” leaf treasures. Instead of watching them dry and crumble, give our fun (and easy) fall leaf prints a try.

The salt dough recipe is incredibly simple, requiring only a few common pantry ingredients, and will result in a fantastic autumn 2015 keepsake.

First, just gather your ingredients. 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of flour, and 1 cup of water.

Mix the flour and salt together, and then very gradually add your water to the dry ingredients. Very gradually. If you dump the entire cup of water in at once, it’s possible that you’ll end up with the above pictured soup. This will never turn into dough. I speak from experience.

If you add the water very gradually, though, and give it a good stir, you’ll notice that the flour and salt will begin to transform into a dough-like consistency. When it’s balled up and not too sticky, take the mixture out of the bowl, and spend a few minutes kneading the dough.

Flatten the dough into different shapes. If you want to get fancy, use a rolling pin. We used our fingers, which gave the final product some unique textures, but it’s up to you.

Choose your leaf, and carefully press it onto the flattened dough. It’s important to find a leaf that has nice, thick veins – otherwise, your impression will be pretty disappointing.

Slowly peel the leaf up from the dough, and marvel in your artistic prowess.

Next, preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Place the dough on a cookie sheet, and bake for about 2.5 to 3 hours. When you remove the impression, it should be nice and hard. If there’s still a bit of squish to the dough, leave it in a bit longer.

Once your dough is dried out and cool, choose the paints. We went with fall colors in acrylic, but let your young artist get creative. If they’re rocking pink or polka dotted leaves, so be it!

After your leaf is painted, choose a color to water down, and then brush a wash over the entire project. This will run the darker color down into the crevices to highlight the vein areas.

Let the paint dry, and then spray a gloss protectant over the dough — or cover with a layer of Mod Podge. Give it a good hour or so to dry, and your autumn leaf print is ready for a prominent spot on the family bookshelf.

Have a fun seasonal craft that you’d like to share? Email us at editor@bklyner.com.