Bleached Fall Leaves

$1.00
Easy
Why is it once you have an idea in mind sometimes it's very hard to find what you need. I went to several craft stores looking for light shades of fall leaves other than yellow to go with white pumpkins. I found white sunflowers and bundles of wheat but no white, or off white fall leaves. I tried painting leaves white, but didn't like the results - they looked fake. I did find a site on the net that carried bundles of white fall leaves but when I tried ordering them, they were no longer available.
So I decided to bleach my own to see what would happen. Most of the leaves I collected had turned brown and I did pick up a green one, too.


I put the leaves in a cup of bleach in a pyrex dish and let them soak overnight.
The bleaching process was amazing to see . . . You can clearly see the "skeleton" (veins) of the leaves. Simply beautiful!
I was quite pleased with the bleaching and the way the leaves changed. The longer they stayed in the bleach the lighter they got (naturally) . . . but also, the more delicate they became. I had to be careful removing them from the bleach because they would come apart easily.
I dried the delicate bleached leaves on paper towels.
And after drying, I bundle the leaves together with a piece of raffia and tied them on my white pumpkin.
I love this look and the variations in color and patterns! I definitely will be bleaching more leaves!
Gail@Purple Hues and Me
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Diane K. Diane K. on Sep 08, 2015
    These are gorgeous. Did you rinse them ?
  • A A on Sep 18, 2017

    Love the look of the leaves; I want to try some artificial leaves and see what happens. Thanks for the idea!

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