Your wardrobe may be full of stuff you don’t wear anymore, but you don’t even want to throw it away because you feel like it’s going to be good for something else. They could be something creative like patchwork, but you hate sewing (I really hate it!) Well, here's a more exciting alternative.
Autumn leaves soon lose their beautiful color. I had an idea and made some leaf forms from old denim, cotton t-shirt material, painted with acrylic paint. Due to the glue used, they became very hard and durable (It must be an acrylic-based environmentally friendly adhesive, e.g. Paverpol), and with acrylic painting they became come into life!
I'll show you how to make it, hoping you feel like making it too!
A beautiful maple leaf is the base I found in front of our house. This is one of the results, strengthened with some yarns between two textile layers.
First, I drew around the leaf.
Then sticked the yarns on the veins of the leaf, using a liquid acrylic glue (Paverpol is the best choice!)
Then applied some glue again, to stick the second layer (a piece of a cotton T-shirt)
The lines of the leaf veins are clearly visible on each sides
I drew the leaf around again then cut the textile leaf.
Then I applied new layer of glue, on each sides, dryed with hairdrier.
The glue clogs the pores of the fabric, so that does not absorb the paint.
It was almost dry by the time I folded along the veins.
After painting:
The yarn "veins" can even be omitted, but it makes it even more interesting.
I made many other tree leaves in a similar way. This piece is highly textured: a layer of denim and a layer of lace.
An exotic philodendron leaf
Japanese maple with colored background
With this technique you can make flowers, butterflies and many other wonderful things too!