I'm not even sure what made me think about trying this. Maia and I had just finished a nature walk and she had a basket full of leaves, pinecones, and acorns. I wanted to do a fun art project with her booty and for some reason remembered the watercolor saran wrap project we did last year. I thought the leaves could concentrate the drying watercolors much the way the saran wrap did, creating cool leaf prints.
We applied the watercolor paints to the paper very liberally, as before, but then instead of crumpled saran wrap, we set leaves on top of the watercolors.
However, the freshly gathered leaves didn't lie flat for the most part so we ended up adding saran wrap as well, then pressing the whole thing under a book overnight so that the leaves would have full contact with the paper and paint as the paint dried.
In the morning, we lifted the book, saran wrap, and leaves (or hydrangea blossom, as in the photo above) to see the designs we made. The effect is very cool. I love the mix of saran wrap design and leaf/flower print.
For a purer leaf print, I set flat (ie pressed and dried) leaves over the watercolor paint without the saran wrap cover and let dry overnight. It worked perfectly! So if you want just the leaf print, flatten them first. If you want the more artsy design use the leaf/saran wrap combo.
Have fun!
