Preserving leaves

For my Nature Journal I have been preserving leaves in glycerine.  You dilute one part glycerine to 4 parts water, and stand the stem in it for about two weeks.  I have found this is quite successful for gum leaves, and you can soak the whole leaf instead if it has no stem; however the leaf has to be fully green or it doesn't work.  Not all leaves take to it - geranium leaves just wilt and die within a few hours.  I have used some gum leaves, attached to a machine-made cord and a tassel made of silk thread, as a decoration to my Nature Journal.

The journal cover is a fabric collage which I machine embroidered, then made in the normal way into a cover for the A4 sketchbook I am using.  I also added a machine-made cord as a bookmark for inside, attached to the top of the spiral binding like the decorative elements. 

If you have been experimenting with papers and/or fabrics, try using your results as a book cover.