Skeleton Leaves

Skeleton leaves are fascinating but I very rarely find them.  They are also delicate and crumble.  I was so pleased with my latest encaustic experiment because it looks just like a skeleton leaf.  I was rubbing the wax block onto the raised backs of leaves and "ironing" them onto previously waxed paper - in this case, I had found that glossy photo paper works nearly as well as encaustic shiny paper, and I have several free packs of the glossy photo paper from computer ink pack purchases, so I don't have to buy new supplies again.

This leaf had been preserved in glycerine - see this link for information on how to do this; it remains supple and can be reused

This oak leaf was dried and crumbled as I used it

I have continued to look for hand stitching on encaustic, and finally found Sue Tyldesley, on her website - I particularly liked "Connected Flowers", on the right of the first line of photos.  You might like to see her hand stitching on encaustic at this link.