Waxing and Waning

See that cheap, tacky, plastic vase? It happened to be what was selected at the florist's when someone sent me some flowers. The bouquet was wonderful. I have never liked the vase. So the whole thing yesterday with waxing the leaves was just one step in the process of upgrading the vase from its commercial tacky state to a far more elegant homemade tacky state. A little serious decoupage seemed to be the solution.

A word about waxing the leaves -- okay, lots of words. I have already slipped an editorial warning into yesterday's post -- in red ink, no less -- that one should NOT skip the ironing step. It really didn't seem to be drawing out any moisture so I wrongly assumed there wasn't a significant amount to draw. So, yes, iron your leaves. What the heck. That's the most use my iron has had in years.

As for the waxing method itself, I guess it depends on what you want to do with the leaves. If one is going to mount them on some kind of display, I would suggest a bit of Tacky Glue to attach them, then at least two good coats of Mod Podge -- or some kind of clear sealer -- over them, letting them dry between coats. I'm not at all sure the results will be very durable unless protected behind glass or something. After 24 hours, the waxed leaves seemed a bit on the brittle side. Prettier than dry brittle but brittle is not a Good Thang.

I was able to use some of the leaves on the vase but it took some careful juking and jiving to get it done. If they had been just a bit more pliable, I could have attached them smoothly with just the Mod Podge. Had to use the Tacky Glue to hold them down, then go over them with the MP. When the surface was dry enough to touch without stickiness, I pressed the leaves flatter with my fingers, easing out air pockets and sealing edges.

I'm finding out I could have saved time in the long run -- with a better result -- if I'd just done the encasing procedure with Mod Podge in the first place, never mind the wax. You brush MP on one side of each leaf, let it dry, turn it over and brush the other side. (We're talking about well-ironed leaves here, she said with a rueful smile.) Do at least two coats. I have a few leaves I did that way today with just the two coats. I'll see how they look tomorrow. If all goes well, I'll add a couple more coats and then they should store nicely until I want to use them in a decoupage project down the road.

In fact, I slathered a thick layer of MP on one of the over-curled waxed leaves and hung it by its stem from a clip over the sink. It's magically gone from brittle to flexible. If that condition holds, perhaps I can rescue the other waxers that waned on me.

Oh! Kate, you were asking about the experiment with the hydrangea blossoms. The ones I had ironed were so delicate I couldn't wax them. The un-ironed ones waxed up great -- but had turned brown by this morning. So much for that idea. However, some blossoms I hadn't done anything with seem to have dried quite nicely on their own overnight and aren't quite as delicate as their ironed brethren. So I have a bunch more laid out on the paper and I'll see how they look in the morning. Will let you know.

As for the vase, well, first I covered it with Mod Podge and laid on torn pieces of green tissue paper, purposely encouraging wrinkling to achieve texture. Then another coat of MP. The leaves went over that after it had dried. There have been a couple more coats of MP and there really should be some kind of clear acrylic or varnish sealer before I pronounce it finished. In the meantime, I stuck a few sprigs of fresh rosemary in it and called the project Done-Almost-But-Not-Quite. And there you have it: homemade domestic tacky.