Collage?

[Splungo]

For my over-holiday art homework I have to do an animal collage in the style of a collage artist. The artist I have chosen is Janine Mackintosh and I have chosen to make a peacock imitating her leaf-style. The only problem is, leaves, being organic, decompose and turn brown. Does anyone know how I can preserve the leaves so they stay green and healthy? Also any tips in general on making a leaf-collage would be greatly appreciated.

[Palagrin]

I don't think there's anything you can do to stop them going brown. At least, I've never heard of a way to keep them green...

[Baileyface]

Have you tried pressing them? I used to use a small flower presser all the time, then stick the wafer thin flowers on cards and stuff, they kept their colour. I think it's work with leaves aswell, it's worth a try

[Madi The Unicorn]

If all else fails you could try buying fake leaves like how you get fake plants with fake leaves but they might not look as good..

Or as Bailey says press some leaves. But if you need it for like next week it might take longer than you need... Apparently if you use hairspray on them that helps pressing them?

I read that someone preserved a leaf by laminating it, but I dunno if that would look any good.. :L

And I found this for autumn leaves I'm sure you could try them with green leaves:

Place leaves between two layers of wax paper. Cover with an old towel or cloth rag.

Press the fabric with a warm iron, sealing the wax paper together with the leaf in between. Cut your leaves out, leaving a narrow margin of wax paper around the leaf edge.

And this as well:

Yet another way to preserve the leaves is to submerge them in a solution of glycerin and water. Use a mixture of one part glycerin to two parts water.

Place the mixture in a flat pan, and totally submerge the leaves in a single layer in the liquid. You'll have to weight them down to keep them submerged. In two to six days, they should have absorbed the liquid and be soft and pliable.

Remove them from the pan and wipe off all the liquid with a soft cloth. Done correctly, the leaves will remain soft and pliable indefinitely.

[Lemonfluff]

I have a leaf in my room that's 300 million years old. It's a fossil. The ultimate preserver. I'm glad to have helped

[Splungo]

Yeah, it would help if I didn't need to glue together fossils for my collage

Thanks for all the USEFUL advice everybody ELSE

[Palagrin]

I'm not sure pressing leaves would help that much, I mean, they're pretty flat already xD

But the idea behind pressing flowers is that they dry in a flat form; and when leaves dry they dry brownish, so I don't think it would work.

[Splungo]

I think I'm going to use the age-old method of smothering them in paste once they're stuck down

[Baileyface]

^ Sounds like a good plan to me.

[Lemonfluff]

In what way was my advice NOT helpful?

*Goes and rants to 300 million year old leaf.

[Splungo]

This just in, sad girl's only friend is an old leaf.

[Lemonfluff]

Tis true