This popular method preserves leaves by dipping them in melted beeswax. It’s an excellent way to capture the beauty of fall leaf colors—red, orange, yellow, green, and gold—for use in crafts and decorations. You can also preserve wildflowers with this method.
Also see how to make a bowl with beeswax and pressed flowers here.
How to Make Beeswax Leaves
Preserving our favorite fall leaves in pure beeswax is a simple way to capture those beautiful colors and make them last long after the season is over.
In addition to fall leaves, you can also preserve seed pods, flowers, stems, and other plant leaves using this method.
How long will preserved leaves keep their color?
It’s hard to predict! How long preserved leaves keep their color will depend on the condition of the leaves at the time they were preserved and perhaps how much heat or light exposure they have. I’ve preserved all sorts of different leaves and some have maintained their strong colors for years while others have gradually faded out.
Beeswax, an all natural product created by honey bees, has so many uses including crafts like candle making, kitchen uses like beeswax food wraps (see the tutorial), as shoe polish, and it is found in many beauty products.
This shows 15 Creative and Practical Beeswax Projects in case you have leftovers after preserving your leaves.
While the beeswax-dipped leaves look beautiful on a mantle or table, I like to hang mine from branches to display them in front of a window. See How to Make a Decorative Fall Leaf Mobile here.
I’ve linked to products on Amazon but always recommend checking local sources for items like beeswax.
Beeswax for Crafts
- Beeswax for crafts comes in blocks or pellets, natural yellow or white, purified (natural debris is filtered out) or natural.
- I use the basic natural yellow beeswax in block form.
- Here (Ontario, Canada) I get 1lb (16 ounce / 450 gram) blocks for $6 each. Check with local beekeepers for best prices.
- At room temperature, beeswax can be fairly difficult to cut into pieces, which is why pellets are handy. You don’t have to cut them up and they melt rapidly.
- Tricks for cutting a block of beeswax
a) Place beeswax in the freezer for a day (in a heavy duty freezer bag) and then smash it with a hammer to break it into bits.
b) Alternately, you can also heat the blade of a good cutting knife and slice it that way.
Temperatures
- Melting point: 62 to 64°C (144 to 147 °F)
- Discolors: >85°C (185°F)
- Flash point: 204.4°C (400°F)
- Best storage: 15 to 25°C (59°F to 77°F)
Notes for Hand-Dipping Leaves in Beeswax
While fun to do, this can get messy if you don’t set up your work area correctly.
- Use freshly fallen leaves not dried out leaves—they will crumble during the dipping process.
You will be melting beeswax in a double-boiler on your stove top. The double-boiler is just two pots or a pot and bowl. Double-boiling produces a gentler heat than you would get if the beeswax was place directly in a pot on the stove.
- Dedicate the bowl used for melting the beeswax to crafts only.
Because this can get messy and it is not easy to completely clean a bowl used for melting beeswax, use a bowl that is heat proof and can be dedicated to future crafting.
- Place the baking tray lined with wax paper beside the stove.
After dipping each leaf in the melted beeswax, which only takes a few seconds, you will be placing it on the wax-paper lined baking sheet to dry.
- Wear clothes you don’t mind getting beeswax on: it doesn’t wash out.
To avoid drips, have your tray right by your double boiler.
Beeswax is harmless but takes some work (scraping) to remove from surfaces once dry.
If you do get drips, you can use a hair dryer to re-melt the beeswax and wipe if off your counter.
Resources
Ebook
How to Make Reusable Beeswax Wraps
by Melissa J. Will
Complete instructions for making beeswax food wraps for food storage that avoids plastic waste.
About This Ebook | Visit Ebook Shop
This ebook is a digital file (PDF format) you save to your device (not a physical product).
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~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛
How to Preserve Fall Leaves and Wildflowers with Beeswax
Equipment
- Tweezers
Supplies & Materials
- 10 Leaves – fresh, not dried out 4-inch, fall colors
- 10 Wildflowers – fresh, not dried out
- 5 Tree seeds (maple "keys")
- 2 ounces Beeswax pure, block or pellets
- 1 spool Clear thread
Instructions
- Melt 2 ounces beeswax in double boiler allowing it to become liquid but not boil.
- Using tweezers, dip leaves, wildflowers, seeds/keys in beeswax one at a time (for 1-2 seconds) and place on sheet of wax paper to cool.
- When dry, repeat for second coat.
- Attach clear thread through stem tips with needle and suspend from branch to display.
