How to Make Skeleton Leaves for Dried Bouquets

Skeletonized leaves and other plants make a beautiful addition to a bouquet of flowers or other decorative arrangement. When plants are skeletonized, and then dried, they appear as white and misty wraith-like forms. Skeletenized leaves and branches can add an ethereal quality to your plant and flower arrangements.

To skeletonize leaves, branches, and other foliage, you will only need a few items from your kitchen cupboard. This process is simple and easy, and anyone can do it with a little bit of free time.

What You Will Need to Make Skeleton Leaves

Baking soda
Large pot
Butter knife
Bleach
Water
Soft cloth
Paper
Heavy book
Newspaper

Making Skeleton Leaves

Step 1. Choose the plants you would like to skeletonize. You can choose differently shaped leaves to create variety in your bouquet if you like. Ferns, thin branches, and certain flowers and other plants can be skeletonized as well. You will need to do a little bit of experimenting to see which plants will skeletonize the best.

Step 2. Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Add one teaspoon of baking soda for each quart of water. Place your chosen plants into the pot before it begins to boil. Put the plants in loosely, so there is room for them to move around freely in the water, and so that they won’t get tangled up with other plants. Boil your leaves and plants for 30 minutes. Remove the pot from the burner and let the plants cool in the water.

Step 3. When your leaves are fully cooled, remove them carefully from the water with a slotted spoon. Remove one at a time if you must, to avoid tangling and tearing. Place the plants out on several layers of newspaper to soak up excess water.

Step 4. Now comes the tricky part. Using a dull knife, like a butter knife, scrape off as much of the fleshy parts of the leaves as you can, leaving the veins and stems, and structural parts of the plants. Scrape on both sides of each leaf. Be careful not to tear or split the plants. You will probably ruin some if this is your first attempt at skeletonizing, so you might want to do some practicing first.

Step 5. Choose a bucket that is safe for using with bleach. Fill the bucket with cool water, adding two tablespoons of bleach for each quart of water. Make sure to use safety precautions when using bleach, like wearing rubber gloves.You may also want to wear clothing or an apron that you don’t mind getting bleach stained. Immerse the leaves in the bleach water, and let sit for an hour or so.

Step 6. Carefully remove the plants from the bleach water, and rinse well with clean water.

Step 7. Wipe the leaves and branches with a soft cloth. At this point, you have a choice. You can either press the leaves, by placing between sheets of paper, and pressing between the pages of a heavy book, or you can dry the plants out on sheets of paper if you don’t want them pressed. You can dry the plants on wire racks for more air circulation. They will be fuller and retain their shape better this way.