DIY Leaf Bowl

INSIDE : Learn how to craft the perfect Fall centerpiece project! Collect colorful leaves in your neighborhood and make a gorgeous DIY Leaf Bowl.

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I recently went on a lovely Fall walk and collected all sorts of pretty leaves. I found yellow leaves, red leaves and some pretty green ones. I worked with HGTV and created a video of how to press leaves and turn them into a beautiful (and delicate) leaf bowl!

Let’s get into the supplies needed and how to make one yourself because it turned out so great for a fall centerpiece.

Looking for another fun Fall Leaf project?  Check out my DIY Oversized Leaf Backdrop post.

Supplies to make a Leaf Bowl

Collected Leaves (purchased or fake leaves work as well)
Mod Podge
Plastic Wrap
Small Bowl
Paint Brush
Scissors
Tweezers
Heavy Book
Wax Paper

How to Press Leaves

The first step in creating a leaf bowl is to dry out your leaves a bit if you have gathered them during a walk outdoors. The leaves freshly fallen from trees are too stiff and full of life. I found they didn’t want to form or mold to my bowl shape very well, so it’s important to use either fake leaves or pressed leaves for this project.

Therefore, the first thing I had to do was to press my leaves.

Get a heavy book

Start by finding a heavy book to help press your leaves flat. Fold pieces of wax paper in half and stick in between the pages. Gently place 2-4 leaves in the wax paper making sure that the leaves do not touch.

Close your book and if not quite heavy enough, place a few books on top for added weight.

Depending on the humidity and how thick your leaves are, it can take a few days to a couple of weeks to press leaves in a book. I just suggest checking your leaves around day 4 to see how they are doing.

You want the leaves to be flat and drier, but they do not need to be void of ALL moisture.

If you want to bypass using a heavy book, here are three great flower and leaf pressing kits! Option 1, 2 and 3.

Find a small bowl

Once your leaves are flat and a bit dried out, it’s time to start creating our leaf bowl!

Grab yourself a small bowl. Be sure to notice how many leaves you collected and pick an appropriately sized bowl. I had quite a few leaves, so my bowl was about 4-5″ wide and similar in height.

Turn the bowl upside down and cover the outside with Plastic Wrap or plastic cling. This will help you remove the leaves once the project is completed.

Add leaves and mod podge

Try to remember this is a leaf bowl and will be more delicate the more holes there are. So for the bottom and lower few inches, I found it helpful to use my more “sturdy” leaves. Try to cover that portion of the bowl with a few layers of leaves even to help create a stronger bowl.

I found placing the leaf down and then painting on a heavy coat of Mod Podge over top to work well.

Slowly layer your leaves all around the bowl. If you are finding a leaf is particular tricky to lay how you need it to, cover it with Mod Podge and let it sort of soak into the leaf for a few minutes while working on another area, then come back to it. Most of my leaves once soaking a bit in the glue mixture were able to form and press as I needed them to.

Allow to dry

Depending on how many layers of leaves and Mod Podge you used, your leaf bowl may take a day to try or many days. My bowl took four days to full dry. The mod podge should look clear once everything is dry. I noticed the outside (touching the air) dried faster than the inside (touching the plastic wrap).

Remove bowl from plastic wrap

Once your bowl has fully dried, it will still sort of “cling” to the Plastic Wrap, but pulling gently you should be able to remove the bowl little by little.

Fall Leaves Decor

Once your bowl is removed from the plastic, you should be able to admire all your handy work! It’s so fun to see how the light plays with the negative spaces the leaves made.

I was able to set a little afternoon Autumn party table and used my leaf bowl as the center piece. I set wooden fruit in my bowl and it held up perfectly.