Postcrossing Blog

It’s Autumn in the north hemisphere, and trees all around us are putting on their most beautiful display of the year. It’s impossible not to notice all the vibrant reds, yellows and browns of fallen leaves, practically begging to be brought in and turned into something special. So when we stumbled on Beemo’s (aka wild_grazer) stylish postcards on Reddit, we asked her if she would like to write a short tutorial for the community. Here she is, with a step-by-step guide, inviting you to turn the surrounding magic into unique postcards!

First of all, it is time to go outside and collect some leaves. They should have some veins and have an interesting shape, as these are the main things that will create an interesting print. It doesn’t matter if the leaf is a bit dried out as you can soak it in some water for about 5 minutes and it will be soft again. Just make sure it is not broken. Clean the leaves and pat them dry.

You don’t need any fancy tools for this tutorial. You can use whatever you have available. You can use a pencil to make some guides so you know where to exactly put the leaf. I just put a little dot in the middle.

Apply a thin layer of paint on the leaf on the side with the veins, using a sponge brush or even a normal sponge. I used linocut printing ink, but acrylic or gouache probably works just fine. Make sure to execute this step and the next ones quickly as otherwise the paint will dry out.

You could add a little bit of water to your paint. This will create more of a watercolour effect. Without the water the print will be more refined. You can experiment with the amount of water and amount of paint that you apply for varying effects.

Turn over the leaf and place it on your card. Try to place it down without moving it as this will create stains.

Cover the leaf with a sheet of paper that fully covers the leaf and press it down/rub firmly. Normal printing paper would be too thin for this step, try to use paper of about 150–250gsm. You can also use a sheet of rubber such as for linocutting, which is what I did.

Remove the covering paper or rubber and leaf and let the card dry. The last step is to decorate the back however you want. And you’re done!

Et voilà! I hope this inspires some of you to go out there and appreciate the beauty of this time of the year. There are not many deciduous trees where I live, so I’m planning to give it a try with herbs from the garden, perhaps using light ink on dark paper. If you decide to give it a try, come share your results on the handmade postcards and mail art forum topic!