First successful skeleton leaves for collages and mixed media

Hi garden community, I wanted to share with you my very first skeleton leaf test.
Skeleton leaves are obtained by removing a leave's tissue, resulting in a beautiful “skeleton” of veins. They are so delicate but are perfect for collaging and mixed media projects.
I actually tried this a few times before but they failed. My first try was on a few walnuts leaves and cherries. But after waiting for almost 2 weeks when it come for the brushing it really didn't do well, got easily broken.
But after that failed experiment I discovered that the best are the more thick leaves that have a "shiny" layer on top.
So I tried again with cottonwood leaves. And this is my result. Almost-almost perfect 😅

I just used the simple method, boiled them then let the time do it's thing.
Now, the hardest part is finishing the remaining 20 leaves.

I plan in using them in mix-media, but they can be used in so many ways. They can be bleached or colored.

An interesting idea that I've seen is turning them into soap leaves. This way they can be easily carried around with you in your bag and if you find yourself in a public place without soap just take out one leaf – wash your hands and throw away the skeleton leaf, so they go back to the mother nature.

https://pixabay.com/photos/leaf-skeleton-black-and-white-dead-1364485/

This was packaging is not used and it's biodegradable, helping the planet.
Well, the only downgrade being that it's such a long and delicate process. Though I'm sure there has to be an easier way.

Now there are no more leaves for me to experiment on, but I'm planning on trying on some magnolia next year. Thank you for reading and happy holidays :)