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How to Make Placemats With Wax Paper

Wax paper makes a good child's placemat.
wax pencils image by sanyal from Fotolia.com

Wax papers are convenient tools for the kitchen, and many people have discovered this culinary paper is a good craft medium too. Wax paper comes in rolls, most often in plain white sheets but with some searching, you can locate colored wax paper. A simple wax paper craft is placemat making. Display a flower or leaf collection in your work of art, or just show off some of your favorite colors. Search your yard or home for the components you will need to make wax paper placemats.

Wax paper makes a good child's placemat.
wax pencils image by sanyal from Fotolia.com

Things You'll Need:

  • Wax Paper
  • Scissors
  • Plastic Storage Bag
  • Yardstick
  • Ironing Board
  • Crayons
  • Pencil
  • Mallet
  • Leaves
  • Flowers
  • Iron
  • Phone Book

Walk in your yard to collect attractive leaves or flowers to add to the placemat. Remove bulky stems, and look for thin, flat items.

Flatten your leaves and flowers seven to 10 days ahead of time by placing them inside a phone book lined with wax paper, closing the book, and leaving it undisturbed.

Roll out the wax paper in the length you want. A good size placemat is 1 foot wide by 2 feet long. Fortunately, wax rolls are normally 1 foot wide already. Measure the length with a yardstick and mark it with a pencil.

Cut it with scissors. Repeat the process to get the two pieces you will need to make a placemat. You need two sheets for each placemat.

Heat up an iron on the low or warm setting.

Lay one sheet of wax paper on the ironing board. Arrange the leaves and collected items on top of the wax sheet. It does not matter which side of the wax paper is face up and which side is face down. Keep the items away from the edges of the paper.

Place the second sheet of wax paper on top, even with the bottom piece.

Press the ironing board down onto the wax paper. Gently smooth the two pieces together by sliding the warm iron over the wax. This will melt the wax behind the two pieces together. Let the wax cool for a minute before handling it.

Tip

Instead of leaves, use clippings of your favorite animals from magazines. Cut out construction paper creatures and place them in your wax paper montage.

Collect broken crayons, remove the labels, place them in a plastic bag and smash them with a rubber mallet. Lay a piece of wax paper on an ironing board and sprinkle the smashed crayons around it. Place a second sheet of wax paper on top, and then glide an iron over it, melting the broken crayons in interesting shapes.

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