Put leaves in a pan and cover with water. If making lots of skeletons, boil about 100 at a time. Add the half cup of Persil and stir. Turn the heat on and bring to a boil, then reduce heat so it simmers. Leave simmering for around 2 hours, stirring occasionally - check that the leaves are soft, but not TOO soft or they will just disintegrate.

When they've finished boiling they'll look like this - ugly and very smelly. Move them from the pan and into a tub of cold water.

The leaves should be very soft - if you pick one up and rub it, the outer 'skin' layer should split and you'll be able to see the skeleton inside (wow this sounds morbid!)

Now take another tub; put the leaf in and fill it with just enough water to cover it. Take the paintbrush and start gently peeling away the skin from the skeleton, discarding the bits of skin as you go. Be careful not to rip the skeleton, but it's not the end of the world if you do.

This is what the leaf looks like after the 'skin' has been peeled away; some bits of pulp will remain. Just poke those gently with the paintbrush and they'll dislodge and float away. Think of yourself as some kind of leaf archaeologist. :)

Lay the leaf flat on a kitchen towel and poke it with the paintbrush some more, to drain all the excess water.

Hooray, now you have a skeleton leaf!

Start building a collection. Leave them to dry for about an hour.

Receive your fairy lights in the mail and proceed to decorate your room with them immediately. Then take them down as you realise they're not pretty enough yet.

The lights I used were LED lights off eBay, they cost about £8 for 10 metres, which is not bad. They get a little hot, but I'm hoping it's not a cause for concern.

Wrap a piece of double-sided tape around the light. Don't touch the tape with your fingers though, or it'll lose all it's stickiness.

Wrap a leaf around the light.

Keep wrapping leaves until it looks like this.

Tie a ribbon around the light for pretties and security (but mainly pretties).

Voila! Now continue until your lights are done.

Plug in and enjoy :)