Is there a flower that blooms only a few times, but you’d like to see forever? Perhaps you’d like to put your flower in a scrapbook – only it isn’t flat enough. Pressing flowers has been a solution to this problem for years, and no, it’s not fake flowers. Rather, there is a way to flatten flowers you’ve grown in your own garden and keep them preserved for a while longer.
When you want to press flowers, it is best to pick them on a dry day (not right after a rainstorm) and during the morning hours so they aren’t too brittle and dry. Flowers are best picked just before they reach the full boom stage, unless you want so otherwise. Pressing isn’t just limited to flowers, either: leaves, blades, and herbs work just as well. Just make sure that your flowers can be flattened (no bulbs, sunflowers, etc. will work). You can also flatten petals and not the entire flowers themselves if you so desire.
- First, you need to find the materials. These include: Flowers, heavy books / bricks (something flat and heavy works best), tissue paper, newspaper, and two pieces of cardboard. Make sure that your books / bricks / something heavy can completely cover the cardboard, and make sure the cardboard is the size you want to spread the flowers out on and that it will cover all of the flowers.
- Lay down the cardboard; first, put newspaper on the cardboard, and then put some tissue paper on top of the newspaper. The newspaper is to keep the flower bits from becoming messy and give some padding; the tissue paper is to help protect the flowers.
- Arrange your picked flowers on the tissue paper. Make sure that none hang off out of the area of the cardboard. If you don’t want your flowers to accidentally stick together, make sure that none are touching one another and have room to be flattened down on. Whatever side of the flower is facing up on the tissue is the side that will be pressed flat.
- If you have a lot of flowers you want to press, you can continue to “stack.” On top of the stack you have just created, you can lay down the newspaper, and another layer of tissue paper, and continue steps 2 and 3 to create a “mega-stack.”
- When finished arranging the flowers, lay down another layer of tissue paper atop the flowers; then another layer of newspaper, and finally, the second piece of cardboard. Carefully distribute the weight of the books / bricks on top of the cardboard and make sure it’s pressing down evenly on the flowers.
- Depending on what flowers / leaves / herbs you are pressing, the pressing process varies in time. It can range anywhere from one week to four weeks. The safest week to remove the flowers is usually during the third week.
Other ideas for the pressing:
- Sometimes dyeing the flowers before pressing them gets interesting results.
- Some people prefer to glaze over the flowers once they’re dried and removed from the stack; this is optional. The glaze strengthens the flowers and preserves them for a much longer time, although depending on the flower it sometimes will destroy the texture or the flower itself.
- You can make numerous things with pressed flowers, including scrapbooks, journals, greeting cards, etc. – Some people like to weave them into their craft projects or stick them on canvases. Some people like to glue them onto picture frames.
Remember to be creative with your pressed flowers, and have fun! |
|
