How to Press Flowers

Pressing flowers can be very gratifying and will add the enjoyment of creating a finished pressed flower piece.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• flower
• heavy book
• paper/coffee filter
• two weeks of patience

1. FLOWER PREP.- For best results make sure you pick your flowers at their freshest and press when there is no moisture on them. The colors are better when you take this extra step. When preparing the flower for pressing give it some thought as to how it will look when flattened. Avoid allowing parts to overlap.

2. 
    

   PRESSING YOUR FLOWERS- There are a couple of different ways to press flowers, that I know of.
   Pressing Flowers in Books - Place flower between 2 sheets of paper (coffee filters work well also) to protect the pages of the book. Best to place flower in the center of a thick book. Weigh the book down and wait a couple of weeks.
   
   Flower Presses - You can buy a flower press or make your own out of a couple of wooden squares. To make a simple wooden press: Cut 2 wooden boards, about 1' width and 1' length. (You can also get these pre cut at a lumber store.) Hold them together with a long bolt and wing nut in each corner. Cut pieces of cardboard to fit between the boards, glue them to the inside of the block pieces. Allow this to dry thoroughly before putting in a flower. Place the flower in the center of the two blocks and tighten the wing nuts. Again, this will take a couple of weeks.

3. 
    

   After a couple of weeks has gone by. Open your book or flower press and carefully peel out the flower. You can now frame your flower or whatever you have in mind. Be creative.

[DreamLiving]

on 8/3/2008 How about m,ore suggestions on using the pressed flowers. Good article.