Pressing Flowers

Pressing flowers and other Plantae, is a very calming craft. I received a flower press from a dear friend, and recently began my first batch of flowers. I'm using a bouquet of flowers given to me by my grandmother, and I am happy that I am preserving their beauty forever.

It's amazing how many various creations can be made from pressing flowers, vegetables, roots, stems, and other plants. Pressed art can be used to decorate cards, pictures, paper, calendars, and much more.
The pressing method is fairly simple, but can vary depending on the species, and on personal preference. For most plants, flatten the flowers, petals or what-have-you using your fingers and then lie in tissue paper or newspaper before closing in a book, or flower press for about 4 weeks. Remember that the angle the sample is flattened will be the same when it is dried, so feel free to arrange petals to better show the flowers' beauty. A large book, which is low in acidity will work fine, but the benefit of a press is that you can tighen the corners, which creates a more even distribution of pressure, and allows you to control the pressure amount.In approximately 4 weeks I will remove the pressings and attempt to create some cards with them.

Happy crafting.