I have had a deep appreciation for flowers since I was a young girl. I grew up surrounded by them-- growing, planting, gazing, smelling and even eating certain varieties.
A favorite thing I have always enjoyed is gathering flower bouquets. I enjoy connecting with my garden and noticing each bloom, carefully selecting the perfect specimen, color and scent to bring indoors to grace our table. As the blooms fade it is nice to archive them between the leaves of a favorite book. The problem I have found with this method is that certain varieties turn out great and others won't press firm enough and start to mold.
We decided today to preserve a few memories from our garden by pressing our favorite blooms, and necessity has given birth to this simple flower press. Here is a step-by-step guide for making your own at home!
You will need:
Fresh flowers
Cardboard
White paper
Elastics
Step one:
Choose your flowers. You will find with practice certain flowers may press better than others. Certain colors may fade while others retain their vibrancy.
Step two:
For one flower press cut two squares of cardboard and two equal squares of white paper. The top photo is actually many presses secured together. You can follow accordingly depending on how many flowers you wish to press.
Step three:
Lay two pieces of cardboard down on the table. On top of that lay your white paper over each piece of cardboard:
Step four: Lay your fresh flowers on one side of the paper, making sure they are not overlapping.
Step five: Make a 'flower sandwich.' Close the book together and fasten with an elastic on the top, middle and bottom. Now your flower press is complete!
To make more flower presses, continue the process and your whole stack of individual presses can be grouped and secured into one stack with additional elastics.
{A few examples of finished pressed flowers}
I would love to hear if you give this tutorial a try. Our family had alot of fun with this process from start to finish!
::The ever-talented Juliane of Froken Skicklig has just made me aware of the synchronicity of our postings! Please visit her dreamy blog and sign up for her amazing giveaway!::
