Hello hello! If you watch my Instagram stories(*cough* you should, all the interesting stuff happens there ;)), then you know that recently I’ve been pressing a lot of flowers! Spring where I live brings a lot of beautiful blossoms that only last for a few weeks, so I press them to preserve some of that beauty! Plus, pressed flowers are a form of art on their own.
Anyway, I’ve gotten a lot of questions on how I do it so here are the steps! (So simple, trust me.)
1) Collect flowers and leaves! I like to collect them on my daily walks outside and in my backyard.
2) Place them (lay each one out, no overlaps) inside an old book (I like to use my standardized test study books, they’re giant and I hate them with a passion). If you want to be more professional, place the flowers on a sheet of parchment paper! I believe it absorbs the moisture better. But books are all I’ve got. Alternatively, you can press flowers with a book press.
3) Pile on more heavy books. The more, the faster your flowers will press/dry!
4) Let sit for 5-7 days. Smaller flowers will press after 2 days, and larger ones might take even longer. Don’t be afraid to open your book up and check on them! But be aware you might ruin a flower or two when you open the page...sometimes they‘ll crinkle.
5) Once they’re completely dry and paper thin, remove them from the book(I recommend using tweezers but I don’t own any so I just use my nails/fingertips. Just be careful! They’re fragile.) and you’re done!
tip: when choosing which flowers to press, avoid large, bulbous, wet flowers(i.e roses). They might look pretty but they’re notoriously difficult to press, and often they’ll just turn into this brown, crinkly lump. Instead, opt for flowers that are flatter or longer. Think about what they’ll look like flat before picking them!
tip: leaves are typically harder to dry out. If you want a sleek, flat flower, remove the leaves. If you're okay with a little bit of crinkling on the leaves, you can leave them on. Of course, leaving the plant in the book for a few days longer will also solve the problem.
another tip: don’t rob your neighbors of their flowers, they won’t appreciate it.
hope this helped you out!
until next time,
-elissa :)