The easiest way to protect the great thing about the backyard is with a flower press. With only a few supplies and instruments, you may make a home made flower press that appears as stunning as it’s purposeful.
You’ll be able to actually protect flowers and leaves in a e-book, a technique that works effectively and is defined in this text. For these of you who wish to take your crafting to an entire new stage, a flower press offers you essentially the most pristine and excellent dried flowers to create your art work.
Final summer time, I grew violas for the primary time. They’re such fairly flowers, I made a decision on a whim to press some between a number of heavy books. These pressings became a favorite summer time exercise, and I quickly had fairly the gathering of pressed flowers and leaves from my backyard.
This yr, as I plan my backyard planting, I’ve additionally determined to prep for extra pressings by making my very own handmade flower press. Let me take you alongside and present you how one can make one too!
Handmade Flower Press
Fortunately, my grandfather has a woodworking store, so I finished by one afternoon and we made this flower press collectively.
Supplies
2 items of wooden of equal measurement
4 bolts
4 washers
4 wing nuts
Cardboard (or skinny wooden)
Watercolour paper (or white paper)
Further Instruments
Noticed (or have your wooden minimize to measurement at your native ironmongery shop)
Drill
Sandpaper
Make It!
First, minimize your wooden to measurement (you may make your flower press any measurement you need!). I made mine roughly 8″x 10″. Then, with the 2 items of wooden stacked collectively, drill a gap by every nook (all through each items of wooden). Use sandpaper to easy off any tough edges.
Notice: Ensure that to decide on a drill bit that’s the identical measurement as your bolt. I like to recommend drilling a check gap (utilizing a scrap piece of wooden) and ensuring the bolt slides by the opening simply.
Subsequent, minimize your cardboard to measurement. My grandfather occurred to have a chunk of very skinny wooden available, so we determined to make use of that as a substitute. Minimize your cardboard/wooden barely smaller than your 2 boards. Then minimize off every nook so that it’ll match contained in the bolts.
Use a chunk of the minimize cardboard/wooden as a information for slicing the watercolour paper (or white paper) to measurement.
Methods to Use a Picket Flower Press
To assemble the press, insert a bolt into every nook of the underside piece of the press. Layer alternate items of cardboard, paper, and flowers or leaves contained in the press. The variety of layers you utilize will depend upon what number of flowers you might be urgent.
Notice: I don’t advocate utilizing paper towels (as a substitute of white paper or watercolour paper) as the feel of the paper towel will probably be imprinted into your flowers whereas urgent.
Place the highest piece of wooden onto the press by threading the bolts by the holes. Add a washer to every bolt, then high with a wing nut, screwing each down tight, creating even stress. Your flowers nonetheless want some air stream to correctly, so be certain that the press isn’t too, too tight.
Let Your Flowers Dry In The Press For One Month
This half requires some endurance. Enable your flowers to press for a full 30 days. I extremely advocate checking on the flowers each week to make sure there isn’t any mould. The thicker and juicier the flower, the extra probably it’s to mould.
Simply be extraordinarily cautious as a result of checking them, as pulling the layers can lead to tearing or wrinkling your flowers!
Skilled Suggestions for Flower Urgent
Harvest flowers for urgent on dry days. The most effective time to gather flowers is mid-morning after the morning dew has dried.
Get your picked flowers into the press as quickly as potential, earlier than they begin to wilt, and preserve them out of direct daylight.
Kind your flowers by kind after which place them face down into the press. Grouping like flowers collectively is greatest as a result of they may dry on the identical price.
Ensure that the flowers don’t contact one another within the press. In any other case, as they dry, they may develop into caught collectively without end.
Beautify Your Plant Press
After my flower press was assembled, I made a decision to embellish the highest with a botanical illustration I discovered in an outdated e-book. I used an X-Acto knife to fastidiously minimize out the flowers. As soon as minimize out, I sprayed the again with adhesive and positioned it onto the press. Subsequent, I coated it with a number of layers of Mod Podge and gave it a ultimate spray of clear acrylic sealer to present it some further safety.
Flower Press FAQ
Every layer of your flower press ought to encompass a chunk of cardboard, the white or watercolour paper, your pressed flowers and leaves, the white paper once more, and one other piece of cardboard. Preserve stacking layers till your flower press is full, and add the wood piece on high to seal all of it in.
One hack to assist press small flowers is to place them between two cotton pads (just like the beauty ones) as a substitute of paper. This helps them to carry their form higher and stop the small petals from shrivelling up. Simply be certain that to make use of easy cotton pads so there isn’t any imprint on the flower petals.
Something thick and juicy will probably be tough to press because it retains an excessive amount of moisture throughout the drying course of. Sadly, because of this crops like dahlias, roses, tulips, mums, lilies, and extra are tough to press with out the flower moulding. Many individuals recommend disassembling the flower petals and reconstructing the “flower” after all of the petals have been pressed.
White flowers may even have a tendency to show yellow or brown within the press, however you possibly can have success with them. Simply be certain that to press a number of extras and see what seems!
Use Your Pressed Flowers in These Crafts
Rachel Beyer is an artist, designer and inventive maker dwelling in Portland, Oregon. She spends her days working at Molly Muriel Apothecary and running a blog at Adventures In Making. Her favourite hobbies embrace cooking, gardening, and crafting.
