Pressing Flowers

There are always flowers abloom as the seasons pass in my garden. In Summer there are sunflowers, bright and bold. In Spring there is Queen Anne's Lace, whimsical and delicate. In Autumn, there is lavender, purple and fragrant. And, in Winter, there are violas.

 Sweet and tiny seasonal blooms.

As each season fades, so too do many blooms and then one must wait for their season to come around again in order to admire their beauty. To capture a little bit of the seasonal beauty of flowers, you can pick simple, colourful blooms (such as violas) and dry them between the pages of a weighty, old book or between the layers of a little flower press. Just like this:

Collect your blooms when they are dry, not wet from watering or damp from dew.

Separate and lay blooms "face down" on pieces of blotting paper.

Carefully snip off stalks using small, sharp scissors.

Place first sheet of prepared blooms onto piece of thick, heavy cardboard.

Place another piece of blotting paper on top.

Lay another piece of thick heavy card on top. Continue these layers until all blooms are in your press.

Place layers between top and bottom of flower press and insert bolts at corners.

Screw little wingnuts on as tightly as possible to compact layers. Place in a dry, dark place for many weeks.

Once the flowers in your press (or between the pages of a heavy book) are dry, they can be used to decorate many sweet little handmade projects like bookmarks, cards and gift tags. Young children could easily be involved in collecting and pressing flowers and leaves from the garden and then using them to make special, inexpensive handmade gifts for teachers, friends and their loved ones.

 The sweet Tiny Happy gift tag that inspired my current flower pressing fascination!

Part of the charm of this simple nature craft is in the waiting. While I am impatient for my flowers to dry (just as impatient as my son has been in waiting for his treasured four-leaf clovers to dry) it is in the waiting, and resisting of that urge to constantly peek at them, where the gift of delayed gratification lies. The waiting makes the end result even sweeter.

I hope, over the coming weekend, that you will have time to capture a little beauty and preserve it in some way. Maybe a photo. Maybe a sketch. Maybe a bottle of jam. Or maybe between sheets of paper.

Have a lovely weekend.

Meg