pressing flowers

[Jack]

I want to press flowers. I'm going to start tomorrow.

I know it's relatively simple to do, and I've found ten million websites with instructions.

I'm wondering if anybody here presses flowers as a form of art or a hobby, and what you think of it?

[susnfx]

I want to press flowers. I'm going to start tomorrow.

I know it's relatively simple to do, and I've found ten million websites with instructions.

I'm wondering if anybody here presses flowers as a form of art or a hobby, and what you think of it?

I do! I use a simple, inexpensive flower press my daughter gave me for Christmas a few years ago. I've got a couple of little containers where I save the pressed flowers. It's very interesting to try different plants and plant parts - even just grass stems - and see what works and what doesn't. I've put them on the outside of candles, then dipped the candle in paraffin--they only stay colorful for a year or so, but they're very pretty. I've also made my own notecards. Go for it!

Susan

[Jack]

I want to press flowers. I'm going to start tomorrow.

I know it's relatively simple to do, and I've found ten million websites with instructions.

I'm wondering if anybody here presses flowers as a form of art or a hobby, and what you think of it?

I do! I use a simple, inexpensive flower press my daughter gave me for Christmas a few years ago. I've got a couple of little containers where I save the pressed flowers. It's very interesting to try different plants and plant parts - even just grass stems - and see what works and what doesn't. I've put them on the outside of candles, then dipped the candle in paraffin--they only stay colorful for a year or so, but they're very pretty. I've also made my own notecards. Go for it!

Susan

I will. There are a million daffodils planted on this campus, and even though it's "technically" against the rules to pick them, nearly every professor's office has a vase of daffodils, and so does the front desk in the library and the front desk of another building I've noticed. Hehe...

It's one of those rules that nobody obeys, not even the landscaping people. After a long hard winter of no flowers (except pansies), it's hard NOT to pick a daffodil!

[susnfx]

You really couldn't press an entire daffodil - you've got to use flatter flowers. But you could try single leaves and then arrange them to look like a daffodil on whatever you were using it for.

I should have mentioned that before I got the flower press, I just put the flowers between paper towels and then put them into the middle of a very large dictionary I've got and left them for a couple of weeks. Works just as well.

Susan

[Jack]

You really couldn't press an entire daffodil - you've got to use flatter flowers. But you could try single leaves and then arrange them to look like a daffodil on whatever you were using it for.

I should have mentioned that before I got the flower press, I just put the flowers between paper towels and then put them into the middle of a very large dictionary I've got and left them for a couple of weeks. Works just as well.

Susan

There are some daffodils that are about the size of a nickel and really compact. I think you could press them maybe, but not the bigger ones, no?

[izzarina]

I've done the paper towel/dictionary trick too. It does work really well. I really like to press Pansies. They are already really flat and look so pretty once they are pressed.

[susnfx]

There are some daffodils that are about the size of a nickel and really compact. I think you could press them maybe, but not the bigger ones, no?

They need to have flat backs. The flatter the flower, the better. Pansies are good. Sometimes I find some great tiny flowers to press just by looking at weeds (wildflowers) when I go for a walk. I've got a type of phlox in my garden (a bluish/purple little flower) that presses wonderfully. Try all kinds of little leaves--just go out and look around. You'll start finding stuff you've never noticed before. Try pressing them and if it doesn't work, try something else!

Susan

[SteveShaw]

Have a care about picking wild flowers. It can become very addictive. Bad news if you get so involved that you start to seek out rarities, and the temptation to collect gets even greater when you track them down. I picked a Man Orchid on Box Hill in Surrey, England, when I was at univerity, intending to press it. I found out that it was an endangered species and I found it hard to live with the guilt as well as the disapproval of my peers. Many species are under pressure these days due to changes in land-use and farming practices, and you should not be adding to the damage by collecting. All things in moderation!

Steve (Botany graduate, 1969. )

[scottielvr]

.... I picked a Man Orchid ....

Oy vey! From jim-jam bottoms in the chips thread, to this. Oh, it's a night of wonders, all right (if you're into Greek >Latin roots).

[Jack]

There are some daffodils that are about the size of a nickel and really compact. I think you could press them maybe, but not the bigger ones, no?

They need to have flat backs. The flatter the flower, the better. Pansies are good. Sometimes I find some great tiny flowers to press just by looking at weeds (wildflowers) when I go for a walk. I've got a type of phlox in my garden (a bluish/purple little flower) that presses wonderfully. Try all kinds of little leaves--just go out and look around. You'll start finding stuff you've never noticed before. Try pressing them and if it doesn't work, try something else!

Susan

That same kind of phlox grows here. It's almost blue, but when you get up close to it you realise it's more of a purple. They're so dainty. I'm still going to try pressing daffodils, too, though, especially the miniature ones. It can't hurt. There's a cherry tree blooming, too. I think that'd be splendid to press...

[SteveShaw]

.... I picked a Man Orchid ....

Oy vey! From jim-jam bottoms in the chips thread, to this. Oh, it's a night of wonders, all right (if you're into Greek >Latin roots).

I take it you're referring to the link between the word "orchid" and testicles. Orchids were so-named because of the resemblance of the tubers in some species (especially when paired) to testicles. Somebody's idea of a joke I suppose!

As for "orchestra..."

[Walden]

Seems to me that violets press well.

[lilymaid]

Have a care about picking wild flowers. It can become very addictive. Bad news if you get so involved that you start to seek out rarities, and the temptation to collect gets even greater when you track them down.

That could get you in some nasty legal trouble here, I'm afraid, even if it were just a common columbine. I remember as a child, I'd just made a little wreath for my doll's head out of wildflowers when someone told me so. It gave me quite a scare.

I say try things. Some not so flat flowers look sort of interesting pressed, they get all thin and you can see the other side. Just if they're too thick, it won't work at all.

I think a big book works just about as well as my press. Be sure to put an ample amount of paper you can mess up on either side, though, otherwise your book will be much less pretty when you're done.

Pansies almost always turn out nice, and I like leaves, too. Flowers that are nice and thin and not too deathly juicy seem to do best, and Susan's right, you're more likely to get something pretty with a flat flower. I've liked the results with flowers that weren't, before, but pansies and things always seem to come out well.

If you do an un-flat flower, I find they tend to work better on their side a lot of the time. They come out a bit less squished looking and are often more recognizable. However, columbines, for instance, are very pretty when successfully done, but have a tendency to land in odd ways.

This page had pictures of some flowers pressed on their sides.

http://www.pressedflowerpatch.com/scsto ... y-red.html

[BmacD]

My mother-in-law uses a color scanner to scan fresh flowers . She then cuts out each flower or leaf { ferns work well } with embroidry scissors and then arranges the cut-outs into suitable arrangements for color scanning again, to suitable card stock for one of a kind greeting cards. The joys of free time and being eighty and still creative.
Bruce

[roxie]

Before when I was at my teenage years, I used pressed flowers as a design on my notebook and old books before I cover it. By the way, thanks for sharing the idea of using pressed flowers as a design in candle molders.