In this guide you're going to learn how to press flowers naturally!
First, let's start with the supplies that you'll need:
- Cardboard for layers
- Cardstock, watercolor paper, or thick paper for layers - using thick paper helps absorb the moisture out of the flowers
- Flower press (two wooden planks of wood that can be tightened or loosened with wingnut screws)
- Flowers
- Scissors
There's a whole science/art to picking the right flowers to press, but we'll get into that in another article. For now, let's just broadly assume that you can use any flower.
How to Press Flowers:
- Set up your work area with your flower press, and set in the first sheet of cardboard
- Once you have the first sheet of cardboard laid down on top of the wood, place a thick sheet of paper or cardstock on top
- Take your scissors or pruners and snip the flower you want to put into the press
- Lay the flower as flat as possible. You're going to have to practice this part, as different flowers tend to look best in various ways.
- Once you have all of your flowers laid out, make sure they aren't touching each other as this could affect your final product!
- Cover the flowers with another layer of paper, followed by cardboard on top
- The idea is to layer cardboard, paper, flowers, paper, and cardboard again so that each layer of flowers has paper and cardboard.