Pressing Wildflowers

In August, I decided to take advantage of a nice evening and gather some wildflower while they were still available. I obtained a flower press at a yard sale last year, but hadn’t had an opportunity to use it yet.

The instructions said to gather mid afternoon on a completely dry day. Well, I can’t say that I followed that exactly but I dried off the petals before pressing. I primarily looked for smaller blooms with distinct petals, though I also added a few unusual shaped blooms. I went to a park that had some wild flowers in an unmown area along the trail and scavenged next to a parking lot. I also got some flowers from my mom’s garden.

After gathering, I cut off the stems and arranged a few blooms on each level of my press, between two sheets of blotter paper. The instructions say to leave them in the press at least three weeks, tightening slightly each day.

It’s mid October so time to take a look! I’m really happy with how some of them turned out. I love the vibrant colors of the marigolds and black-eyed-Susans. The purple wildflowers are more interesting though in shape and texture.

I initially started this project because I had seen an idea of turning pressed flowers into stickers using parchment paper and clear packing tape. I tried this with a few of the flowers, but realized most of the flowers I had picked were too big once pressed flat. They would fit within the width of the tape, but this didn’t allow much margin around them to make sure the sticker would adhere to a surface. If you want to try this, I would choose very small blooms.

Since making stickers is not a good option for this selection, I will probably end up using these on cards and stationery, attaching them with a little bit of tacky glue in strategic places. I do have a specific plan in mind for the Queen Anne’s Lace, but until I have specific uses for the others, I’ll store them in the press again.