Capture the beauty of nature by pressing your favourite blooms and then framing or crafting with them.
There are so many ways to press flowers, but my favourite is the good old clamp press method. And the beauty of making your own is that you can make a press as big or small as you like. A micro size would be perfect for the little flower heads and small enough to carry around in your bag. But a grande size would be great for pressing the whole flower and stem of a poppy, gerbera or hibiscus, leaves and all.
Making the press was easy and just required a quick trip to the Brico (DIY shop) for some hardwood and little butterfly (wing nut) fixings. You might have some small pieces of wood lying around that you can use but I bought a small piece of plywood which worked really well.
To make a simple flower press here’s what you’ll need:
KIT REQUIRED
- Solid wood 5-10mm thick
- Fixings (wing nuts and screws/washers)
- Cardboard
- Scrap paper or kitchen roll
- Flowers
-
Scissors
And here’s how to make your flower press:
Want to print the instructions see HERE
1. Cut 2 pieces of wood to size, sand the edges as you go to avoid splinters.
2. Mark each corner for a hole, Pro tip: drill both wooden pieces together so that you know the holes will match up perfectly later.
3. Drill a hole in each corner to match the size of your fixings (I chose 5mm for my press)
4. Assemble your press by pushing the fixings up through the corner holes in your wood boards.
5. Add a layer of cardboard that sits inside of the frame and to make the most of the space I used the board as a template and cut the corners off to avoid the fixings.
6. I was then able to use the cardboard as a template to prepare more layers of paper cut to size. I also like to use kitchen roll as it's absorbent and helps wick away the moisture from the flowers and stems.
7. Next you will LAYER. First cardboard then paper, flowers, paper, flowers, paper, flowers and so on until you are finished with a last layer of cardboard.
8. Finally add the second board on top and add wing nuts onto the screws to really tighten up the flower sandwich.
Lastly grab a glass of lemonade and wait patiently. You can open the press and add as many more layers as you like until your press is packed full of summer loveliness. Then you’ll need to make another press.
Print these instructions:
Until next time, Happy Crafting
