The Content Of The Article:
- Material and tools for the flower press
- Step by step: build a flower press yourself
- Design ideas with pressed flowers
The easiest way to preserve flowers and leaves is to place them in a thick book immediately after collecting between blotting paper and complaining about it with more books. However, it is much more elegant with a flower press, which you can easily build yourself. Here, the flowers are pressed by the pressure of two wood panels bolted together and several layers of absorbent paper.
Let the plywood panels cut to 30 x 30 centimeters in the DIY store right away. Matching pieces are occasionally also very cheap in the "Restekiste" to find
Material and tools for the flower press
- 2 plywood boards (each 1 cm thick)
- 4 carriage bolts (8 x 50 mm)
- 4 wing nuts (M8)
- 4 washers
- corrugated cardboard
- stable cutter / utility knife, screw clamps
- Drill with 10 mm drill bit
- Ruler, pencil
- For the decoration of the flower press: napkin varnish, brush, painter's crepe and pressed flowers
Step by step: build a flower press yourself
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Build flower press yourself
Place one of the two plywood boards on the corrugated board and use the cutter to cut four to five squares according to the size of the board
Then place the pieces of cardboard exactly on top of each other, stack between the wooden boards and fasten with clamps to a base. Mark the holes for the screws at the corners - about 2.5 centimeters from the edges - with pencil. Then pierce the entire flower press vertically at the corners
Now insert the screws from below through the wooden and cardboard pieces. Secure with the washers and thumbscrews
To decorate the top plate, mark the area to be covered with a painter's crepe and coat with napkin varnish
One after the other put on several pressed flowers and at the end again carefully with napkin varnish
To squeeze the wing nuts open again and put the flowers between absorbent blotting paper, newspaper or smooth kitchen crepe. Put cardboard and wooden plate on, screw everything well. After about two weeks, the flowers are dry and can be used to decorate greeting cards or bookmarks
Design ideas with pressed flowers
Just like daisies, lavender or colored leaves, grasses from the roadside or plants from the balcony are also suitable for pressing. The best way to collect in duplicate, because when drying something can break off. Depending on the size of the flower, the drying process takes different lengths. During this time, it is advisable to exchange the blotting paper every two to three days - so the delicate flowers do not stick firmly and the intensity of the colors is retained.
With self-pressed flowers you can create beautiful and personal cards or photo albums. In winter, they decorate individually designed stationery as a delicate summer breeze. Or you frame the flower and leaves of a plant and add the Latin name - as in an old textbook. The dried and pressed plants remain more durable when the shaped leaves are laminated or sealed.