Pressed flowers

What it is

A pressed flower keeps its outline and much of its colour but loses its depth. That makes it a material for flat design. Whole flowers, single petals, ferns, grasses and leaves are glued to paper or card and framed under glass, or sealed into candles, phone cases and resin jewellery. Some makers build detailed landscapes and portraits in which a petal becomes a hillside or a sleeve. Others simply mount one plant with its name and the date it was picked.

Where it comes from

The pressed plant collection, called a herbarium, was developed in Italy in the sixteenth century so that scholars could compare plants at any season. Museums and botanic gardens still hold millions of such sheets. Pressing flowers for pleasure was a popular hobby in nineteenth century Europe and North America, when albums of pressed ferns, seaweeds and travel souvenirs were common. In Japan, oshibana grew into a detailed picture making art, and Japanese makers developed ways of drying that hold colour well.

How it is made

Pick flowers on a dry day, after the dew has gone, and press them at once. Lay them face down on blotting paper or plain printer paper so that none overlap, cover with another sheet, and place inside a heavy book or a flower press. Add more weight on top. Leave for two to four weeks in a warm, dry room without opening. Thin, flat flowers work best. Thick ones, such as roses, are better taken apart and pressed petal by petal.

How to take part

1. Start with pansies, violas, daisies, cosmos, ferns and single hydrangea florets.
2. Use plain absorbent paper. Printed or glossy paper can mark the petals.
3. Lift the dry flowers with tweezers and fix them with a tiny dot of white glue.
4. Frame the result under glass and hang it away from direct sun, which fades the colour.

Good manners

• Do not pick wild flowers in nature reserves or parks, and never pick rare plants.
• Take only a few flowers from any one plant.

The flowers

PansyA large-flowered garden hybrid with a face-like blotch in many coloursVioletA large genus of delicate flowers found across temperate regions worldwideGarden cosmosA tall annual with feathery leaves and pink, purple or white daisy-like flowersHydrangeaFlowering shrubs with large heads that change color with soil pHHerbariumA scientific collection of preserved plant specimens for study and reference

Also part of it, and being written: Pressed flower craft, Bellis perennis, Fern.

Sources and further reading

• Pressed flower craft on Wikipedia