Time: 10 minutes + 4-6 week wait time
Materials: flowers, scissors, blotting paper, heavy book
As I’m sure you know by now (especially if you follow me on Instagram), I absolutely love flowers. The only part that I don’t love about them is having to toss out wilted blooms after a week or so. Instead of pitching my latest bouquet, I decided to press my favorites stems and petals so that I could have them to craft with in the future! Here’s how to press flowers:
It’s best to press flowers when they’ve been freshly picked. I found these stems throughout the neighborhood, but if you happen to buy yours, I recommend pressing the same day you take them home.
If you don’t have blotting paper, you can also use wax paper. Paper towels may leave an impression on your flowers (if textured), and newspapers tend to shed ink.
Depending on how you plan to use your dried flowers, you may want to snip your stems. This step is completely optional and will vary depending on the type of flower you’re working with.
Place flowers between two sheets of blotter (or wax) paper, making sure the petals do not touch one another.
Position your paper at the back of a heavy book and close. You’ll want to leave your flowers alone for about 4-6 weeks (try not to peek!). The longer the press time, the longer they’ll be able to retain their coloring when exposed to the sun again.
I’ll be back next month with a project using these exact flowers, so stay tuned!
**Update! I made DIY Dried Flower Coasters with this exact batch of flowers!