I spent a little time pressing flowers yesterday — it’s a nice low-key activity to do while watching TV. I’ve refined my process, thought I’d share. What I typically do now is use the Microfleur press for a first pass (30 seconds, then maybe a second 30 second burst if the flowers aren’t flattened and at least somewhat dry), and then I transfer them to a book to finish pressing.
The advantage of using the press first is that I can more easily put them into a book and have them lay reasonably flat, so there’s more control over the shape of how they press. It also speeds up drying time considerably.
The advantage of finishing with the book is that to completely dry in the press, you have to be extremely careful with how many 30 second bursts you do — too many, and the plant materials go brown.
The only downside is that I don’t have them immediately available for use, but if I do some every few weeks, I have a nice stock for working with (generally for either papercrafting or resin work) at any point.
That rose is “Lovely Fairy” — it has a beautiful color both fresh and pressed.
