 | Pressing Flowers Choose flowers such as pansies, roses, daisies, ferns, or violas. Place two or three blooms at a time side by side on a piece of blotting paper. Lay the flowers exactly the way you want them to dry--be sure and fold the petals out in the way you want them to stay. Cover the flowers with another sheet of blotting paper. Weight down with books, bricks, or some other heavy object, wait about 2-3 weeks before removing the pressed flowers. |
 Air Drying Choose flowers such as babys breath, globe amaranth, strawflowers, statice, Chinese Lantern, yarrow, and larkspur. Cut after the dew has dried in the late morning. Remove all the leaves from the stems. Tie several at a time together with string or florists wire. Hang upside down in a cool, dark, dry place such as a basement or closet. Leave until all the moisture has evaporated, this usually takes about two to three weeks. |  Microwave Drying Choose flowers such as dahlias, roses, mums, and asters. Fold paper towels around the flower blooms and place in microwave. Put a plate over the folded towels to keep the flowers flat. Place a glass of water in the microwave along with the flowers. Test your flowers to determine exactly how long it will take--start out at one and a half to two minutes on high. Remove, wait five minutes and check. Flowers will feel brittle to the touch if dry. |
Using a Drying Agent
| Drying agents include silica gel, sand, and kitty litter. Choose flowers such as snapdragons, marigolds,scarlet sage, zinnias, calendula, and daisies. Cut flowers in the middle of the day. Leave the stems short. Fill the bottom of a dish or box with about an inch of the drying agent. Place your flowers on top. Carefully pour in more of the drying agent until the flowers are completely covered. Leave for several days, until flowers feel paper-like to the touch. The dried blooms can be wired with 20-gauge florist wire for use in arrangements. |
Tips
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 How to Make a Flower Press |
| Cut two pieces of plywood to equal dimensions, about 14 inches by 16 inches is ideal. Drill a hole in each corner of both pieces. Use long bolts with wing nuts to connect the boards at all four corners. The wing nuts allow you to tighten or loosen the press to adjust the pressure. To dry flowers, place a layer of folded newspaper on the board. Next, put down a piece of blotting paper. Arrange your flowers on the blotting paper, not overlapping. Add another piece of blotting paper, more newspaper, and another layer of flowers. You can make as many layers as you want, as long as the bolts will hold the wood pieces together. Keep the press in a warm, dry place. After a few days, change only the newspaper between each layer, keeping the paper dry and the bolts tightened. Flowers are dry when crisp to the touch; this usually takes at least two weeks. |
Links
Drying Instructions Print Version
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