3 Aug 20
Pressed & Dried Flowers: Tips To Preserving Pretty Petals
There is something romantic about pulling a well-worn, but long-forgotten book from your shelf, carefully flipping the pages back, awakening them from a restful slumber only to have a delicately pressed flower flutter down to the floor, landing at your feet.
Pressing flowers isn't anything new, in fact, I have been pressing flowers for as long as I can remember. In a way, pressing flowers allows me to preserve a bit of spring & summer so I can carry the spirit of the seasons with me throughout the rest of the year.
As of late, I have noticed a huge uptick in the desire to dry flowers as well as press flowers. Thanks to Instagram & Pinterest {even Tik Tock videos} the old art of pressing petals has been given a new life.
Pressing flowers is super easy, but there are a few tricks to knowing in order to get your flowers preserved properly.
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| How-To-Press-Flowers |
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| 2020 Lilacs |
Tips to Pressing Flowers:
- Dry flowers make the best-pressed flowers: An optimal time to pick your flowers to press is in the evening, right as golden hour settles in. Petals that have been kissed by the sun all-day {nice n' dry} press the best. Avoid picking flowers in the early morning as dawn's dew doesn't do much for persevering petals.
- Big thick books work best: I have pressed all sorts of petals in all sorts of books. However, I find that big thick coffee table books work the best. For daintier petals, chapter books & even notebooks work well. I also like using cooking books to press my flowers in.
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| I also have a flower journal where I keep a lot of pressed botanicals, leaves, petals, & flowers. |
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| How-to-Dry-Flowers |
- Parchment paper is your best friend: I have made the mistake of pressing a flower right between the pages of a book with nothing between the petals & the paper, only to have the petal stick to the book's page & ruin both the flower & book. No fun! Instead, I have found parchment paper {which you can buy at the Dollar Store} is the best for pressing flowers. The flowers don't stick to the parchment paper & it can be reused again & again.
- Optimal pressing time: While I have left {more like, forgotten} petals inside of a book for a year or so, I find that 3-4 weeks inside a book is a good amount of time to preserve petals.
- Hairspray does wonders: After my flowers are pressed, spraying a little basic hairspray on the flowers keeps them crisp & preserved nicely.
- Storage: After my flowers are pressed, I typically store them in a cool, dry area that isn't in direct sunlight. I store some in envelopes that I use for card making, others I keep inside an air-tight plastic container. Flowers that I have dried, I display in a clean glass vase--no water needed!
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| Peony Petals |
Drying flowers is a little different than pressing flowers. I take the flowers I am wanting to dry & tie a string/ribbon around the end of the stems. I then hang the flowers upside down in the back of my closet with a plastic bag tied loosely, enclosing them. I keep them there for about four to five weeks until they are nice and crisp.
Next, I spray the dried flowers with hairspray. & that's it!
I want to dedicate this post to Regis Philbin who passed away July 24th. Regis was one of my favorite morning people as over the years. I grew up with him virtually inside my home, kitchen, & later on, dorm room. He was a true TV giant & will be greatly missed.
Regis Philbin 1931-2020
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