"To create with pressed flowers, you must be a gardener, at least in spirit, because a gardener above all else is a dreamer."

-- Sandy Puckett, author of "Fragile Beauty, The Victorian Art of Pressed Flowers." (Warner Books, 1992.)

 

        Never throw away an old phone book.

You never know when you might want to press some flowers. The pressed blooms, leaves and stems can then be used to "paint" pictures and cards for any occasion.

            Flower pressing is everything that is wonderful in the garden: planning, planting, gathering, preserving, sharing.

            The materials and equipment needed are simple. You can make a flower press with two pieces of wood, large screws and blotter paper. Or you can employ an old telephone book.

Above all else, you must begin.            

Gather your blooms

           Gathering pretty things to press begins long before summer. It begins when you plan this year's garden. Think about how well this flower or that flower will press.

Look around your garden, even in early spring: Which leaves have interesting shapes? Tendrils from vining plants add grace to a pressed flower arrangement. What grows alongside your lane? You will need as many leaves and stems as flowers to make your creations interesting and balanced.

            The best time for gathering is early in the day, after the dew has dried. Never try to press flowers and leaves with drops of water on them. They will be spotted and might even mildew in the press.

            "Dampness is a flower presser's greatest enemy," said Donna Conner, lecturer and author of "Painting with Flowers."

Pick each flower early in the season, in the cool part of the day. Conner says that flowers will wilt if picked when it is too hot. And, if you wait too long after the flower has been in bloom, the sun might fade the colors. Always put the flowers in your press right away.

Press more flowers, buds and leaves than you think you will ever need, Conner advises. You're bound to have failures as well as successes.

Put the phone book to work

            Naturally flat flowers -- such as pansies, Johnny Jump-ups and single roses -- press quickly and easily. Fatter flowers and those with more moisture will need to be taken apart or split in half  to press well. Some need their petals separated and pressed individually.

            Lay each flower on the blotter paper as you want it to look when it is finished drying and pressing. You may put as many flowers, leaves or grasses on a page as will fit without touching each other, as long as they are about the same thickness. Lay the blotter paper or 1/4 inch of phone book pages carefully over the layer of flowers so you don't move them around. Make another layer of flowers, and continue until your press or phone book is full.

            Put the press somewhere out of the way n somewhere it can sit undisturbed for at least three weeks. Fatter, moister flowers might take eight weeks. Pile on books, bricks, bookends n whatever you have to weigh down the phone books. On a flower press, simply tighten the screws.

Don't peek for the entire pressing time. It helps if you mark today's date and the date three weeks from now on a piece of masking tape and put it on the outside of the press.

 

Remove the blooms

Removing flowers from the press is the exciting part. It's hard to remember exactly what you put in the press so many weeks before, so unpacking is a treasure hunt.

You can't help but wonder if all the flowers dried true to their original colors, or if they changed during the process. Conner says that reds can hold their color or turn completely black; oranges can dry a shade or two darker; whites often dry brown; purples and blues hold their colors, but sometimes will dry darker. Experimentation will teach you what to expect most of the time.           

You can tell the flowers are dry when they are rigid and slightly brittle. Test one by lifting a flower attached to its stem, hold the flower up at the base of the stem. If it stands upright it is ready; if it flops it should be pressed a while longer, Conner said.

Use tweezers to take plants from the press. Clean out all plant material and make sure the blotter pages are clean and ready to be used again, or thrown away. Throw the papers away if you see mildew, stains, ridges or anything that can transfer to future flowers.           

           

Store and sort

Conner uses stacks of ordinary paper plates to sort and store her materials. They're economical, plain, absorbent paper, and they work beautifully to keep the flowers from harmful sun and fluorescent lights. Even then, once exposed to light, pressed flowers can fade to beige in two or three years. Every once in a while, they last longer.

"I have 2,000 paper plates, and each plate holds one kind of flower or leaf," she said. She stacks them on floor-to-ceiling shelves, and labels the shelves by color. Don't allow the pressed flowers to touch one another on the plates, and it's a good idea to put a layer of tissue between each plate of flowers, she says.

Never use plastic to store pressed flowers. Plastic bags can trap the teeny bit of moisture that might not have dried out of the flowers; plastic plates can create static electricity. Not a pretty picture when you're trying to handle fragile pressed flowers.

Paint with flowers

Your palette awaits you.

"You might not be the most talented person in the world, but the flowers are so beautiful that you should be able to create something very special," Conner said.

You can create pictures, display single specimens, or put pressed flowers on picture frame mats, mirrors, lamp shades, bottles, bookmarks or surrounding a wedding invitation. "I've put them on hand-blown eggs, even egg-shaped gourds," Conner said.

Play, and dream, a little. This is supposed to be fun.

"It's not supposed to be trauma-ville," Conner said. Everything in this art is trial-and-error. There's always tomorrow and another flower to play with.

Try arranging a few flowers on a matboard. Or don't arrange them. Simply drop about a dozen pansies or other flowers on a large mat.

If you like what you see, it's time to glue.

* Put some Elmer's glue in a small cup. You can use full-strength or thin it with water. Experiment to see what works best with your flowers.

* Pick up a flower with the tweezers and hold it upside-down on a plain paper plate or waxed paper. Paint the back side with glue. Make sure you brush the glue gently from the center of the flower, all the way out to the tip of each petal.

* Slip the tweezers under the flower and pick it up. Lay it where you want it.

* Consider anything you drop somewhere else to be a "happy accident."

* Learn to say, "I meant to do that."

 

Note:  Donna Conner is a lecturer and author of "Painting with Flowers." She lives in the Seattle area, where she co-owns a nursery with her husband.

Two other useful books you might want to check out: "Glorious Pressed Flower Projects," by Cellestine Hannemann, Sterling Publishing, 1991;

"Fragile Beauty, The Victorian Art of Pressed Flowers," Sandy Puckett, Warner Books, 1992.