MAKING YOUR OWN FLOWER PRESS

.For anyone interested in pressing your own flowers, i have put together a simple guide on how to make your own flower press! (Of course you could just use a heavy book instead!)

This step by step guide will explain how to make your very own flower press in a matter of minutes. There is no need to go out to the store and buy one for $$$ when you can simply follow these simple instructions and make one yourself, enabling you to immediately begin pressing your own flowers!

YOU WILL NEED:

1. Two pieces of plywood cut to equal size (10" x 12" will be large enough) These will be for the top and bottom of the press.
   
2. 4 carriage bolts 1/4 inch thickness. The bolts need to be pretty long, so allow about 2 inches more than the thickness of the two pieces of plywood sandwiched together. So somewhere around 3 and a half inches in length would be good.
   
3. 4 washers that will fit the bolts.
   
4. 4 wing nuts 1/4 inch thickness.
   
5. Absorbent paper. Blotting paper would be perfect which you can pick up at any Arts & Crafts store or of course an office supply store.
   
6. Several sheets of newspaper cut slightly smaller than the blotting paper.
   

WHAT TO DO:

You want to drill FOUR holes, one in each corner of the boards that you cut from the plywood.

1. First, place the blotting paper on one of the boards to make sure that the paper is smaller than the boards. Centre the paper and mark on the board with a pencil where you want to drill your holes. REMEMBER you do not want to drill through the paper.
   
2. Now, clamp the two boards together lining them up squarely so you will be certain that the holes are directly on top of each other.
   Go ahead and drill the FOUR holes.
   
3. Next, just slide your bolts through the two pieces of plywood that you drilled, place the washers over the bolts, and then screw the wing nuts on.
   THAT'S IT!
   
   Straightforward isn't it?! Now that you have made your flower press you will want to start pressing your flowers immediately!
   
   Follow my guide on pressing flowers which is just as easy to follow.
   
   Here you will see where to lay the blotting paper and the newspaper in the press and also which types of flower are suitable for pressing.
   
   
   Our pressed flower handbags at Nature by Dezign are a great example of what you can do with real pressed flowers and your imagination. These tropical hibiscus and orchids are subsequently hand-laid right into the material of the real flower handbag and sealed, fully capturing the essence of nature.

I chanced on a web site the other day where you can see some really beautiful pressed flower artwork by artist May Long. The Garden Fairy picture is amazing. There are also other great examples of pressed flower artwork from Liming Twanmoh at her web site called pressed flora.