What's Between the Pages: A Guide to Flower Pressing

FOR THE KIDS/ JULY 11TH, 2020

Hi Everyone! Today we are going to be talking about how to preserve flowers through a fun craft!

A popular pioneer craft was flower pressing. Children would often partake in this and so would ladies. This is a great way to preserve and keep flowers from a special occasion or just ones that you think look nice! We tried our hand at it with some flowers from the herb garden here at O’Hara and we have to say its pretty neat!

Here is what you will need to get started:

Some fresh cut flowers (you can also use leaves)
Some parchment paper (You can use other paper, we used construction paper but parchment works best)
A couple of heavy books

Once you have these materials, the fun begins. Simply fold your paper in half and place the flowers on in in what ever arrangement that you would like. Fold the paper closed and place in-between the pages of a book. Parchment paper works best, as it absorbs the moisture from the flowers as they dry out. Close the book and place a number of other heavy books on top. Now you just wait! It can take up to a week or more for the flowers to fully dry out. But once they are dried and pressed they will stay that way for a very long time! Check after one week and replace the parchment paper if the flowers are not fully dry yet.

Now you know how to press flowers! We hope that you enjoyed learning how to do this fun and easy pioneer craft!