Pressed Flowers Mixed, Yellow Daffodils, red Daffodils, Bridal Wreath, Rose Leaves, Foliage

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We have outlined some methods for drying your daffodils above and, as with many things, it is always a case of trial and error to find what works best for you. When choosing a flower to press, it's important to consider the transformation from three- dimensional to paper flat. A flower with a more globed bud will need to be cut in half before pressing, alternately you could press only the petals. It’s worth taking a lot of extra care when placing your flowers to be pressed as the petals you can’t see when the bloom is laying down will be more visible in the final product, as the petals thin in the drying process. Newspaper works well as the immediate covering for your plant specimen because it is fairly absorbent and has anti-fungal properties. Using a flower press will allow you more control over the pressing process than a book. A flower press is recommended for lilies and daffodils, as their iconic shape is recognisable from certain angles more than others. With these larger flowers, it may be worth considering pressing the petals separately and then reconstructing the flower once pressed.

You could also try tying the stems together and hanging them upside down somewhere, as this lets the whole flower dry. Simply cut off the excess foliage at the base of the stem, tie the bouquet together at the base and hang upside down for a couple of days. As stems are required, this does work better for flowers with longer, sturdier stems. An additional factor to consider is that flowers with a lot of pollen, such as lilies, daisies or tulips will not take well to air drying as the pollen will fall out.

Drying Flowers

Silica gel is quite expensive, however if, after use, you place it in a glass baking dish and heat it in the oven at 275°F you will be able to use it. Preserving a special occasion bouquet can be a great way to turn something ephemeral into a long-lasting memento, and even a family heirloom. Preserved flowers are capable of evoking the sentiment of the moment the bouquet was first gifted.

To avoid your flowers browning, change out the parchment paper that you are using for blotting once or twice a week. As you will need to space out flowers you are pressing, a flower press gains a large advantage over books here as it simply takes up a lot less space. Pressing Flowers with an Iron To use silica sand, pour a layer of the sand into an airtight container. Trim the stems of your flowers, and place the blooms into the sand face up. Alternatively, you can dry entire stems by lying them on their side. Carefully cover the flowers and stems with the sand, making sure not to entirely bury them. Then, seal the container and wait! Pressed flowers can be framed, put in a photo album or scrapbook, or used to personalise phone or laptop cases. For the more experienced crafters they can be used in resin projects or even as raw materials in printmaking or fabric dying. When using pressed flowers in papercrafts, make sure to use acid free archival paper to slow down the degradation process. If you want to combine with family photos, drawings or newspaper clippings you can buy “paper preservation spray,” or “deacidification spray” to neutralise the PH and preserve your crafts. Many guides will recommend only using heavy books, but we’ve found that you can use almost any book - just place heavier books on top! Just make sure the weight is evenly distributed across the area of the book being used to press.

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Choosing flowers with a few distinct petals, such as orchids and pansies, or a flower that is already quite two dimensional, like a daisy, is recommended. These flowers will have fewer variable elements to control in the pressing process. Shop Orchids Using a Flower Press The warm air of the dehydrator creates a wonderful fluffy effect for dried thistles and cornflowers. If you’re using your flowers in food preparation or decoration, this method is recommended (and of course, make sure your flowers are fit for consumption before trying this!) Drying Flowers in a Vase This method, while fast, does yield a slightly different result to the others. Rather than press the flowers entirely flat, the pressed flowers can come out with ripples in them; rather like water damaged paper. Different parchment papers can yield slightly different results, but the rippling effect is often hard to avoid. The uneven heat distribution from the iron can also lead to uneven bleaching of the flowers, with some areas losing far more colour than others. If you want to ensure your newly dried flowers last even longer, spray them with a surface sealer and leave them to dry.

There are quite a few practical advantages to pressed flowers. Due to their flat nature, they’re easier to store, with future damage being less likely. Plus, you’re more likely to store them in a way that they won't accumulate dust; dried flowers are notoriously difficult to clean after becoming dusty due to how fragile they are. Open the phone book and place a sheet of newsprint inside, lay your daffodil on that and then place another sheet of newsprint on top. Tossing their heads in sprightly dance– use of personification, daffodils are tossing their heads like humans, expressing their emotion of happiness through dance (it gives liveliness to the poem). This works especially well for flowers with sturdier stems, such as hydrangeas, as a more flexible stem will droop as it dries. As the stems are integral to the drying process this method is recommended for any project where you wish to keep the stems. Shop Hydrangeas Pressing FlowersFlowers with a large bud such as peonies or roses will massively benefit from being dried rather than pressed as they are more likely to distort in the pressing process. The same is true for flowers such as hydrangeas. Any flower with a large bloom made up of lots of small petals will be difficult to arrange into a press without misshaping some of the petals.