How To Get Started Pressing Flowers

There are a few things you need to know when you’re new to pressing flowers. I’m hoping this guide will be helpful if you’re not sure where to start or you want to make sure you end up with flowers have not ended up browning or molding in the press.

Here are the basic supplies of what you’ll need:

• Fresh flowers
• A flower press, like our Studio Press No. 10 (my personal favorite)
• Paper
• Cardboard
• Chipboard
• Flowers or leaves to press

Fresh Flowers- You’ll want to have as fresh of flowers as possible. If you are picking some from your garden make sure it hasn’t rained in the last day or two. The flowers & stems will have a lot more moisture in them from all the rain so it’s important to give them a day or two to get rid of that excess water. Some of the easier flowers to press are: Cosmos, Ferns, Hydrangeas, Yarrow, Delphinium, Lavender, & Phlox. Most flowers with a single layer of petals will be easier to press than one with a lot of layers like a Rose.

Flower Press- I use our Studio Press No. 10 everyday. When looking to buy a press you’ll want to check for a couple of things. You’ll want to make sure it’s made out of a hard wood that does not bend easily. I’ve seen some flower presses out there that are being made with softer woods that will not press evenly and bow in the middle. 

Paper- Any type of paper will work. I started out with using printer paper and any scrap paper I had laying around the house. I've recently started using thick blotting paper as well, which you can find in our shop here, because I've found it absorbs the moisture a lot quicker than regular paper. When you're flowers dry faster, they retain their color and vibrancy and are less likely to mold and brown. I still use a lot of printer paper because I press so much, especially for wedding bouquet commissions, and use blotting paper on the flowers that retain more moisture like roses & lisianthus. 

Chipboard & Cardboard- Another layer to absorb moisture & help those flowers dry out quickly. When I first started pressing, I bought separate packs of 8.5x11 chipboard & cardboard but have also started using a super thick chipboard to replace the thinner chipboard & cardboard. It's what we use for our flower press refill packs and what all of our flower presses come with. You can also always cut up those boxes your packages come in to the size of your paper to use as well.

Once you’ve gathered your flowers, its time to press!

1. First you’ll want to put 1 layer of cardboard, then 1 chipboard and then 5-10 pieces of printer paper down. If you're using blotting paper, you only need 1 sheet of paper. The amount of printer paper I use between each layer depends on how much moisture that flower has. If it’s a Rose that I’m pressing with quite a few layers of petals I will use more paper than with a 1 layered flower like a Cosmos.

2. On top of the paper start laying out your flowers for your first layer. Do not crowd the flowers. You want to make sure they have enough space in between to allow some air flow to help them dry out quickly.

3. Next you’ll want to add 5-10 more pieces of printer paper on top of the flowers, then 1 chipboard and 1 cardboard. For blotting paper, you only need 1 sheet on top of the flowers. And that’s what you’ll do for each layer after that until you run out of flowers. 

The amount of time that your flowers will need to stay in the press depends on a few factors. The first one is the type of flower. The more layers of petals your flower has and the amount of moisture that flower holds, will probably take longer than a flower with only 1 layer of thin petals. So you will need to check for how dry the flower feels. If they feel cool or damp to the touch it needs more time to dry. A dry flower will feel paper like. It’s one of those things that will come easier once you’ve been pressing for awhile.

The second factor is what the weather is like. If you are having very humid weather than it will most likely take a bit longer than during the colder winter months. Just keep checking on your flowers and it doesn’t hurt to keep them in the press for a bit longer if you’re unsure. If they are not dried out all the way and you stop pressing them then that’s where the petals or leaves can start to curl or shrivel because they were not done drying out all the way.

I hope this was helpful! My next post will be about how I store my pressed flowers in my Wildwood Press until I'm ready to use them!