Saturday, May 23, 2009

Make a Portable Flower Press for Your Herbarium

Here's the perfect little flower press to carry with you whenever you go for a hike or even a walk around your own backyard. We keep one in the car too because we always come across plants which we find pretty, want to remember a special event, or can't identify so we can bring them home and look them up.



To make one you need:
newspaper
corrugated cardboard from an old box
rubberbands (at least 3 thick rubberbands)
scissors
flowers
leaves
package tape or clear contact paper



STEPS:

1. Cut the cardboard into 3 rectangles that are 8"L x 5 1/2"W.


2. Cut the newspaper into 8" x 5 1/2" rectangles. These are your pressing papers.


3. Decorate the cover with stamps, flowers, and/or leaves. I used clear contact paper and packing tape to press the leaves and flowers onto the cover.


4. Gather your favorite flowers and leaves to press.


5. Place the bottom cardboard cover down first, layer a couple sheets of newspaper on top of the cardboard and place your flowers face down while smoothing them out as much as possilble. We usually write the location, date and name of the plants we are pressing onto the newspaper to keep a record of them.


6. Layer a few more sheets of newspaper on top of the first layer of flowers, then place more flowers or leaves face down onto the press.

7. Put on the middle piece of cardboard after you have about 5 layers of plants; continue to layer until you run out of flowers. Put the cardboard cover on top and put the rubberbands around the press. You can make the press as thick or thin as you want, just add more newspaper and cardboard as you go.


After a week or two, the flowers should be pressed and ready to remove. Please don't forget the nature rule....."if there's more than 10 you may collect a few, less then 10 don't be a greedy fool!" We NEVER pick any of our endangered plants and wildflowers. Enjoy!

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're putting together a field bag. This will be a fabulous addition to it! Thank you!! And a special thank you for your happiness for me. Joy shared is so much sweeter :-)

Jeannette said...

What a perfect idea! This will go into my bag for my bicycle tours!
Have a wonderful weekend, Jeannette

tamdoll said...

I love the portability of this & that you made it so pretty, too.

Lori said...

what a great idea -- and you did make it so pretty :^)

dongdong said...

very cool, and pretty.

I found out that bird on J's blog is called "killdeer". It is a funny bird.

Rebekah Smith said...

this will be a wonderful addition to my portable presses!:-)

and it's so pretty!:-)

thanks,

rebekah:-)

dawn klinge said...

Very clever! I love this idea. :)

Marigold said...

Your blog is awesome!

Tan Family said...

We haven't been able to find our flower press since our last move...now I'm inspired to make one of these with the kids instead of waiting for the old one to show up! Portable is always good on the nature hike days. Wonderful. :)

Holly said...

What a great idea-this will be right up our alley. Thanks. Holly

Joy said...

What a great idea! Lisa, you are one inspiring mama! :)

Shona Leah said...

such a beautiful flower press!

SE'LAH... said...

i REALLY love your blog.

this flower press is awesome. We bought one a few years ago but certainly, one can never have enough with all the beautiful spring flowers.

thanks so much.

Amanda said...

Oh, we're definitely making these soon! And I just bought the Spiderwick field guide for a birthday present yesterday. :)

Sara said...

This is beautiful... I must make one.

sarah in the woods said...

Very handy! We'll have to put one of these together.

Sarah said...

This is a great idea for making a fast, easy flower press! I've got the stuff to make the presses on OLM's flower press tutorial, but this is a nice, fast one to make to keep in the car. Thanks!

Sowing Clover (Emily) said...

I have been enjoying your blog so much over the past couple of weeks! I currently have violets soaking in a bowl on the counter and I can't wait to finish it later. Thank you for all your inspiration!

Antoinette said...

An excellent idea! We have a flower press, but it's wooden and too clunky to take out with us on rambles. So this is a stroke of genius. So simple and completely perfect.

tie-dyed doula said...

Thank you for this, as well as everything that you post! What will you be doing with these dried fancies?

Molly Anne said...

I really like that idea! I've been contemplating pressing some flowers but hadn't actually gotten to it yet. However, you should see my kitchen counter - trays and sheets of blossoms and petals my flowers have dropped and I am drying - it smells great!

karen m. said...

Your press is so much prettier and more portable than the phone book or an encyclopedia volume. Thank you for the tutorial!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

This is awesome, thanks so much for sharing! I'll be linking...and making my own too!

Chrissy said...

Lovely, and so perfect for this time of year! I've shared your link at One Crafty Place. Thanks!

Julie said...

This is so great! Thanks for sharing the how-to.

Unknown said...

oh my goodness! i am in love with this, brilliant!

Jessica said...

My grandmother loved to press flowers-she had a large hatbox literally filled with pressed flowers. I can still smell them even though she passed five years ago and the box was pilfered by a selfish cousin. Ho hum.

Unknown said...

Great idea! We'll definitely do this one.

Unknown said...

http://believingnature.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/preserve-backyard-flowers/

:)

PTCRUZ said...

It's the first time I read your blog. It's wonderfull (sorry for my english, is very bad).

Thanks for this idea (I go to try make).

Shell said...

This is great. I'm going to do this.

Sara said...

These are adorable! I just made them with my boys! We had fun collecting things.... even made one for me! I'm going to link back to you when I post about it if that's ok. If not, just respond to this. :0)

Snippety Gibbet said...

What a great idea. I'll have to do that with the Granddaughter when she comes to visit.

Mom IsAmagpie said...

Thanks so much for posting this. I made fifteen of them for my oldest's birthday goodie bags, I posted them on my blog. They were a hit. Thank You, Thank You!!!