Step 3— Leave the flower in the book for two or three weeks to make sure it dries completely. If you try to remove it but realize it still isn’t dry, change out the paper and let it sit for a few days longer. The florists behind JamJar Flowers share their modern take on the lost art of pressing flowers'. Gardens Illustrated Drill a hole in each corner of the boards, about 1 inch from the edge. Make sure you match the size of your bolts and line up the holes on both boards. Step 2: Arrange flowers in between cardboard and paper The Modern Flower Press is a storybook full of entertaining facts, myths and legends about flowers. Melissa and Amy explain all aspects of the history of pressing flowers, from its origins to the present day. They show you how to choose the right flowers for pressing, how to prepare and press them, and share ideas for projects and artworks to display them in all their perfectly preserved glory. From their own small and large-scale commissions to lovely ideas that you can make at home by following their clear, full-colour illustrated step-by-step instructions, there are designs here to make best use of your favourite garden or wild flowers.

While this method is successful at pressing the flowers flat, it doesn’t truly dry them. You need to leave the flowers under a heavy object for at least several days after microwaving them for the flowers to dry out. Fred adds, 'Try drying your plant specimen next to a radiator or central heating boiler if you have one - these provide a nice flow of warm air. Even warming the newspaper before using it helps drive moisture off.' Catherine’s top tip:"Some people make a really massive mistake of thinking they have to push loads of weight down on the flowers to make it press well, but that’s not the case – in fact, you can really damage the flowers doing that. Just put enough gentle pressure to flatten the petals without squashing them. Placing a pile of books on top is lovely but you don’t need to sit on the pile of books." Designing the flowersYou can buy special microwave presses, which may give better results, but we haven’t tested those. Iron the flowers to press them: Cut the cardboard to fit inside the plywood or MDF, working around the four holes where you will insert the bolts. Lay a piece of blotting paper on top of the cardboard, and arrange the flowers on top as desired. It’s best to press a variety of flowers just in case. Out of all of the flowers we pressed, we only had one white lily type of wildflower turn brown. The rest of our flowers kept their beautiful colours, but it would have been disappointing if that was the only flower we tried! How long to press flowers? The florists behind JamJar Flowers share their modern take on the lost art of pressing flowers' Gardens Illustrated The easiest way to press flowers is definitely using a book, as described above. It’s a simple method that’s accessible to almost everyone, with no special supplies or techniques required!

If you want to press flowers properly, it takes time. We definitely recommend the book method or using a proper wooden flower press. Step 2 — Tighten the press. If you are using straps, try to tighten them as evenly as possible. If you have a press with bolts and wing nuts, screw them down tightly until the press lies flat. The faster methods sort of work, but the flowers don’t get fully dried and they end up much more fragile.Step 3 — Turn the microwave on low and heat the flower for 30 seconds to a minute at a time, allowing it to cool between each session.