The fields are alive with flowers. A daisy.
Is this purple vetch? I don't have my flower ID books with me.
Sort of like bluets only white.
Something pinky- purple.
Time to start picking and pressing. This is a Smith and Hawkins flower press I found in a thrift store. It has wooden boards on the ends and blotter paper and cardboard inside.
Some pansies on the blotter paper.
And the vetch. You put another sheet of paper on top of the flower and then the
end boards and then you pull the straps as tight as you can. The water gets pressed out, the flower flattened. You don't need a fancy press to do this though. For years I pressed flowers between paper towels and then put the paper towels either in a phone book or between some heavy books. I like the phone book method best, especially if you have a fat, big city phone book.
The fields are alive with flowers. A daisy.
Is this purple vetch? I don't have my flower ID books with me.
Sort of like bluets only white.
Something pinky- purple.
Time to start picking and pressing. This is a Smith and Hawkins flower press I found in a thrift store. It has wooden boards on the ends and blotter paper and cardboard inside.
Some pansies on the blotter paper.
And the vetch. You put another sheet of paper on top of the flower and then the end boards and then you pull the straps as tight as you can. The water gets pressed out, the flower flattened. You don't need a fancy press to do this though. For years I pressed flowers between paper towels and then put the paper towels either in a phone book or between some heavy books. I like the phone book method best, especially if you have a fat, big city phone book.
20 comments:
Thanks for another beautiful flower stroll, Suki.
I really enjoyed seeing your press also,,,,don't you just love thrift store shopping?
I sure do!
we live
we die
to live forever and ever
in a work of art...
Suki these are so beautiful... wait to see them in your works
love
suki, such lovely wildflowers. More random acts of beauty! OK - now I'm excited to learn -- I'm going to look for a book like yours to press flowers. How did you get yours so nicely shaped? Do you place the flowers strategically on the paper, or do you just let the flowers fall where they may and see what happens after pressed?
Babs, the fields are really beautiful here now. I do love thrift shopping esp in a 'wealthy' area where people buy expensive things and then discard them.
Thanks HB. I never know how I'm going to use them but I always do.
Honor, this official flower press has two removable boards on each end with lots of blotter paper in the middle. It doesnt have a binding like a book. But as I noted you can use a phone book and paper towels to press the flowers and it works just as well.
I try to place the flowers so they are not touching each other. Otherwise they may stick together. But in the case of flowers and leaves still attatched to the stem, they will touch and that's okay too.
Oh we have that purple flower here all over too. I need to look it up. There are little yellow daisy like flowers in the hills also.
I just remembered I pressed some violas last year and they are still in the phone book. I guess I should get them out. Have no clue what to do with them either. But Fair said I should press some so I did. Good reason dont you think? LOL
Well I looked up those purple flowers and couldnt find them in my wild flower book so I hope someone out there knows what they are as I want to know also.
your artistic endeavours are very compelling.
Cris, thanks for looking the flower up. Mary Richmond might know what they are. That's so sweet that you remembered the violas in the phone book. They'll be waiting for you.
thanks FY. You know, I come from a family of putterers. Knitters, crocheters, quiltmakers, carpenters, gardeners, woodworkers, weavers, photographers. Both sides of the family had people who liked to do things with their hands. So I guess I inherited that proclivity to keep my hands busy. Better than some things I could be doing. :)
You are so very talented-in everyway. Never know what you will be up to :-). Lovely photos.
Way cool, Suki! I can't wait to see what you do with these lovely pressed flowers...somehow the bees wax collage comes to mind. And on a cold, snowy day how lovely will it be to open up this press to find these beautiful, colorful smiling faces looking up at you?
When my children were little they had this little wooden flower press. It had the same little blotter papers and on the ends was small boards - maybe 4" x " - with these screw things on the corners...so you tightened down these screws to press the flowers. It would only only maybe a blossom or two per leaf though.
Thanks for the adventure!
Annie even I don't know what I'll be up to next.
Kim I have to chuckle about the tiny flower press as earlier this year a friend of mine sent me one just like that. You have reminded me, I'll have to get it out and try it out. It was so cute.
Happy pressing! I love to make pictures out of pressed flowers. And they are always so good to use in handmade paper, right?
I agree with wilson, regarding the thrift store. Just visited today and had a ball. Also agree with wilson regarding the flower stroll... enjoyed it very much!
Kayce
Katie Jane, I love to use flowers in handmade papers. I also use pine needles and leaves and even dirt!!!
Hi KC. Thanks. It is such fun to see what things people have bought and then given away, even if you don't find anything to buy yourself. Happy thrifting.
Oh yes these pansies and the one below(?) It0s fun to dry them!
Will you use then in your work?
Marianne I have used dried flowers for years and years in various ways, esp making cards. And in handmade paper.
Something pinky-purple is Musk Mallow.
And the purple ones are Purple Vetch.
In Japan you have such beautiful paper sometimes with flowers in it. Think you would love that too.
Oh thanks Chewy. I thought it was vetch. And musk mallow. You know i think I can use that for an herbal remedy. I wish I had my herb books with me to check that out. I lvoe to make my own remedys for the winter.
Marianne, I've purchased handmade papers with flowers in them and do love them, esp rose petals and ferns but anything.
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