Did you know you could press flowers in the microwave when you have a pressed flower emergency? What? You do not have pressed flower emergencies? It is only me?
Most of us know how to press flowers for crafts and studying and preserving memories. You place the flowers in between two sheets of newsprint and then place that in between two pieces of cardboard. Then you stick the entire cardboard, newsprint, flower sandwich under a pile of heavy books from when you used to study weighty things, like art history or law. Then you wait for at least a week and explain to any little people that practicing patience is good for the soul and building character.
But what if your flower pressing needs are more, well…pressing? What if Mother’s Day is THIS WEEKEND and you suddenly decided that you have the perfect craft but it must be decorated with pressed flowers handpicked by the kids?
Have no fear: you can press flowers in less time than it takes to read this post.
1. Put down a piece of cardboard and put a slightly smaller paper towel or piece of newsprint on top of the cardboard.
2. Arrange your flowers on top of the paper towel / newsprint so that none of the flowers overlap. Then cover with another piece of paper towel / newsprint and another piece of cardboard.
3. Use four thick rubber bands to secure the cardboard together.
4. Microwave on 50% power for 30 seconds. Check the flowers. Microwave for another 10 seconds if they are not done. It should take 30-90 seconds, depending on the flower and your microwave. You’ll have to experiment a little to find the right amount of time.
That’s it! Have fun with your pressed flowers and let me know what you make!
How cool! Although cooked flowers might be a bit weird.
I’ve heard of ironing them in waxed paper too, but never tried it for myself.
Hey, some flowers are edible…why not cook them? 😉 You can definitely iron in wax paper but then they are stuck to the paper and it looks a little filmy/cloudy. If you are using them in the wax paper (lanterns, place mats), that is a great way to preserve them.
How do you know that the flowers are ready?
Alicia — They will look very thin and flat, like pressed flowers.
Too cool! I’ve been pressing ferns in between layers of parchment paper underneath stacks of old books. This method looks way more profesh.
Hi! I recently wrote a Summer Activity bucket list on my blog and I gave you a shout out! You can check it out here if you would like!
(all photos and page mentions were sourced and linked back to your original post.)
http://amomsrambels.blogspot.com/2014/05/summer-activities-for-entire-family.html
Hi there, I loved this little tutorial! Worked a treat for me, I wrote about it on my blog and shared your page. Hope you don’t mind.
Check out my blog http://www.ninaandnaomi.blogspot.com
Thanks,
Naomi
I did this with pink sweet pea flowers. It made the colour go from pale pink to dark purple. Does this usually happen when pressing flowers between books? I’m new to this.
They can darken a little…but perhaps they were overcooked? Try a lower power and less time and check more frequently. Good luck!
this saved me so much time! I now use this for my resin jewelry projects and it works great. I did adjust the time for my crazy microwave and one thing I do is make sure to use a paper towel without a pattern. I don’t think this would be a problem at all for other projects but resin amplifies the texture and you can see remnants of the paper towel pattern. Otherwise, awesome and thanks!
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