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Decorated Jars Using Pressed Flowers

© Vickie Ferguson

This week's article is a simple project using pressed flowers to decorate glass jars or bottles. The project is ideally suited for the beginner, as it will give you hands on experience pressing flowers, handling of flowers, design and creation.

There are several techniques for preserving flowers; silica gel method, waxing method, freeze drying and pressing method. For instructions on how to dry flowers, please see my article of July 13, "The Art of Drying Flowers". The article covers air drying method, silca gel method and cornmeal/borax mixture method.

For our project we need to preserve our flowers by using the pressing method. You may use a heavy book for the process but using a flower press gives better results. The idea behind pressing is to remove moisture. When using a flower press, the flowers are laid face down on absorbent paper. A second sheet of absorbent paper is placed on top of the flowers. The screws on the press are tightened and the press is placed in a warm, dry place for 2 to 3 weeks. If using a heavy book, place an absorbent piece of paper in the book, place the flowers face down and cover with another sheet of paper, close the book and place another book on top to exert pressure on the flowers. The time needed to press a flower depends on the thickness of the blooms. Thin, delicate, fragile like blooms are best suited for pressing. Examples would be fern fronds, pansies, violets, geraniums, impatiens and daisies. When the process is completed, the flowers will be even more fragile. I suggest handling the blooms with tweezers, as there is less chance of breakage than using your fingers.

Supplies you will need for this project are:

1. Glass jar with stopper (size and style are your choice).
2. Flower press or large book (will need absorbent paper).
3. Matt acrylic varnish
4. Paintbrush (small)
5. Raffia or ribbon (you select color)
6. Assorted flowers (ex. 4 white pansies, 6-8 maidenhair fern, 8 violets).
7. Tweezers
8. Cotton swab

The first thing you will need to do is work out your design on paper. By doing this, you will have a visual of what you are creating and also be able to determine how many flowers you need to achieve the design.

Snippet: For best results, use only thin flowers and leaves that will press completely flat against the glass. If the flower or stem is too thick, it will not stick to the glass.

With your design in front of you, you are ready to begin.

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