Can you press fresh flowers?
Question:I have 2 carnations and a couple of sprigs of some kind of purple flower. I want to press them, but am unsure if they are still too fresh, they were cut on Saturday. Thanks for any info!
Answers:
YES!!! You certainly can. The fresher the better. However, unless there is a need to have it flat, a carnation will dry on it's own. Better yet, go to a craft store like Michaels and purchase a product called silica gel beads. They are what you find in little packets in products like aspirin, vitamins, sometimes purses, etc. There purpose is to absorb moisture. You carefully cover the flower in these beads and let stand or you can even put them in your microwave on low for a short period. They will come with instructions and varying times for different flowers. You can actually pick a fresh floer and have it preserved in less than 5 minutes!! Retains the bright, fresh color and looks just picked. Experiment a bit because it is easy to cook them too hot and lose the color. This is my favorite way. Happy preserving!! It is fun!
I would probably wait until this weekend. Then you will need to spray them with the stuff you get at the craft store (sorry, can't think of the name, but they will know what it is) in order to keep them from turning brown.
i press all of my fresh flowers the same day! they havent ever turned brown or any weird colors. i usually put my flowers in the middle of a thick book and then put one more heavy book on top. they are dry and beautifully pressed within a week. if you are going for a faster approach, you can put the flowers in between two smalls boards and set a pyrex dish on top and put it all in the micro. for 5 min.
I used to press them all the time. I wouldn't wait until next Saturday as they may have lost their color by then. I just used newspaper in a huge book to weigh them down.
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