Discover the joy of Pressing Flowers

If you’re looking for an inspiring and creative hobby that you can really enjoy and earn money from at the same time - then look no further!

Flower pressing will bring out your creativity, reduce your stress and allow you to earn money at the same time.  With a little attention you could even turn it into a profitable small business. 

You’ll be surprised to discover how quickly you can learn to press flowers; and once you know how, you’ll be able to make all kinds of lovely articles.  

Pressed flowers are used for decorating greeting cards, pictures, telephone directories and Photo albums. 

Even school bags, candles and lampshades can be decorated with sprays of pressed flowers. There is no end to the variety of ways in which you can use them.

Tools and material

Fortunately, the tools you'll need are simple and easy to obtain. You'll probably find that you have most of the equipment for flower pressing in your home already.

You’ll soon discover that flower pressing is not only limited to flowers.  You can use leaves, grasses, tendrils and ferns as well stamens, fennel seeds and even carrot tops. Fine seed heads of ordinary lawn grasses will give a touch of finesse while bits of bark and little patches of lichen will give your designs originality.

Mine the gold in your own back yard

Don’t spurn the different types of weeds lurking in your back yard. You'll be amazed to see how well some of them press.  Many of them are quite pretty so you just need a good eye and a bit of imagination.

Of course there's a lot of scope for experimentation too and that’s half the fun. Just remember that flowers in a pressed flower collage should look natural and appealing. 

Some Tips about Pressed Flowers

Because pressed flowers are flat and two-dimensional you should aim for a flowing, graceful appearance.  You can easily accomplish the desired effect if you work cleverly with curves. 

Try to use elegantly curved tendrils and curled leaves in your flower designs as this will give them the natural flowing look you need. You can even give a straight stem a gentle curve if you bend it gently by running it between your thumb and the back end of a pair of scissors.

When picking greenery it’s important to take note of the individual stages of growth of the plant as well as the different seasons. Tender maple leaves picked in spring are completely different from the red and gold leaves harvested in autumn or fall.

There is so much you can do with leaves and flowers. You’ll find that flower pressing is not only a creative hobby - you can easily turn into a work from home business too.
 

By Sandra Fisher, author of  The Secrets of Flower Pressing

Sandra Fisher began pressing flowers as a hobby and turned it into a successful “work from home” greeting card business. In her detailed course on flower pressing she gives step by step instructions that explain how to press flowers and turn them into a paying business. Illustrations of the pressed flowers at her website Flower Pressing \ are worth viewing.