You might have noticed if you follow me on social media, or have signed up to my newsletter that during 2024 I became a little bit obsessed with pressed flowers….
This came about from a sadness at the waste of odds and ends of flowers when I’m making bouquets, designing wedding flowers, etc. I hate seeing a little pile of pretty petals gradually fading on the edge of my work bench.
So, the solution that came to me in a flash was “why not try pressing them”? Partly nudged by finding a flower press with crispy brown flowers in, from my childhood, stuck in the back of my bureau drawer. Literally stuck, my poor bureau is always overflowing with notepaper, folders, random charging cables, the drawers are often jammed stuck and have to be persuaded to open with a long ruler!
However, the small brown crispy flowers of my childhood press, though the outlines were a nice shape, the colours were uninspiring (but then again, they could have been at least 30 years, eek!). The internet is a wonderful resource, and soon I had a notebook of tips and tricks to try. Having tried a lot of these now, (not tried microwaving yet though) my flowers are now coming out of the presses with much better colours. Also, I now have A4 sized presses, so not being limited to just petals is a breakthrough too.
So where do the flowers come from?
Well the answer to that, as you might have guessed, is my cutting garden. Some though, are odds and ends from bought in British grown flowers that I supplement my wedding flowers with, and I’ve started growing some flowers specially for pressing, like Pansies. I love pansies and violas, the little faces and the wonderful array of colours make these feature high on my seed wish list, and now I have an excuse to grow as many as I like as they press wonderfully well.
Exciting discovery – some flowers are just as interesting on the back as the front when pressed!
Next question….
What do you do with all the pressed flowers?
Well….I’ve run some workshops – come along and create an illuminated letter using pressed flowers and lots of nice stationery based items. If you fancy coming along to one, I run them in Kirkby Stephen at the Old Forge, and if you sign up to my newsletter (bottom of the page) you’ll get to know when I run the next one.
I’ve also run a Hen Party Workshop, this was so much fun; email me if you’d like to book one for yourself or would like more information!
Pressed Flower Card kits have been popular too, I’m trying to keep the webshop topped up with these kits and they make great presents as I can post them out.
And that’s just the start for now!
Coming soon…
Wedding accessories such as…..
Handwritten place cards with pressed flowers, perfect to compliment your wedding flowers or a special party
Seat reservation cards
Maybe even wedding invitations…we’ll see!! Or a workshop where you can come with your friends and create your own wedding stationery….what do you think?!
Email me if you’re interested!
