Found a way to make my own flower press from old books

Last month I was cleaning out my attic and found a stack of old hardcover novels from the 1970s. The pages were yellowed but the covers were still solid. I took two of them, some cardboard, and a few heavy bricks from the garden. I layered flowers from my daisy patch between sheets of paper towel, put them inside the books, stacked the bricks on top, and left them for a full week. The results were these perfect, flat pressed daisies I'm now using to make cards. Has anyone tried pressing thicker flowers like roses this way, or do I need something stronger?

3 comments

3 Comments

seth_carr2d ago

Grandma's phone book method worked because roses were basically mush by the time she was done. You'll end up with a brick shaped stain and a petal pancake. Thicker flowers need those blotter papers and actual screws to squeeze the moisture out, not just weight. Otherwise it's a science project in mold.

the_seth19d ago

My grandma pressed roses in phone books with cinder blocks for weight.

paul11719d ago

That method @the_seth is actually pretty smart science. The phone book pages pull moisture out evenly and the cinder block gives a slow, steady pressure. Modern flower presses just try to copy that simple idea.