The best flowers to press are most definitely the easiest! If the last time you filled your flower press with carefully selected blooms left you weeping over pages of brown decomposed specimens, this flower pressing guide for beginners will be your saviour! It will teach you to spot the ‘super qualities’ that make flowers easy to press, starting you with a list of flowers that press well for beginners. With tips and tricks in addition to tried and tested methods for pressing the best flowers, you will have flowers preserved like a professional in no time!
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List Of Flowers That Press Well
- Sweet Peas
- Pansies
- Love-in-the-mist
- Daisies
- Forget-me-not
- Roses
- Lily-of-the-valley
- Bluebells
- Muscari
- Larkspur
- Hydrangea
- Cosmos
Do any of my favourites surprise you? Having over six years of flower pressing experience making original art and prints like the examples below, I’ll share how I got started! Read on to discover their super pressable qualities:
The Best Flowers To Press
1. Pressed Sweet Peas
Sweet peas are just wonderful, they flower and flower allowing plenty of opportunity to perfect pressing your pressing technique. They come in a beautiful range of colours from pastels to burgundy and purples. I have even seen speciality varieties in greys, which I’ve got my eye on for next year. Here is a peak inside my flower press:
2. Pressed Pansies
Pansies top our list for so many reasons! Their long flowering period, which includes winter, makes them an easy flower to get hold of. Their naturally flat faces make them simple to arrange in the press, and that’s before we even talk about their incredible colours and markings. There is a reason the Victorians nicknamed pansies ‘Three Faces Under A Hood’, and that’s their striking markings which look just like faces. Each little face, just like a human’s, is unique in colour, and colour that preserves so well in the press, making them so collectable!
3. Pressed Love-In-The-Mist
Also known as Nigella flowers, love-in-the-mist is a flower that self-seeds and spreads everywhere, making it easy to find in the wild. One of the reasons it’s so beautiful is its soft, spikey, sage-green foliage which is robust but delicate and dries quickly. Most commonly found in shades of pink, blue and white, the silhouettes they create have a remarkable impact when framed! Whether on curbsides, in alleyways or gardens, you will struggle to get bad results with this flower!
4. Pressed Daisies
The humble daisy just loves poor soil conditions, growing abundantly on the thinnest little stalks. For flower pressers this is excellent, they hold little water in their stems or heads meaning they dry & press quickly. Each specimen packs such a punch of nostalgia for bygone summers, of youth spent making daisy chains and been outdoors that it’s still a popular motif used in fashion and interiors despite the fact they are classified as weeds.
5. Pressed Forget-Me-Nots
These little flower heads are the ‘jewel in the crown’ for jewellery designers. Their tiny little flowers make the perfect, versatile details for pressed flower jewellery. The flowers keep their baby blue colour so well when dried and are structurally charming when pressed on their curving willowy stems.
6. Pressed Roses
Billowing, blousy layers of petals make roses notoriously tricky to press and prone to rotting, turning particularly ugly. However, choices such as wild and dog roses with simpler structures (just one or a few layers of petals) will bring you more success. What’s also great is that these roses repeatedly bloom, meaning multiple opportunities to preserve their shape and colour. Look at the pressed rose examples below, which are from different species. The pale pink roses turned slightly brown, whilst the deep crimson flowers turned a more attractive shade of purple. Also, note how lovely it is to use pressed flowers’ front and back profiles! Read more about roses is our post The Best Pressed Roses For Art.
Above are more roses, this time they kept their colour better. The secret? Picking & pressing them on a hot summers day! They were also photographed at their best for this print.
7. Lily-Of-The-Valley
Such fragrant little blooms with beautiful bell-like structures, lily-of-the-valley has a mythical quality and adds interest in design if you are grouping many pressed flowers.
8. Pressed Bluebells
A Spring staple in the UK, these are perfect starter blooms for the press! The common English bluebell is a pinky shade, while the blue bluebell derives from Spain. If you happen to find a white bluebell, they are scarce, so leave it in the ground unharmed.
Below is a piece of artwork I made using my pressed bluebells!
9. Pressed Muscari
Another spring flower, this one you don’t necessarily think would press well with its bobble ‘berry-like’ structure, but they dry very quickly and preserve their blueish/ purple tones. For more ideas of spring flowers to press read, 10 Best Pressed Daffodils and Spring Flowers.
10. Larkspur
If you want to press abundant flower heads, this flower is for you. Lovely in size to fill a sheet of paper, you can pick all the separate flower heads off one stem and press them individually.
11. Pressed Hydrangea Petals
The French Hydrangea, Lacecap Hydrangea, Pink Hydrangea and Blue Hydrangea are all stunning species. Their great blooming heads are a mass of smaller flat flowers that are great for flower pressing. The graduation and range of colour and detail in every petal make these beauties so covetable to arrange in see-through glass frames.
12. Pressed Cosmos
My absolute favourite flower of all time to press, cosmos come in various colours and sizes, and all press beautifully. Their heads look lovely on their own or pressed on stems. I love them pressed on their stems with a few fern-like leaves still attached.
Top Tips For The Best Flower Pressing Results
1. Choose the Right Flower Pressing kit
Flower| Book| Microwave
I like large, simple flower presses that can hold A4 sheets of blotting paper like those by Little Garden Vintage. For something more special, Blue Brontide hand make stunning flower presses. I bought this press for my daughter with cute hand painted daisies that I’ve photographed her using. She loved following the instructions that came with the press to put it together, putting the nuts, screws and washers in the correct order.
Blotting paper is the best for pressing flowers directly onto, as it absorbs moisture (using any paper is possible)
Absorbent towel (kitchen towel)
Thick card or corrugated card
Tweezers (to handle flowers optional)
Sharp secateurs (to take flower cuttings) I love these personalised secateurs that were a gift from Twenty Seven UK.
Craft knife or scissors (to trim leaves and petals off specimens)
Air-tight container for storage
2. Follow The Best Practices When Flower Pressing
The best way to press flowers at home is in a traditional flower press.
Pick flowers on a dry day, preferably in the afternoon when any moisture from the nighttime should have evaporated. If they are still damp, put them in a vase on a stem and let them air dry indoors for a few hours before using.
Remove leaves and flowers of congested specimens to reduce the bulk without losing the character of the flower
Shake gently and brush off any dirt or bugs hiding
Dab any moisture from the stems before pressing
3. Learn How To Use A Traditional flower Press
a. Place flowers down head first onto the blotting paper. If on stems, press flowers down lightly in the position you want the flowers to be with your fingertips. Only overlap flowers if you want them to press together.
b. Quickly cover with a second piece of blotting paper.
c. This guide’s most valuable tip is to use a kitchen towel on top and below your blotting paper, particularly for chunkier specimens, to absorb moisture and prevent rotting.
d. Then layer a thick or corrugated cardboard on top of the paper towel to stop the flower shapes from imprinting onto the other layers of flowers.
e. Put the above layers on repeat to load up a full flower press:
Card, paper towel, blotting paper, flowers, blotting paper, paper towel, card.
f. Place heavy books on top or apply pressure evenly throughout, ensuring the screws on the press are as tight as possible.
g. Move to a warm place such as an airing cupboard or damp-free room above a radiator. The quicker your flowers dry, the better they press and preserve their colour.
4. Learn How To Press Flowers In A Book
Repeat all the above methods of collecting and layering flowers with blotting paper and card to achieve the best results. Pressing straight onto a book page may result in text transferring onto the flowers. The most crucial step however, when flower pressing is to ensure enough heavy pressure is placed on the books.
5. Know How Long To Press A Flower
Unless you are attempting a super chunky flower with many layers, three weeks in the flower press is a good rule to work to when pressing. Tighten screws on your press every few days to ensure the best results! You could even tie a belt or none stretchy fabric around the middle of your press. After three weeks look inside and assess your pages. Some flowers will be pressed whilst you may decide to press others for longer.
6. Understand Why Pressed Flowers Turn Brown
The rose petals, right, looked so beautiful after they had turned brown that I turned them into a piece of artwork. So yes, pressed flowers can turn brown when pressed, but they can also look gorgeous in that state. This detail is from a piece of art that was shortlisted for a prize and exhibited at the Glyndebourne Gallery 94, UK.
Most flowers that won’t press well will go brown in the flower press. Flowers that press and keep their colour will fade in colour over time but not necessarily go brown. It’s essential to use the suitable layers of paper, card and kitchen towel to prevent browning as discussed above and to pick flowers at the optimum time of day.
7. Avoid Flowers That Are Difficult To Press Until More Experienced
Not many flowers are impossible to press, but some are more difficult. The difficulty is usually due to their layers of petals, stem density, head size and colour. It’s notoriously more challenging to preserve the colour of white flowers as they press because they are prone to turning yellow or brown. Flowers that are difficult that I’ve preserved are daffodils, roses, astrantia, iris (above) and scabiosa flowers.
8. Store Your Pressed Flowers Correctly
Pressed flowers prefer a dark environment where sunlight can’t fade their colours. I keep my flowers in the press for a s long as possible, ideally until I’m ready to use them. However, it’s not always possible when pressing many flowers for craft and business purposes. In this instance I like to put store mine in recycled plastic take away containers and put them in a dark cupboard. I layer up little sheets of paper with my pressed flowers to store them; this works particularly well for smaller flowers.
9. Understand The Lifespan Of A Pressed Flower
Pressed flowers will fade with time, especially if hung in direct sunlight, but we can prevent this using different solutions. Using commercial sealants to seal the surface of pressed flowers is one way, and choosing conservation glass or museum glass when framing another. However, even without these, your pressed flowers should last approximately 3- 5 years, and the fun is pressing more flowers when you feel they are past their best.
Where To Buy Pressed Flowers
If you don’t have the time to press your own flowers, or end up with disappointing results, here are a few dried flower specialists that you can buy pressed flowers from:
Pressed Flower Studio, Bulgaria.
Petalum Store, UK.
The Glitter Hut Company, London.
Ideas For Pressed Flowers
Many craft projects incorporate pressed flowers once you have some beautiful specimens. Here are some useful resources that we have compiled to get you started with a range of crafts:
Cyanotype Printing
Have a go at cyanotype printing using the flowers that you have pressed as templates. We like kits available from Catie Beth Thomas, USA and Elemental Leaf, UK.
Floral Pottery
There are so many inspirational examples of pottery imprinted with flowers. To have a go at using your pressed flowers to decorate a piece of pottery, use a pottery kit like this one from Noah Crafting, UK.
Candle Making
To make a unique candles adorned with your favourite pressed flower blooms, we like DIY Creation USA. Their candle making kits are the most comprehensive collections of ingredients and tools that we could find. They really do look incredible kits!
Soap Making
DIY Creations, USA also have incredible soap making kits which come in two different sizes. A huge deluxe kit which includes absolutely everything you need and a smaller starter kit.
Jewellery Making
Thinking about making a special piece of jewellery with my pressed flowers I started searching for beautiful empty lockets and pendants. My favourite that I found was by Mae Jean Vintage, USA, her shaker empty lockets are pure quality and stunning!
Displaying Pressed Flowers
Check out ,my ultimate framing guide, Making A Pressed Flower Frame for inspiration, frame ideas, background paper colours, composition and display know-how! Or have a go at hand painting a wooden bobbin frame with our guide How To Make Professional Bobbin Frames.
If however you think your life is just too busy right now for flower pressing, herbarium-themed pressed flower prints would add instant sophistication to your walls.
What Glue To Use With Kids
Acid free craft glues are the best to use on pressed flowers. I’ve been using a fast-drying glue for years, called Beacon 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue, which I buy from Amazon.
Conclusion
Flowers with flat and simple structures are the easiest flowers to press and the best for beginners. Many wildflowers fall into this category because they thrive on little water, pressing quickly. However, picking easy flowers, to begin with, isn’t enough to succeed; you must follow the best practices
If you want to create pressed flower art pictures with kids, check out our ‘How To Create Pressed Flower Art With Kids’, which will give you many size, shape and composition ideas.
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Contempfleury
Contempfleury is an art studio run by Leah Nikolaou from her home and garden. She works extensively with pressed flowers to create her one-of-a-kind artworks, pressed flower prints and pressed flower embroidery kits. Choosing the best flowers to press at the beginning of her design process is one her most important steps.
