FLOWER PRESS
A time-honoured way to help preserve summer’s magic.
You will need: 2 pieces of wood of equal size, suggested A5–A4 around 1cm thick (we got ours from hobbycraft.co.uk) Pencil A piece of card cut 2cm squared Drill (with a 5mm drill bit) 4 bolts (we used 4mm bolts) 4 washers 4 wing nuts Thick cardboard (old packaging works well) Blotting paper
1 Take your 2cm x 2cm piece of card and place on each of the corners of your wood pieces to mark with a pen or pencil where your nuts and bolts will be drilled.
2 Use the drill end to pierce a small hole on the mark to help stabilise the drill in place before you use it.
3 Drill your holes in each corner of each piece of wood using a drill bit big enough for your screws to comfortably fit through.
4 Cut your thick cardboard into squares, 3cm smaller than the size of your flower press, lay one piece of cardboard, followed by two pieces of blotting paper, then another piece of cardboard together. Add as many layers as will fit between your bolts when it is fastened together.
5 Add your bolts, washers and wing nuts to each corner to complete your flower press.
6 Place your flowers between the layers of blotting paper (to help to soak up any moisture in the plants) leaving plenty of space around each stem so they can flatten with ease. Maker’s note: Use long bolts to make sure you can fit in plenty of flowers. The flowers will need to be pressed for a few weeks before they are ready to be removed. If you want to reuse the flower press after a week transfer the flowers in their blotting paper into the pages of a book – just remember which one you put them in!